You might be a massive fan of country music.
You might even be one of the 22,000 people a day heading to Willowbank, Ipswich for CMC Rocks QLD this weekend, with some acts performing from Wednesday and the official start of the festival kicking off on Friday.
Maybe you're travelling from Toowoomba or Redcliffe or from over the border in Tenterfield, with people expected to descend on the city from right across Australia and overseas.
CMC Rocks is Australia's largest international country music festival, even boasting Taylor Swift among its alumni.
She attended in 2009, which was year number two of the annual event. It's back this year after a two-year hiatus brought on by the pandemic.
But if you're making the trip in, what can you expect when you get there?
They say when America sneezes, Australia catches a cold. And right now in the United States, it seems the sound of country music is evolving.
This year, CMC Rocks welcomes artists such as Kane Brown, Jimmie Allen, Breland and Blanco Brown.
"I'm so excited about CMC Rocks," Blanco Brown said.
"I just talked to my homie Jimmie Allen this morning and we went to talking about, man, we all the way in Australia doing country music, TrailerTrap – it's just beautiful.
"I never thought of music going this far. I just kind of had a simple mind I guess on it.
"I wanted to touch a couple of people's hearts with my music, but it ended up touching a lot of the world.
"And I'm just ecstatic.
"The love that I've gotten from Australia since day one has been real. And the joy that we share together is surreal. It's a blessing."
Blanco Brown has merged the country music he loves with hip hop.
He released his debut track The Git Up in 2019 and it quickly went viral, clocking up almost four billion views across social platforms.
It was certified 11x platinum in three countries and was number one on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart for 12 weeks.
It was also the top-selling digital country song in the US for 13 weeks.
'Trailer meets trap'
"It's trailer park music meets trap music. Country music meets 808 … I just bridged the gap. I call it TrailerTrap," he said.
"I just kind of wanted to do something that was different. And I didn't want to limit myself to one thing, one sound, I wanted to enable every part of my essence into one mixer. And that's what I came up with, with TrailerTrap, I can just be myself."
Brown is one of a number of artists who've popularised the unique sound, with Lil Nas X also known for a hybrid country and hip-hop sound.
"He's a pop icon," Brown said of Lil Nas X.
"Nobody has done what he's done in the amount of time he's done it. Nobody.
"So, congratulations to youngin. I love it.
"He's straight from the same hood I'm from Bankhead Courts, westside of Atlanta, Georgia.
"We both grew up in the hood in Atlanta, Georgia, where a lot of poverty was – Bankhead Courts.
"Lil Nas X [is] obviously another generation younger than me. But we grew up under the same circumstances. His parents and my parents are friends."
Lil Nas X's Old Town Road took the world by storm and generated fervent discussion after Billboard controversially removed it from the country chart, apparently because it wasn't country enough.
Brown said he leaked a video featuring his own song The Git Up in April 2019 ahead of its official release after Old Town Road came out, but the song had long since been recorded – his record company had been sitting on it.
"While his song was blowing up, I was already named top seven country acts to look for [by Billboard].
"I signed my deal in 2018, but kept it quiet. It was such a secret that the label didn't even want to let the world know.
"We didn't do press or anything about my signing. We stayed quiet. We wanted to bring it out and surprise everybody. And then out of nowhere, I hear Old Town Road.
"Somebody called me from the label and said there's a song that feels like it's in the same vein as yours. I said what are we waiting on?"
Blanco Brown said hip hop and country go hand in hand. It comes down to the storytelling.
He's worked with CMC Rocks headliner Kane Brown, including on his first album and is supporting some of his shows, performing in Sydney last night.
An at capacity crowd of 5,500 gathered in the Hordern Pavilion for the show – with a couple even getting engaged after an audience member Sean proposed to his girlfriend Susan as Kane Brown sang Good as You.
Blanco Brown showcased his yet to be released new single I'll Never, a country ballad fit for Sean and Susan's wedding.
As a Grammy-nominated engineer who has worked with Fergie, Childish Gambino, Chris Brown and many others, Blanco Brown has been on the scene for some time and has plenty of ammunition left in the tank.
"I didn't come out of nowhere," he said.
"I was already there. You just didn't know it."
Blanco Brown performs at the sold out CMC Rocks QLD, which will run till Sunday, September 25 in Willowbank, Ipswich.
