Tim Hughes talks to the gentleman of country-rock, Danny George Wilson, one of the stars of this weekend’s Equitruck.

HIS warm and dreamy country-rock has the magic to transform live performances into misty-eyed love-ins.

And Danny George Wilson’s folky tales of everyday life are not just a hit with fans. He has also switched on a raggle-taggle legion of musicians, who are happy to follow him around the country – from festival fields to big city venues and working men’s clubs – to help spread the joy.

His loose collective Danny & The Champions of the World are the ultimate feel-good band – and on Saturday they return to Oxford to headline an event which is all about banishing the blues and injecting a taste of summer into the bleakest time of the year – Equitruck.

This indoor festival, at the Jericho Tavern, is run by, and for, devotees of Oxfordshire’s annual Truck Festival, which is entirely appropriate – as that’s where the band was born.

First meeting Truck organisers Robin and Joe Bennett as young fans of his former act Grand Drive, he later collaborated with the brothers’ band Goldrush.

When he was invited to Hill Farm, Steventon, to perform a set at the 2007 Truck Festival, he used the opportunity to cut a track at the farm’s recording studio (come on, what respectable dairy farm doesn’t have a recording studio these days?).

He was backed by the Bennetts, their friends and an assortment of other artists who just happened to be passing at the time.

“We recorded one tune,” says Danny, “but it sounded so good we decided we had to make an album.”

Thus Danny And The Champions Of The World was born.

“I loved it,” he recalls wistfully. “Coming from a proper band, which was a real tight unit, it was amazing to have people drop in, to make new friends – and record an album like that.”

The record was released the next year, followed by an extraordinary series of shows accompanied by an ever-changing band of Champions, which become more like ‘60s-style ‘happenings’ than gigs. “We’ve never been a proper band,” he says. “That’s the beauty of it. And I never thought we’d record more than one album. But it’s been brilliant. There’s a brotherhood which holds us together and people respond to that.”

He’s right. Danny & The Champs gigs feel like family gatherings – though ones where everyone’s welcome… and there’s no squabbling.

Half the line-up are to be found in the audience, and the audience are as much a part of the gig as the band. You couldn’t get further from the strutting self-importance of mainstream rock.

“I’ve always hated that feeling of distance between band and audience,” he says. “We like to get people involved. After all, my experience is no different to anyone else’s.

“Our band is a big mess of friendliness,” he goes on. “It’s like a big group hug. We don’t rehearse and are not a career band. If we were careerists we’d all have been doing something else by now.”

Danny and The Champions of The World – the name is inspired by the Roald Dahl book of the same name ranges in size from more than 20 members to, well… two.

“I’ve done gigs with just me and the drummer!” he laughs.“If people come, they do it with bells on; if they don’t, well, never mind!”

This weekend’s show follows the release of follow-up album Streets Of Our Time. Recorded at Hill Farm Studios it features Robin and Joe Bennett, ex Goldrush bandmate Garo, Jack Penate, and Trevor Moss & Hannah-Lou of Indigo Moss. Danny can’t wait to play.

“Truck is an institution, and if we can crank it up between festivals by playing at Equitruck, then that’s great.

“The Bennetts, and everyone else involved in Truck, are lovely people. They live and breath music.”

Australian-born, Danny has long been a South London boy, though his Oxford links remain strong.

“I do think of us as an Oxford band,” he confesses. “Oxford is a brilliant place; I have a lot of friends there and it’s where most of the band are from. I’ll never turn down a chance to play there – after all, it still feels like home.”

Danny & the Champions of the World play Equitruck at the Jericho Tavern on Saturday. See panel for details.

They return to the same venue on February 26. New album Streets Of Our Time is out now on Loose Records.