The Cherry Farm, the lead song from Angus & Julia Stone’s new album Karaoke Bar, traces a personal connection to a Tasmanian property Julia Stone once planned to make her home.
by Paul Cashmere
Angus & Julia Stone’s The Cherry Farm has emerged as one of the most personal songs on their new album Karaoke Bar, drawing on Julia Stone’s connection to a former cherry orchard at Woodbridge in Tasmania’s D’Entrecasteaux Channel. The song gives a musical form to a place that was intended to become a home and songwriting retreat but ultimately remained a working farm, adding a distinctly Tasmanian thread to the duo’s seventh studio album.
The story adds new context to the Australian tour announced by Noise11 earlier this week. Angus & Julia Stone will begin the Australian leg of their Karaoke Bar World Tour in February 2027, although Tasmania is not currently included among the six announced dates.
Julia bought the Woodbridge property with the intention of building a house there and using the surroundings as a place to write. The house was never built. Instead, the land was leased to farmers and operated as a cherry orchard.
That unrealised future became the basis for The Cherry Farm. The song is concerned with memory and the emotional residue of places and plans that do not unfold as expected. The former property has since ceased to be part of Julia’s life in the same way, but its significance remains within the song.
Julia has lived in Hobart since 2021, and Tasmania has become an important part of her creative environment. She has described the island’s quieter pace and natural surroundings as an influence that works beneath the surface rather than as a deliberate musical theme.
Karaoke Bar was released on September 4, 2026, through Virgin Music. The album was written and recorded across Australia, France and Greece, with the different locations contributing to a record that extends the musical language Angus & Julia Stone have developed across almost two decades.
The Cherry Farm has already moved from the studio into the duo’s live repertoire. Angus & Julia Stone performed the song publicly in Europe during 2026, including its live debut at Le Bus Palladium in Paris in July. A subsequent Melbourne performance on September 6 also included The Cherry Farm alongside new album songs Karaoke Bar and Celestial Bodies and established favourites including Big Jet Plane.
That early live exposure provides a preview of how the new material can sit alongside the catalogue when the Australian tour begins. The announced shows will be the duo’s first national headline tour since the Living Room Sessions campaign of 2024.
Angus & Julia Stone’s history stretches back to 2007’s A Book Like This, the album that introduced the Sydney brother and sister as a recording partnership. Their breakthrough came with 2010’s Down The Way, which included Big Jet Plane. The song became a defining recording for the duo and won the triple j Hottest 100.
Their subsequent albums have continued to broaden their international audience. The self-titled Angus & Julia Stone followed in 2014, Snow in 2017 and Cape Forestier in 2024. Cape Forestier was followed by an international touring campaign that included performances at London’s Royal Albert Hall, Paris’ L’Olympia and New York’s Town Hall.
Karaoke Bar now places The Cherry Farm within that longer catalogue, connecting a very specific Australian landscape with a recording made across several countries. The song also demonstrates how Julia’s Tasmanian life has become part of the creative geography surrounding the new album.
For Australian audiences, the absence of a Tasmanian date makes that connection particularly notable. Julia’s former Woodbridge orchard is central to one of the album’s key songs, while Hobart remains her home, yet the current tour itinerary moves from Adelaide to Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney and Perth. There is no Hobart performance announced at this stage.
The Australian run will therefore begin in Adelaide on February 13 before continuing through Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney and Perth. The Sydney Opera House Forecourt show on February 28 will provide the tour’s major outdoor Sydney date, while the Perth performance at Kings Park and Botanic Garden will close the announced Australian itinerary.
Tour Dates
13 February 2027, Adelaide, Adelaide Entertainment Centre Theatre
20 February 2027, Brisbane, The Fortitude Music Hall
25 February 2027, Melbourne, Forum Melbourne
26 February 2027, Melbourne, Forum Melbourne
28 February 2027, Sydney, Sydney Opera House Forecourt
5 March 2027, Perth, Kings Park and Botanic Garden
Ticket Details
Authorised ticket information: Frontier Touring.
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