The Gympie Music Muster has named multi–Golden Guitar winner Amber Lawrence as its 2026 Ambassador, leading the first artists announced for the 2026 festival, held August 27–30.
Joining Amber on the line-up so far are some of Australia’s most loved live acts, including Lee Kernaghan, 2025 ambassadors The Wolfe Brothers, Graeme Connors, James Blundell, James Johnston, Brooke McClymont and Adam Eckersley, Adam Eckersley Band, Beccy Cole, Sara Berki, Taylor Moss, Canadians PETRIC, Pierce Brothers and more, with dozens of artists still to be announced in the coming months.
For Amber, being named Ambassador is a full–circle moment, 20 years in the making.
“The Gympie Muster is such an iconic Australian festival, one that I could only dream of playing when I first started my career,” she said.
“It’s a bucket list festival to play, so it’s even more of a bucket list to be trusted to be the Ambassador. What an honour to be trusted to continue to spread the word of how great a festival it is and be part of the line up in 2026.”
Amber first stepped onto the stage at Gympie in 2006, so the 2026 event celebrates significant milestones in her career.
“This year will be my 10th Muster, and my first Muster was 20 years ago – can you believe those stats?” she said.
“I feel its history is so important because of how long it’s been running and the number of Australian legends that have played on those iconic stages. Its location is also so special, and, of course, the people who attend including people who have never missed a Muster, people who come weeks in advance to rope off their sites, fans who stand in the sun, rain, the mud, the dust to sing along to their favourite Australian acts. It’s just special.”
Some of Amber’s strongest memories are tied to unpredictable Muster weather and big milestones on the main stage.
“I have three favourite memories that stand out – 2007 when we got ‘flooded in’ and I played to a soaked and packed Muster Club for my second ever Muster and then lent my guitar to the next act, as their guitar got trapped on the other side of the flooded creeks.
“Another favourite was my first main stage performance when it poured, and I looked at the audio operator and asked if I could take my microphone out in the rain and he said go for it, and I sang on main stage in the pouring rain.
“And, most recently in 2022, when it was my son’s 4th birthday and I carried him on my hip, holding him in one arm whilst holding a microphone in the other and singing the final song on main stage on the Sunday.”
As Ambassador, Amber is looking forward to being on site for the full four days and throwing herself into Muster life.
“I get to hang out for the whole festival – which is something I haven’t done for many years, which means I’ll get to enjoy catching up with friends and watching new artists and more, and really embracing the Muster,” she said.
“I also have the privilege of being part of the build up and get to talk about this iconic event and share all my wonderful memories on such a cool anniversary for me – 10 Musters, 20 years!”
Husband–and–wife duo Brooke and Adam Eckersley are also among the first artists locked in for 2026, returning to a festival that played a major role in their individual careers and now in their family life together.
“We’ve both been coming to the Muster since 1998. Brooke was signed to Universal Records from winning the Muster talent search so it’s always held a special place from where our careers started,” they said.
“What makes it so special for us is we take our kids and all of our friends and then they bring their family and friends so it really is a wonderful place for loved ones to catch up and enjoy the amazing festival together.”
With a new album on the way, they’re promising plenty of fresh songs when they take to the stage in 2026.
“We have a new album being released so we have plenty of new material to showcase and, seeing as though we both never know what’s going to happen on the night of our performance, we can pretty much guarantee that some shenanigans will happen even if we want them to or not,” they laughed.
“This year would have to be our 4th Muster together, it’s becoming our annual holiday with the kids and it’s our favourite together as a family.”
For anyone who hasn’t experienced the Muster yet, Brooke and Adam’s advice is simple.
“If you’ve never been to the Muster and love camping and with the incredible Aussie talent we have, well you need to get yourselves to the festival,” they said.
“The only advice we would give is bring plenty of undies, grog, your good times and your favourite friends and family.”
Adam added that he’s also looking forward to getting back on stage with the Adam Eckersley Band.
“The boys and I have probably played throughout the years three or four times as well, the Blues Bar is one of our favourites so it will be good to play all the AEB songs this year,” he said.
Graeme Connors also shared some reflections on his long association with the Gympie Music Muster.
“In light of the fact that my archives are currently in storage due to renovations the only accurate answer to how many Musters I’ve played is “many… heaps… but still not enough!”
It’s always been a special festival for the Mackay multi-award-winner.
“The Muster audiences and organisers have always been open-minded and generous welcoming newcomers and celebrating long-term career artists,” Graeme said.
Like many artists, Graeme’s favourite Muster memory happened on the Hill Stage.
“It was sunset back in the late-nineties – there wasn’t an empty space in the crowd from main stage to the top of the hill – I sang the line ’the sun sinks behind me in the west’ and the roar of approval from the crowd temporarily drowned out the front of house and onstage sound,” he said.
“For an artist it doesn’t get better than that.
“With the release of ‘What Next?’, I now have 21 albums of songs to choose from – squeezing in everybody’s favourite is impossible – but I’ll be giving it my best shot.”
Minister for Tourism Andrew Powell said the drop will generate enormous excitement for one of Australia’s most iconic country music events.
“The Gympie Music Muster is a highlight of Australia’s country music calendar, and this line-up truly showcases the incredible local and international talent the festival attracts,” Minister Powell said.
“This longstanding festival brings fans together from across Australia as Destination 2045 cements our reputation as the events capital of the nation.
“We expect more than 16,000 attendees in 2026, contributing an estimated $15.7 million to the state’s economy.”
