“Growing up gay in country Victoria meant being the butt of the joke, the target on the playground, the disappointment, the embarrassment. I learned to lie to get by - and like a suit that didn’t fit me, I swam around in someone else’s clothes. I was made to feel shame about something beautiful. This record is so very personal, so very important to me. This is how I say to the world ‘here I am’ - and fuck all of the voices in my head and from my past that told me that I couldn’t be loved if they knew the truth.”

Michael Waugh is a songwriter’s songwriter, a compelling live performer and an extraordinary storyteller. Among his admirers are the legendary Eric Bogle, alt. country luminaries Shane Nicholson & Fanny Lumsden as well as Josh Cunningham from The Waifs.

In 2018 Michael’s album The Asphalt and The Oval won Folk and Roots Album of the Year at The Age Music Victoria awards. His 2019 album The Weir received two Golden Guitar nominations - Male Artist of the Year and Alt. Country Album of the Year – as well as a nomination at the 2020 Victorian Music Awards. In 2022 Dirty River, Michael's tribute to his home town of Melbourne was voted Heritage Song of the Year at the Golden Guitar Awards. The album also received a Golden Guitar nomination for Alt Country Album of the Year as well as nominations in the Australian Folk Music Awards and the Victorian Music Awards. 



“When Michael Waugh opens his mouth, you should listen”.
Andrew McMillen – The Australian

" Experiencing his new record made me feel like I’d encountered something that had genuinely made me a better, more empathetic person.” 
Josh Cunningham – The Waifs

“Michael takes all these elements of the human condition and lyrically moulds them into something that is very special indeed, the mark of a compassionate and insightful human being and a gifted songwriter.”  
Eric Bogle