And if you didn’t know already, she's someone everyone should catch at this year’s event, which runs from July 23 to 26.

In this episode of The Riv talks …, and the fifth and final for 2026 about the Echuca Moama Winter Blues Festival, Kathleen talks about getting to here in her career, and her debut album, Nobody’s Baby.

McPherson Media Group acknowledges the Traditional Owners of Country across our regions and recognises their continuing connection to land, waters and community. We pay our respects to Elders past and present, and extend that respect to all First Nations peoples.

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2023 Memphis International Blues Challenge winner Frank Sultana is among those returning to the festival.

In this episode of The Riv talks …, and the fourth for 2026 about the Echuca Moama Winter Blues Festival, Frank talks about how he won the Memphis event, as well as what he has been up to. 

McPherson Media Group acknowledges the Traditional Owners of Country across our regions and recognises their continuing connection to land, waters and community. We pay our respects to Elders past and present, and extend that respect to all First Nations peoples.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of The Riv Talks … and the third talking about the winter blues festival, Cass talks about growing up always singing, her first band and playing for the troops.

McPherson Media Group acknowledges the Traditional Owners of Country across our regions and recognises their continuing connection to land, waters and community. We pay our respects to Elders past and present, and extend that respect to all First Nations peoples.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Geoff talks about his long blues career, including the moment when blues music became his lifelong learning and his annual gig at the Echuca library during the Winter Blues Festival. 

McPherson Media Group acknowledges the Traditional Owners of Country across our regions and recognises their continuing connection to land, waters and community. We pay our respects to Elders past and present, and extend that respect to all First Nations peoples.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

At the time, Nathan had released a new studio album and his first-ever live recording. 

Nathan talks about the magic of Echuca Moama Winter Blues, which has brought him back to the festival more than once. 

19-Twenty have been stalwarts of the Echuca Moama Winter Blues Festival for over 10 years, with the band becoming a bigger focus in the Australian music scene with each visit. 

Before the 2025 festival, Kane spoke about how busy the band had been touring and why they came to Echuca-Moama again and again.

McPherson Media Group acknowledges the Traditional Owners of Country across our regions and recognises their continuing connection to land, waters and community. We pay our respects to Elders past and present, and extend that respect to all First Nations peoples.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

You can watch 10 artists from across Australia complete live paintings in the town’s Mural Park.

In this episode of The RIV talks… we speak to artists Marco Pennacchia and Kerry Nicholson about why they paint, what they paint and what keeps bringing them back to the mural festival each year. 

The mural festival is not the only upcoming event in Rochester, with the Sips and Sounds Festival, Creative Seeds Exhibition and Ripple Fest running from Sunday, March 22 to Saturday, March 28.

More information can be found in this week’s papers and online. 

McPherson Media Group acknowledges the Traditional Owners of Country across our regions and recognises their continuing connection to land, waters and community. We pay our respects to Elders past and present, and extend that respect to all First Nations peoples.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The result is the show Fire and Rain - The James Taylor Songbook, which is playing at the Echuca Paramount Theatre on Saturday, March 28 at 7.30pm.

I’m Riv journalist Jaci Hicken, and in this episode of The RIV talks … I spoke to Darren about his long Australian music career, his love for the songs of James Taylor and his show Fire and Rain - The James Taylor Songbook.

McPherson Media Group acknowledges the Traditional Owners of Country across our regions and recognises their continuing connection to land, waters and community. We pay our respects to Elders past and present, and extend that respect to all First Nations peoples.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Norwood is an alternative folk band from Melbourne, featuring singer-songwriters Olivia Bolmat and Nathaniel Peacock. Formed through a shared admiration of upfront lyricism and inseparable harmonies, Olivia and Nathaniel have always aimed to create songs that find weight in their unassuming tenderness. We spoke to Liv (Olivia) from Norwood. 

Queenie’s 2024 debut album New Moult is a melting pot of immersive soundscapes, raw emotion and powerhouse vocals - an unflinching statement of arrival from one of Australia’s most exciting new voices. 

Merpire, the moniker of Melbourne-based artist Rhiannon Atkinson-Howatt, creates music that lives somewhere between the rom-com and horror movie sections of her mind.

To take a listen to all of these Australian artists, pop over to Bandcamp

The Riverboats Music Festival 2026 is on February 13 to 15, 2026, in Echuca, Victoria. 

McPherson Media Group acknowledges the Traditional Owners of Country across our regions and recognises their continuing connection to land, waters and community. We pay our respects to Elders past and present, and extend that respect to all First Nations peoples.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

And caught up with Malcolm Boyd, who, along with his wife Lynn and another member, Gwen, is a curator at the museum.

The Border Flywheelers Heritage Museum is a place you could spend more than a couple of hours at exploring the local past, which is being preserved for the future by a dedicated bunch of volunteers.

We started with Malcolm turning on the Auffiren Refrigeration machine, which was used by the German Army in World War I and somehow ended up in Barham.

McPherson Media Group acknowledges the Traditional Owners of Country across our regions and recognises their continuing connection to land, waters and community. We pay our respects to Elders past and present, and extend that respect to all First Nations peoples.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

One of those boats is the PS Alexander Arbuthnot, which was first built in 1916 as a barge before being commissioned as a paddle steamer in 1923.

In 1947, the PS Alexander Arbuthnot sank, then was salvaged in 1972.

The remarkable story of the PS Alexander Arbuthnot's salvage has been chronicled in a book by Helene Sutherland, ‘The Salvage of the Alexander Arbuthnot’.

The ambitious salvage effort commenced in June 1972, spearheaded by Mrs Sutherland's husband John, who lived by the motto 'possible we do straight away, miracles take a little longer.'

RIV TALKS spoke to Mrs Sutherland, sharing the story of this remarkable salvage.

McPherson Media Group acknowledges the Traditional Owners of Country across our regions and recognises their continuing connection to land, waters and community. We pay our respects to Elders past and present, and extend that respect to all First Nations peoples.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The trail, stretching between the historic Port of Echuca and Kerrabee Reserve in Moama, will showcase eight large-scale handcrafted sand installations created by Sandstorm Events.

The collaboration between Murray River Council, Campaspe Shire Council and Campaspe Port Enterprise brings this unique exhibition to the twin towns.

Sandstorm Events director Sharon Redmond has spent 25 years building Australia's premier sand sculpting company from humble beginnings at a not-for-profit organisation.

McPherson Media Group acknowledges the Traditional Owners of Country across our regions and recognises their continuing connection to land, waters and community. We pay our respects to Elders past and present, and extend that respect to all First Nations peoples.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.