Based on the Bonus Podcast Episode: “Live from the Whitsundays Songwriter Festival: Brad Butcher” – The Magic of Songwriting with Francesca de Valence

Francesca sits down with two-time Golden Guitar winner Brad Butcher at the 2025 Whitsundays Songwriter Festival to talk about songwriting, collaboration, and learning music by listening deeply growing up in regional Queensland.

A deeply respected voice in Australian songwriting, Brad was part of the festival’s songwriter residency, where he co-wrote six songs — including one he performed live at our Concert and Conversation the very next day — and he was a much-loved mentor to local, emerging country music songwriters in our workshop.

Listen to the full audio experience here, or read on for how you can be part of the 2026 festival.

At the heart of the Whitsundays Songwriter Festival is something rare: a space where acclaimed songwriters come together not just to perform finished songs, but to write new ones. 

Each year, 6 artists travel to Airlie Beach for our songwriter residency, where they spend several days collaborating in writing rooms overlooking the stunning Whitsunday coastline. Writers who may never have met before are paired together, instruments come out, stories are shared, and brand-new songs begin to take shape. 

It’s a process built on trust, curiosity and openness. Co-writing asks songwriters to arrive with their craft, but also with humility – listening deeply, responding to ideas in the moment, and allowing a song to evolve in ways no single writer could have predicted. 

For artists like Brad Butcher, who joined us as part of the 2025 residency, the process captures the true magic of songwriting: the meeting of experience, instinct and collaboration. One of those songs written, he performed at the festival’s Concert and Conversation for the local community and has been taken on the road since.

Songwriters who have come before, like Vika & Linda, and Wendy Matthews, also take their songs written at the Whitsundays Songwriter Festival on the road. 

What makes the residency special is not just the songs themselves, but the environment around them. Surrounded by the natural beauty of the Whitsundays, the pace slows, creativity opens up, and writers reconnect with the reason they began writing songs in the first place.

Join our 2026 Festival
If you want to be part of the 2026 Whitsundays Songwriter Festival and be mentored by our team of acclaimed songwriters, join us in Airlie Beach, Queensland on June 6. Click here for more information on the Festival.