Entertainment
1 October, 2025
Idol star, country veteran set to sing
Australian Idol star Denvah Baker-Moller and country music veteran Will Day are both eager for their gigs at Savannah in the Round next week.
Young talent to tick off dream festival
The bubbly and quirky Denvah who finished in the Top 3 in this year’s Australian Idol is getting ready to tick off another bucket list festival performance at Savannah in the Round next week.
After captivating TV audiences as the quirky country girl from Rockhampton on the Australian singing competition earlier this year, Denvah – a bubbly personality with a yodel-like singing style quickly became a well-known artist.
She said she is “absolutely pumped” to be making her Savannah in the Round debut next week.
“I’ve played a few bucket list festivals this year and that was really exciting,” the 25-year-old said.
“I’m in the process of putting an album together, which will be my first one. So I’ve been doing a lot of writing and getting out and doing shows.
“This will be my first time playing at Savannah in the Round. It’s another bucket list festival, so I’m absolutely pumped.
“I love a good festival frolic – as I call it. Like I love performing and being on stage and that’s the reason I’m coming, but my favourite part about a festival is just being in it and just soaking up everything.
“I’m really looking forward to watching Kasey (Chambers). I have seen her live so many times – truly, I just love her,” she laughed.
Denvah said that her Australian Idol experience was “weird, but great”.
“I tell everyone it was weird, but it was great. It really is like nothing I’ve ever done before,” she said.
“It was such a weird experience because it was really unique but also great. I feel like I learnt more about being a human than I did about singing.
“I definitely learnt about singing and music for sure, but I think I learnt how to be a better human – which is great, that’s always the goal. So I’m really glad I did it.”
Denvah grew up dancing and transitioned into music when she was 15.
“I grew up dancing, so I kind of came from that side of it. Everyone thought I was going to be a ballerina, and for a little bit there I thought so too,” she said.
“I just realised one day that I enjoyed singing so much more, it was just a hobby at that stage, but I just started getting into it a little bit more and I taught myself how to play guitar.
“I grew up listening to country music, so I was raised on that 90s country sound. I think that’s why I went down the country lane.
“I was definitely into Brad Paisley, I’m pretty sure he’s the reason I sing,” she laughed.
“And I loved the Aussies – like Kasey Chambers and Keith Urban. Also the great’s like Alan Jackson and Randy Travis.
“I released my debut EP in 2020, so that was the year that I fully decided that music was definitely what I wanted to do.”
Denvah will be playing from 9.30am on Saturday 11 October under the Big Top Music Hall.
Day set for first solo gig
Country music veteran Will Day is excited to visit one of his favourite parts of the state for next week’s Savannah in the Round.
Australian musician Will Day will be making his second appearance at Savannah in the Round, but this year will be his first time as a solo act.
“I’ve played Savannah once before, but that was a double act with my mate Col Finley. So, this year it’ll be just me for the first time,” he said.
“It’s a unique festival with a huge lineup, and it’s in a great part of Queensland – I love Far North Queensland – so I’m grateful to be a part of it.”
Day’s latest release Red Dirt Church is an ode to the “great country we live in” and he’s excited to showcase it at the festival.
“I wrote that with Tom Wolfe of the Wolfe Brothers and my producer Jared Adlam,” he said.
“It was actually Jared that brought the idea of framing this great country we live in and being outdoors as growing up in a red dirt church, that being outdoors is the church.
“So it’s just kind of celebrating an upbringing in our country and also appreciating how lucky we have it.”
His catalog of music includes successful songs such as Always A Girl, Set Your Sights, and Dear Dad – a heartfelt ballad dedicated to his dad who passed away after being diagnosed with cancer.
“Dear Dad is one of my most personal songs… I lost my dad to brain cancer when I was 18,” Day said.
“The point of that song is that we all feel grief, and we all connect to that feeling of losing someone.
“It’s very personal but it’s probably the one that’s connected with people the most, which is what we want to do as songwriters.”
Day grew up in the small town of Goondiwindi in south-east Queensland and started gigging when he was 15.
“It was my parents buying me a guitar when I was 15 that got me into music,” he said.
“I started learning a few chords and found out I could sing a bit, and my local music teacher told me to keep at it. So it was just getting that guitar and away I went.
“I’ve been releasing country music for the last 8-10 years, but it’s always been there since I was a teenager.”
His first and only album to date, Countrified, was released in 2021, but Day said he’d been working towards his next piece of work which will be released next year.
“My first album came out in 2021. I’m an independent artist and I’m proud to be independent,” he said.
“But it does take a lot of work. I’ve been due for another album, so I’ve been to Nashville last year and this year writing.
“I’m also currently writing towards a second album, hopefully recording it next year and there’ll be a string of singles to come with that. So, I’m looking forward to going into that new cycle of a new body of work.”
Day will be playing at the Campers Concert on Thursday 9 October from 9.15pm and 1pm on Friday at the Bull Bar.
For more information or to purchase tickets, visit www.savannahintheround.com.au
