Heath Cullen to appear at National Folk Festival

The tiny rural hamlet, about two and a half hours south east of Canberra, is home to many talented musicians and artists, and it's where Cullen still finds his inspiration.

"I'm a country boy at heart," Cullen says.

"I love travelling, and while it's great to be in a place like LA at the moment, where there's so much going on and so many exciting musical connections to explore, where everyone is being creative and making music and doing exciting things, my sanity needs to be beside the creek and needs to be where I have no neighbours who worry if I'm playing my electric guitar at three in the morning."

Cullen says the concept of home plays a really important part in the making of music.

"Whereever you make home, where you make your art, your surrounding will influence that, even down to the room that you sit in when you play it, everything affects how your music sounds and feels."

We talk about how The Waifs recorded their latest album in the kitchen of band member Josh Cunningham, indeed Cullen said he dropped in one afternoon to catch up with the band who are also from that pocket of the Sapphire Coast.

"There's a lot of creative people from down that way," he said.

"Phil Moriarty from The Gadlfys reckons it has the highest number of musicians per capita in the country, he reckons it's about one in four, and given the village itself is only about 300 or 400 people that's quite a lot."

Cullen said the multi-generational, diverse influences of the village helped shape his music, which he can't label.

"My taste is too broad to pinpoint a genre," he says.

"I have an aversion to being put in a box anyway.

"I think of myself as a folk singer in a rock and roll band, although I hate the term folk rock."

As a child he had the obligatory piano lessons but "picked up a guitar at about 11 or 12 and never put it down again."

He put his "creaky baritone" to good use on his latest album, Outsiders, which he recorded in 2015 with The Imposters, the longtime band of Elvis Costello, the first time the ensemble had worked with another singer.

The album received great reviews, with Kim Cheshire of Rhythms magazine describing it as "full of lyrical turns, tunes that will stick in your head for days, with a distinctive voice and delivery that stitches it all together."

Cullen is looking forward to the National Folk Festival in Canberra from April 13-17. It's been a few years since he last played here.

"It's a beautiful festival, so many different performers, such a great audience," he said.

"I like getting back to Canberra, close to home."

Heath Cullen will perform at the National Folk Festival at Exhibition Park in Canberra from April 13-17.