Interview - Troy Cassar-Daley & Ian Moss: Music, Mates and the Open Road

DIG Interview - Two guitars, a shared love of great songs and a friendship built on music.

Troy Cassar-Daley talks to Denim Is Good about touring with Ian Moss, finding common ground between country and rock, late-night drives, old Holdens and why, after all these years, picking up a guitar is still one of life's greatest pleasures.

It doesn't take long talking to Troy Cassar-Daley to realise that music and cars occupy a pretty special place in his life. Before we'd even started discussing his upcoming 'Together Alone Tour' with Ian Moss, the conversation had wandered into Holden versus Ford territory, the changing face of Australian motor racing and the appeal of old American V8s. Troy had just been to the Gold Coast motor racing, and as a lifelong Holden man, he was having a little trouble coming to terms with some of the changes in the sport.

When I mentioned my fondness for late-'70s Ford F-150s, he immediately recalled driving a mate's old Chevrolet C10 around Nashville, complete with a 350 V8 and a wonderfully questionable combination of white and yellow paint. It's the sort of conversation you can easily imagine continuing over a couple of beers in a country pub, and it says plenty about the man behind one of Australia's most recognisable voices.

But we're here to talk music, and particularly the rather special partnership Troy has developed with Ian Moss. On paper, a country singer-songwriter from Grafton and one of Australia's great rock guitarists might seem an unlikely pairing. Yet anyone who's seen their 'Together Alone' shows will know there's something remarkably natural about the way their music comes together.

Troy reckons the explanation goes back much further than their respective careers.

‘Look, Geoff, on paper, and my cousins have said this to me, it sort of looks like it doesn't work. You've got a country fella at one end and a rock legend at the other. But I think Ian and I have had this discussion before. It comes down to where the music grows from. I think we grow from pretty similar trees’.

It's an interesting observation, particularly when you consider that Moss grew up in Alice Springs, surrounded by a musical environment that included plenty of country music long before Cold Chisel entered the picture.

‘He's actually from Alice Springs, which is really quite a rural place to grow up. So he's a country boy, really. Where he grew up listening to the ABC, he got fed a lot of country music before he started listening to Sam Cooke and a lot of rock and roll’.

Those shared musical roots help explain why their collaboration works so comfortably. Country, soul, rock and blues have always borrowed from one another, and in the hands of two musicians who understand those connections, the boundaries become largely irrelevant.

Their latest release, 'Together Alone – Live at the Ulumbarra Theatre', captures that relationship across 16 songs recorded during their 2022 tour. The album opens with Bill Withers' ‘Ain't No Sunshine’, a song that became the starting point for every performance and, as Troy explains, helped establish the musical direction of the entire show.

The arrangement came together during rehearsals at Troy's home in Brisbane, where the two musicians cleared some space, set up a couple of acoustic guitars and began working through songs from their respective catalogues.

‘We ended up just clearing a big space at my place in Brisbane, and we set up looking at each other with two acoustic guitars. I had everything set up there, and the PA was really clean and really loud’.

Before they began exploring their own material, Troy started playing ‘Ain't No Sunshine’, a song he'd enjoyed performing during his early pub days. Moss immediately picked up on something in the original Bill Withers guitar arrangement that many players tend to overlook.

‘Ian goes, “You know, no one ever gets these seventh notes that Bill Withers played in this”. And I went, “You're right”. So we sat there mucking around with it for a while’.

Those small musical discoveries became the foundation of their arrangement, with the song eventually opening every show.

‘Stylistically, it says exactly what it's supposed to say between Ian and my music’.

Another song that brings their musical worlds together is ‘The Dark End of the Street’, the classic soul ballad written by Dan Penn and Chips Moman. Troy had originally known the Percy Sledge recording before discovering Penn's own interpretations of the songs he'd written.

‘I went on a deep dive into Dan Penn and realised that Dan Penn also had this beautiful soul-country mix. So for me, it was another obvious choice’.

It's that meeting point between country and soul that gives 'Together Alone' much of its character. Rather than simply taking turns performing their best-known songs, Troy and Ian have found ways to make the different parts of their musical histories speak to one another.

Troy describes the show as something of a tennis match, with songs travelling back and forth between them, each performance adding another dimension to the one before it. The inclusion of classic soul material provides a common musical language, helping tie everything together.

And while the songs might sound effortless on stage, there's been plenty of experimentation behind the scenes, particularly when it comes to the guitars.

Moss is known for tuning his guitars down, something that presents an interesting challenge when you're sharing arrangements with another player. Troy, on the other hand, is a devoted capo man, using different positions on the neck to create contrasting guitar parts.

‘He's such an incredible guitar player. He won't use a capo, whereas I'm a country guy, and I love capos because I like being able to capo away from where the person's playing. Sonically, you get a chance to play away from the range they're playing in’.

For the tour, Moss carries guitars tuned down a semitone and a whole tone, while Troy brings three instruments, including his main Takamine acoustic, a nylon-string guitar and a ganjo. By adjusting tunings and using a capo, he's able to find different textures and musical spaces around Moss's playing.

One of the more unexpected combinations came during rehearsals for ‘Never Before’, a Cold Chisel song written by Moss for the band's 'East' album.

‘He starts playing “Never Before”, and it's like this Latin thing. So I jumped on the bloody ganjo and said to him, “Does that work?” And he went, “Yes!”’

That willingness to experiment has become central to their musical relationship.

‘Let's just chuck things against the wall and see what sticks’, Troy remembers suggesting during those early rehearsals.

It's an approach that has continued into the current tour, with new songs occasionally finding their way into the set almost by accident. During a recent soundcheck, Moss began playing an old Leon Russell song, catching Troy completely by surprise.

‘He tried an old Leon Russell song the other day, and I just went, “Where did you pull that from?”’

Troy had grown up listening to Russell, whose interpretations of Hank Williams songs were favourites of his mother's. The two began exploring the arrangement, with Troy reaching for his nylon-string guitar to complement Moss's playing. Before long, the song had found its way into the show.

It's a reminder that even after decades of performing, both musicians remain curious about music and open to discovering something new.

That enthusiasm was also behind the decision to revisit 'Together Alone'. Following Cold Chisel's 50th anniversary tour, Moss rang Troy and suggested they get the acoustic show back on the road.

Troy was surprised by the timing. After such an extensive run of concerts, he'd assumed Moss would be ready for a decent break.

Instead, Moss told him how much he'd enjoyed the opportunity to sit down with acoustic guitars, tell stories and play music in a more intimate setting.

‘He said, “I'd love to do it again”. It travels really light, Geoff. And it's such a thrill to have a play, and we push each other. I think that's a wonderful thing to do as well’.

Of course, spending time on the road together has revealed a few other things about their friendship, including the fact that Moss is apparently a very enthusiastic driver.

When I asked who controls the music in the car, Troy laughed.

‘Ian, off and on the record, is an incredible driver and will drive anywhere. I'm normally the DJ when we're driving’.

While Troy prefers to arrive at a destination with enough time to settle in and have a walk around town, Moss is quite happy to get behind the wheel and cover the kilometres, including the late-night drives after a show.

Their travelling soundtrack is as varied as their musical influences, with Fat Freddy's Drop, Sam Cooke, Bonnie Raitt and Frank Sinatra all making appearances.

One particularly memorable night found them arriving at a motel in Bathurst around two in the morning, with Moss determined to hear the final few bars of a Sinatra performance from 'Sinatra at the Sands', recorded with Count Basie.

‘It was 130 dB in the car, Geoff, and I'm sure we didn't win ourselves any friends in the motel car park. But he said, “You've got to listen to the end of this!”’

Troy knew the recording well enough to appreciate what Moss was talking about, although he was a little more concerned about waking the neighbours.

‘Just keep the windows up, will you?’

It's a wonderful little insight into two musicians who, despite everything they've achieved, still get excited about hearing something special on a record.

And that love of music hasn't diminished with age.

The night before our conversation, Troy had returned to his late mother's property, where he enjoys spending a little quiet time before heading back on tour. After a day of travelling, he picked up an electric guitar around six or seven in the evening, plugged into a newly built amplifier and began playing.

He didn't put the guitar down until eleven.

‘I'm still a mad addicted guitar fan’, he laughs.

It's something he shares with Moss. Even when they're doing radio interviews together, there's often an acoustic guitar within reach, and it's not unusual for one of them to start quietly playing while the other is talking.

‘It's not only a great way to bond, but it's a great way to pass the time. I still feel it's one of the best escapes I've ever had in my life, learning guitar from when I was ten’.

For Troy, the instrument remains a source of companionship as much as a means of making a living. Sitting alone on a 90-acre property, playing electric guitar without worrying about disturbing anyone, is still one of his favourite ways to spend an evening.

That sense of appreciation extends to the life music has given him. After more than three decades of travelling Australia, Troy has developed a deep connection with the country and, perhaps more importantly, the people he's met along the way.

When I asked whether being a musician had taught him more about Australia than he could have learnt any other way, he didn't hesitate.

‘Yeah, it's a great question, actually. I think it's taught me more about people, in particular Australian people. It's a privilege to travel around. Not everyone gets to do that’.

He talks about the vast distances between communities, the people who have never had the opportunity to visit places such as the Kimberley or Uluru, and the friendships that develop when you return to the same towns year after year.

‘You walk into their house, there's these familiar smells, there's a handshake and a hug. Great to see you. It might be six months, it might be twelve months since you've seen them, but these friendships are things that have developed over thirty years of playing music as a living’.

It's something he clearly doesn't take for granted.

There's also a lovely story involving Tommy Emmanuel, who once shared a little ritual with Troy after a performance. As they packed their guitars away, Tommy would close his case, look across and say, ‘Well, we've fooled them again’.

It's a line that has stayed with Troy, and one he now shares with Moss.

‘We're doing something we love, and we get the privilege of being paid for it. It's a pinch-me moment everywhere you go’.

Eventually, as conversations with Troy seem destined to do, we found ourselves back talking about cars.

Given an old V8 ute, a full tank of fuel and three days with nowhere particular to be, Troy wouldn't need much convincing to head inland towards Tamworth.

His own pride and joy is an EH Holden fitted with a 253 V8, and he knows every little detail of how it runs.

‘I definitely would do the inland road through to Tamworth. Knowing the sort of juice-hungry car that I've got, I'd probably only make it as far as Glen Innes before I had to put a splash in there’.

But it's the drive itself that appeals to him, particularly climbing into the cooler air of the New England Tablelands.

‘I love when the air gets thin up on the tablelands, and I love it when that muffler tip is running really light grey. You know she's not running too lean or too rich, and they just purr with that cool air running through the motor’.

It's the sort of detail that only someone who genuinely loves old cars would notice, and Troy speaks about the EH with the same enthusiasm he brings to guitars.

A perfect Sunday might involve dropping the oil, changing the filter, cleaning the spark plugs and checking the grease points before taking the car out for a half-hour run. Better still if his son joins him, bringing along his own V8 Monaro.

‘Unfortunately, he's got the bug as well’, Troy laughs.

And then there are the country pubs.

After a lifetime of travelling, Troy has walked through the doors of more than a few memorable watering holes, but one that stands out is the Blue Heeler Hotel at Kynuna in outback Queensland.

He remembers the walls and ceiling covered in memorabilia, old banknotes, crocodile jaws and longhorns, but what really caught his attention was a signature on the wall belonging to Slim Dusty.

This was before Troy had met the Australian country music legend, and the discovery meant enough for him to head back outside to retrieve his camera.

‘In those days, we didn't even have mobile phones. So I went back to the truck, got my little Instamatic camera, and got a mate of mine to take a photo of me with the Slim Dusty autograph on the wall’.

It's a small story, but one that says plenty about Troy's respect for the musicians who came before him and the places that have helped shape Australian music.

As our conversation began winding down, I asked him to finish a sentence that sits at the heart of this magazine.

'Denim is good because…'

‘It makes me feel good’, he replied without hesitation.

And apparently, he's quite happy to take that philosophy all the way to double denim, much to the amusement of his daughter.

‘When my daughter sees me walking out the door, she goes, “Dad, don't!” And it almost makes me want to wear it more, Geoff’.

She has occasionally questioned his ability to match different shades of denim, but Troy isn't particularly concerned.

‘I feel so comfortable, you know?’

It's a fitting way to finish a conversation that has moved from Bill Withers and Dan Penn to Cold Chisel, Leon Russell, late-night drives, old Holdens and the simple pleasure of playing guitar.

What comes through most strongly is Troy's genuine enthusiasm for the things he loves. After all the awards, records, tours and years spent on the road, he still gets excited about a great guitar part, a favourite recording, a well-running V8 or catching up with an old mate in a country town.

And perhaps that's why 'Together Alone' works so well. Troy Cassar-Daley and Ian Moss aren't trying to prove anything to each other or their audiences. They're two musicians who still love discovering what happens when you sit down with a couple of guitars and start playing.

As Troy puts it, they're still pushing each other, still learning and still enjoying the privilege of making music for a living.

And if the road home involves a good record, a country pub and the sound of an old V8, well, that's not a bad way to spend your time either.

Together Alone – Live at the Ulumbarra Theatre* is available now. Troy Cassar-Daley and Ian Moss are touring together on their

Troy Cassar-Daley and Ian Moss 'Together Alone Tour', with dates running through to March 2027.

30 October - Commercial Club, Albury NSW
31 October - Civic Theatre, Wagga Wagga NSW
6 November - Anita’s Theatre, Thirroul NSW
7 November - Blue Mountains Theatre and Community Centre, Springwood NSW
12 November - The Art House, Wyong NSW
13 November - Glasshouse, Port Macquarie NSW
27 November - Theatre Royal, Hobart TAS
28 November - Her Majesty’s Theatre, Ballarat VIC
3 December - Geelong Arts Centre – The Play House, Geelong VIC
4 December - Gippsland Performing Arts Centre, Traralgon VIC
10 December - Ulumbarra Theatre, Bendigo VIC
11 December - Frankston Arts Centre, Frankston VIC
12 December - Wangaratta Performing Arts Centre, Wangaratta VIC
19 February - Canberra Theatre (The Playhouse), Canberra ACT
20 February - Melbourne Recital Centre, Melbourne VIC
26 February - Hindley Street Music Hall, Adelaide SA
27 February - Barossa Arts Centre, Tanunda SA
12 March - The Coliseum Theatre, Sydney NSW
13 March - The Tivoli, Brisbane QLD
19 March - Astor Theatre, Perth WA
20 March - Bunbury Regional Entertainment Centre, Bunbury WA