While that may sound harsh, the blues-folk man from Western Australia, who recently released the John Butler Trio's sixth album, Flesh and Blood, says for him change is something inevitable.

"Nine times out of 10 the fans are really open minded and want to come on this trip with me," Butler told X-static.

"The last album was a departure and I probably lost some people and gained some people.

"For the hard-core fans, they can understand I'm not going to be the same person that I was 10 years ago.

"There will always be people that want you to sound the way you did when they discovered you and that's human nature.

"But for the most part, people are willing to take the ride, and those that were there 10 years ago have matured and also want to hear something a bit deeper than `that greedy guy is doing bad stuff, the end'.

"I'll be the first to say that I want people to like what I do, but at the same time I can't just make music to make people happy, so it is a very interesting relationship."

Further elements of change are apparent on Flesh and Blood, an album he says is a diary entry of where he is emotionally, spiritually and mentally.

"We all went into this album wanting to bring out more of our colours, as we all thought we had more to offer as a band and as a trio," Butler said.

"We thought there was more quality and colours that we could put into this painting, we went into it with a bit of strong songwriting for a couple of songs, which really bore some good fruit.

"Also on the last album [April Uprising] I cut off a lot of the fat and I just wanted to see if I could write a good song with a good chord progression without having to have an epic solo to make it good."

Three key events - his grandmother's death, being part of the campaign to help save the Kimberley coast, and a huge 4WD trip out into the bush, which involved spending two months out in the country under the stars and around a camp fire - provided moments that helped define the album.

Butler and his bandmates, Byron Luiters and Grant Gerathy, will be bringing Flesh and Blood and the trio's previous hits, to Hobart's City Hall on Thursday, April 17, with support from Butler's wife, Mama Kin.

"It makes it a very dynamic set, as we have six albums' worth of music, so it allows us to go on a lot of different rides," he said.

"It is different than your average rock show or folk show or hip-hop show, because it can go to all these places.

"When you have an audience ready to go on all those rides and have all those experiences, it is just great.

"We're playing better than ever, singing better than ever and still getting better at what we do, which is really the most exciting bit.

"I look at me as a performer five years ago, I think I'm better now and that's always exciting to see that you're getting better at your craft rather than just maintaining your craft.

"In five years I hope to be a better songwriter and performer than I am now, which hopefully means we can all have a deeper experience together."

WHO: John Butler Trio.

WHERE: City Hall, Hobart.

WHEN: Thursday, April 17. Tickets at johnbutlertrio.com.