Tom Curtain was on horseback leading a herd of Brahman through the outback when a song suddenly popped into his head.
As he navigated the vast cattle station, wind roaring in his face, Curtain began to sing about life "smack bang" in the middle of the Northern Territory.
"At the end of the mob, there were five other ringers and they could hear me practising and singing this song," Curtain recalled to AAP at the Tamworth Country Music Festival.
"Those fellas could have easily said, 'Mate, what are you doing? Just give up, it sounds horrendous'.
"But they were that hard up for entertainment, they really backed me and got me going from there."
Curtain released his first album Smack Bang in 2004, the beginning of several decades combining life on the land with making music.
For half of the year, the skilled horseman runs the Katherine Outback Experience tourist venture, giving city slickers a taste of the bush.
He takes his music on the road in the summer months, bringing his horses, dogs and young family along for the ride.
Curtain's live performances are a rollicking mix of cattle dog and horse shows, bush tales and live music.
One of his latest tracks, When the Rain Comes Down, has struck a nerve with audiences across country Australia as it deals with the mental toll of farming.
Curtain feels a responsibility to be vulnerable to put paid to the "boys don't cry" rural mentality.
"The farmers that rock up to our shows, their posture ... is all dishevelled and beaten down," he said.
"Our job is to really let them forget about life for a few hours."
But he is also keen to celebrate outback life.
The track Why We Live Out Here relishes in the joys of golden crops, buzzing cattle sales, wide open skies and cooling off in water troughs.
The single was inspired by a boy who visited his Katherine property and was overheard asking: "Why would anyone want to live out here?"
"I said, 'Is it OK if I borrow that line because I think it's a cracker of a song title'," Curtain said, laughing.
"It's one of the most popular songs we play now, everyone gets up and dances and kicks up their heels.
"We're celebrating why people live out in the bush."
As Curtain and his travelling show prepare to tour across rural NSW, Victoria and South Australia until April, the singer-songwriter is nominated for a Golden Guitar Award for Traditional Country Album of the Year.
"Touring six months every year, doing 60 or 70 shows, meeting all these people and hearing their stories is absolutely amazing.
"And this is the real kicker."
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