Australian country music has spent the last few years drifting further away from polished radio clichés and back toward something dustier, rougher and more lived-in. Wade Forster has become one of the key figures steering that shift, and now the Golden Guitar-winning songwriter is pushing deeper into that world with the announcement of his third album, The Aftermath, alongside a national headline run that looks set to cement his growing status well beyond country circles.
Pre-order the Aftermath HERE.
The Aftermath Tour kicks off this October with support from The Wet Whistles and Piper Butcher, taking in Perth, Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide and Melbourne. It follows a huge 2025 for Forster, whose Gooseneck Party era turned him from rising country hopeful into one of Australia’s fastest-growing live draws. Sold-out local dates and relentless US touring have steadily expanded his audience, particularly among listeners drawn to country music that still feels connected to small-town pubs, long highways and the kind of nights that blur into sunrise.
If Gooseneck Party captured the chaos of the night itself, The Aftermath sounds like the drive home afterwards. Forster describes the record as “the perfect album for the Sunday scaries”, and the title alone suggests a shift away from rowdy celebration toward whatever emotional debris gets left behind once the smoke clears. There’s a weariness baked into that idea, but also a self-awareness that keeps it from collapsing into self-pity. Even his description of already writing another album hints at an artist working instinctively rather than carefully curating a brand.
That relentless momentum has become part of Forster’s appeal. While much of modern country increasingly leans toward polished crossover territory, his music still carries the grit of regional Australia.
With The Aftermath arriving in August and a national theatre run locked in for October and November, Wade Forster feels less like a country artist chasing a moment and more like one building a long road through it. Slowly, steadily and with the dust still trailing behind him.
Go HERE for tickets.
