The 2026 Rochester Mural Festival starts on Saturday, March 21, and runs through the following weekend.

You can watch 10 artists from across Australia complete live paintings in the town’s Mural Park.

In this episode of The RIV talks… we speak to artists Marco Pennacchia and Kerry Nicholson about why they paint, what they paint and what keeps bringing them back to the mural festival each year.

The mural festival is not the only upcoming event in Rochester, with the Sips and Sounds Festival, Creative Seeds Exhibition and Ripple Fest running from Sunday, March 22 to Saturday, March 28.

More information can be found in this week’s papers and online.

McPherson Media Group acknowledges the Traditional Owners of Country across our regions and recognises their continuing connection to land, waters and community. We pay our respects to Elders past and present, and extend that respect to all First Nations peoples.

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James Taylor's songs are bookmarks in many people’s lives, and Darren Coggan takes seriously his responsibility to recreate the songs as accurately as possible.

The result is the show Fire and Rain - The James Taylor Songbook, which is playing at the Echuca Paramount Theatre on Saturday, March 28 at 7.30pm.

I’m Riv journalist Jaci Hicken, and in this episode of The RIV talks … I spoke to Darren about his long Australian music career, his love for the songs of James Taylor and his show Fire and Rain - The James Taylor Songbook.

McPherson Media Group acknowledges the Traditional Owners of Country across our regions and recognises their continuing connection to land, waters and community. We pay our respects to Elders past and present, and extend that respect to all First Nations peoples.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of The Riv talks … we have spent some time with three of the acts performing at the 2026 Riverboats Music Festival - Norwood, Queenie and Merpire.

Norwood is an alternative folk band from Melbourne, featuring singer-songwriters Olivia Bolmat and Nathaniel Peacock. Formed through a shared admiration of upfront lyricism and inseparable harmonies, Olivia and Nathaniel have always aimed to create songs that find weight in their unassuming tenderness. We spoke to Liv (Olivia) from Norwood.

Queenie’s 2024 debut album New Moult is a melting pot of immersive soundscapes, raw emotion and powerhouse vocals - an unflinching statement of arrival from one of Australia’s most exciting new voices.

Merpire, the moniker of Melbourne-based artist Rhiannon Atkinson-Howatt, creates music that lives somewhere between the rom-com and horror movie sections of her mind.

To take a listen to all of these Australian artists, pop over to Bandcamp

The Riverboats Music Festival 2026 is on February 13 to 15, 2026, in Echuca, Victoria.

McPherson Media Group acknowledges the Traditional Owners of Country across our regions and recognises their continuing connection to land, waters and community. We pay our respects to Elders past and present, and extend that respect to all First Nations peoples.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.