QLD Music Trails Announces 2027 Lineup Following Record Attendance Growth

The QLD Music Trails: The Outback Trail has revealed its full lineup for 2027. 

The self-drive trail, now in its fifth year, covers seven outback Queensland towns, from Charleville to Mount Isa, kicking off on Saturday, May 8th, 2027. Each stop has its own events and artists, starting with Charleville’s Saddle Up, headlined by Kingswood with Dear Tommie and Jess Holbrok.

Longreach will host Dusty Days - marking what would have been Slim Dusty’s 100th birthday year - with the event at Qantas' Founders Museum hangar. Dusty Days, presented in association with Opera Queensland’s Festival of Outback Opera, will be headlined by Troy Cassar-Daley, with Kingswood and Tori Darke.

The trail ends in Mount Isa with Outback Sounds, the Queensland Music Festival’s signature event. Pete Murray will headline, with support from Pierce Brothers, Y.O.G.A and trail ambassador Tori Darke.

According to QMF, this year's trail had a 95% rise in attendance from the previous year, drawing more than 7,650 attendees over 16 days, including 2,339 visitors from outside the region. That, in turn, generated 21,684 bed nights and $2.6 million in visitor spending across Queensland.

“The Outback 2026 was our biggest Trail yet, with more than 7,000 locals and travellers joining us across eight communities and 1,400 kilometres of regional Queensland. The scale of that engagement shows the incredible appetite for shared cultural tourism experiences in Outback Queensland, and the role music events can play in connecting communities, industry and visitors," QMF CEO Daryl Raven said. 

“In 2027, we’re excited to take the Outback Trail experience even further, creating more opportunities for locals, travellers and artists to come together and experience the unique stories, places and communities along the way."

He said next year, they are expecting hundreds to travel the full 16-day itinerary, along with thousands of locals and weekend travellers who join along the way, "embracing the journey, discovering new places and sharing the experience with the communities that make the Outback Trail so special".