For Ella Hooper, performing in the Riverboats Music Festival is a bit of a dream.
“I’ve wanted to go to this festival forever, so I’m happy that I can kill two birds with one stone because I want to be there,” she said.
“I always love the lineups, I love that area. I love everything I’ve heard about the atmosphere, so I thought a good way to go is actually to play.”
For her act, The Linda Ronstadt Show, Ella Hooper will be celebrating the titular performer.
“It’s basically a big joyous celebration of Linda Ronstadt, all of her different eras. All of the incredible variety of genres she explored are represented in our set,” she said.
“We’ve got an awesome band with everything from lap steel guitar to five-part harmonies to fantastic lead solos, a bit of banjo, a bit of acoustic, and me doing my very best job to fill the extremely large shoes of Linda.
Ms Hooper has always looked at Linda Ronstadt and seen part of herself reflected back.
“I’m obsessed with her and have been for a long time. I’ve actually kind of often looked at her career and looked at her as an artist and thought, oh yeah, especially in my solo career, more than Killing Heidi I can see some parallels,” she said.
“I’ve taken on a lot of different genres in my time, from rock to pop to country, and so did she, and she did it so beautifully. She is, by all accounts, an awesome person too.
“She’s a champion of her heritage and the places she came from. She never ever forgot her roots, and I feel a bit connected to that. I think I’m a bit like that.”
Even though performing in Echuca will only be Ms Hooper’s second time doing her Linda Ronstadt act, creating it has been a joy.
“This is the funnest thing I’ve been involved in for a long time and this will be our second show ever. So you’re getting the very fresh, very early stages version of it,” Ms Hooper said.
Aside from the act itself, performing in the country is something that Ms Hooper has always loved.
“There’s something special about it. I think it’s country crowds, too. Regional crowds and country crowds really give a lot of good energy back to the performers because they don’t have access to it every day. So it’s increased appreciation on both sides,” she said.
“I think the environment is underrated as a part of a festival or a show. You can technically put them on anywhere, but you won’t get the same result. So, a beautiful setting really helps.”