Tacky marquees, enormous lines trailing from food vans and over-priced beers were not to be found.

But in the town's church, hall, backyards and billabong, musicians from the slick and experienced to those simply having a crack at something they enjoyed, entertained the crowd.

The second Dirt Music Festival was an event encouraging musicians to perform - for no price - to music lovers across and beyond the Wimmera.

The sounds of strings, keys, skins and songs replaced the noise of lawn mowers and birds that would have had the stage on any other Sunday.

While the event kept clear of labelling headliners, keyboard prodigy Chooka Parker was a big drawcard after becoming famous on Australia's Got Talent in 2011.

The 18-year-old from Maryborough stunned the audience with his complex compositions and fleeting key changes while sweating away in his now famous Driza-Bone coat.

Country four-piece Archer and the Long Gone Daddys played originals as tight as their trousers and Maria Forde's sweet Irish melodies drew accolades from all sections of the crowd.

Horsham guitarist and songwriter Curtis Why has doggedly pursued a music career for decades, but between treks to and from gigs in Melbourne he dropped into Rupanyup.

Why's talents were honoured with calls from the crowd to play his own tracks punters enjoyed at last year's festival.

It was a far cry from the usual rural request of Khe Sanh.

With entertaining, intriguing and often puzzling lyrics - at one stage exploring the relationship between a cat and a tree - and catchy guitar licks, Why was all class and something special to experience with a dozen others in camping chairs on a lawn.

With somewhere between 10 and 60 people at each gig the festival managed to meet its ethos inspired by a quote from Tim Winton's book Dirt Music: ''Anything you can play on a verandah, you know, dirt music.''