Farnham, Braithwaite, Amorosi: Class acts line up to raise money for farmers

Mr Braithwaite, the lead singer of Australian 70s rock band Sherbet, will be one of a cast of Australian performers who will take to the stage on Sunday to raise money for drought-stricken farmers.

"Like a lot of Australians, you feel sympathetic to the farmers and you do try and put yourself in their position," Mr Braithwaite said.

"They have all good intent to go out there and do farming and hope to make it work and then things go wrong and in some ways [music] is like farming but not as savage."

A recent tour across Australia with his six-piece band highlighted the plight drought was taking on Australian farmers, including in New South Wales where fires have ravaged parts of the state, and inland Queensland.

"Also in north-east Victoria and down in Gippsland," Mr Braithwaite said.

"We played down there just recently at Sale and it was looking very dry and there's no answer for a solution to fix it."

Led by John Farnham with Jon Stevens, other performers include Vanessa Amorosi, The Black Sorrows with Vika and Linda, John Williamson, All Our Exes Live in Texas, Tim Wheatley and Little Georgia.

"We get about half-an-hour to play and in that time we'll do songs that people know like Howzat and then As The Days Go By, The Horses, One Summer and stuff like that and we'll be out to have a good time," Mr Braithwaite said.

Hay Mate - A Bush Christmas Appeal for Our Aussie Farmers organiser/promoter Glenn Wheatley, who manages John Farnham, said the event was a follow on from a similar concert in NSW last year which raised $3 million.

"We're going to hopefully raise a lot more money this time around and I think we will because there's more awareness about what's going on," Mr Wheatley said.

He said every performer taking part in the Mornington Racecourse event was volunteering their time.

"The last hay drop I did ... was at Moree and I have to say I was in tears, I've never seen it so bad for some of those farmers," he said.

"The stories from these guys and how they're hand feeding their cattle a combination of porridge and pasta is heartbreaking and really hits home."

Profits raised from the Sunday, December 15 event will go to Rural Aid's Buy A Bale campaign.

Tickets for Hay Mate are on sale now via Ticketmaster and for more information or to donate, visit the Hay Mate website.