Casey Barnes and Pete Murray have finally recorded together after more than two decades of friendship, delivering the reflective new single ‘Time To Burn’, a song centred on family, perspective and the passing of time.
by Paul Cashmere
Australian singer-songwriters Casey Barnes and Pete Murray have released their first ever collaboration, ‘Time To Burn’, bringing together two artists whose careers have travelled different paths through the Australian music industry before arriving at the same creative moment in 2026.
Released this week, ‘Time To Burn’ pairs Barnes’ country-rock foundation with Murray’s established adult contemporary sound in a song that examines how quickly life can move and the importance of remaining connected to family and personal relationships. The track was co-written by Barnes, Murray, Michael Paynter and Michael DeLorenzis, two writers and producers who have each worked extensively across the Australian recording industry.
The collaboration has been more than 20 years in the making. Barnes and Murray first crossed paths early in Barnes’ career when Murray’s commercial breakthrough with albums like ‘Feeler’ and ‘See The Sun’ was reshaping Australian mainstream radio in the early 2000s. Barnes was still building his audience through independent touring circuits and support slots, including performances alongside Bryan Adams and Diesel.
For Barnes, the release continues a productive period that has included the albums ‘Light It Up’ and ‘Mayday’, as well as recent singles including ‘Made For This’. ‘Light It Up’ became a career milestone when it won the ARIA Award for Best Country Album in 2022, confirming Barnes as one of the key crossover figures in contemporary Australian country music.
Murray enters the collaboration following another strong chapter in his catalogue. His 2025 album ‘Longing’ extended a career that has already delivered three consecutive Australian number one albums with ‘Feeler’, ‘See The Sun’ and ‘Summer At Eureka’. Across more than two decades, Murray has sold over 1.2 million albums in Australia, placing him among the country’s most commercially successful singer-songwriters of the modern era.
Barnes said the themes explored in ‘Time To Burn’ came from personal conversations between the pair.
“Pete and I have known each other for over 20 years, and we’ve always talked about working together,” Barnes said. “‘Time To Burn’ came from an honest conversation about how fast life moves and how easy it is to get caught up chasing everything while the moments that matter slip by.”
Barnes said becoming fathers added further emotional weight to the writing process.
“Writing it together as two dads made it hit even deeper,” he said. “With everything going on in the world, it feels more important than ever to slow down and be present, because those moments don’t come back.”
Murray traced the connection back to Barnes’ early years performing on the Queensland circuit.
“I met Casey about 20 years ago when he was playing a rugby gig I’d done a couple of years earlier, just before my career took off,” Murray said. “We talked about his goals with original music, and a lot has happened for both of us since then.”
“Now, here we are, writing a song together after all this time. I believe ‘Time To Burn’ is something everyone will connect with.”
Musically, ‘Time To Burn’ sits in a more restrained space than some of Barnes’ recent country-rock material. Acoustic textures and understated production allow the lyrical themes to remain central, while Murray’s vocal tone provides a familiar warmth that has characterised much of his catalogue since ‘So Beautiful’ became one of the defining Australian radio songs of the 2000s.
The single also continues a broader trend within Australian music where established artists from adjacent genres are increasingly collaborating across country, rock and singer-songwriter formats. Barnes has previously worked with Rick Price and featured alongside artists including Lady A and Mariah Carey on live bills, while Murray’s collaborative history includes the reworked duet recordings featured on ‘Blue Sky Blue “The Byron Sessions”’.
Michael Paynter and Michael DeLorenzis also bring significant collaborative pedigrees to the project. Both have become influential figures behind the scenes in Australian contemporary music, contributing to projects spanning pop, country and rock. DeLorenzis in particular has become closely associated with Barnes’ modern country sound through multiple releases over the past decade.
The official video for ‘Time To Burn’ was filmed in the Byron Bay hinterland by award-winning director Jay Seeney, whose work has become highly recognisable within Australian country music video production. The Byron Bay setting also carries personal significance for Murray, who has long been based in the region.
For listeners beyond the country audience, the collaboration represents another example of how Australian country music has expanded commercially and creatively over the past decade. Artists such as Barnes have increasingly blurred the lines between mainstream rock, pop and country, creating projects capable of reaching broader national audiences without abandoning traditional songwriting structures.
With ‘Time To Burn’, Barnes and Murray are drawing on long careers and established audiences, but the song’s strength comes from its simplicity. Rather than chasing radio trends or streaming formulas, the track focuses on a universal subject that resonates across generations, the awareness that time moves quickly and that meaningful moments rarely announce themselves while they are happening.
The release is expected to feature prominently in upcoming live sets for both artists as the Australian touring calendar continues to expand through the second half of 2026.
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