Hannah Pead is a 21 year-old country music singer and songwriter from Bellangry near Beechwood.  She says she has been homing her songwriting and performance skills since the age of 12, travelling up and down the coast playing talent quests and any walk-up possible.

Spurred on by early success at the Wauchope Country Music Association talent quest, Hannah says she’s played many festival, such as the Gympie muster, and the Tamworth Country Music Festival.  There she was asked on to the stage of Caitlin Shadbolt and 2012 Star Maker winner, Bob Corbett.

One of her more recent accomplishments was performing on the NRL Footy show last year.

“It was by the lovely request of Wauchope local and lead singer of Grinspoon, Phil Jamieson and his wife, Julie,” said Hannah, who recently resigned from her full time job to pursue her music career and is looking forward to an exciting year in 2019.

Anthony Baxter, who was based in Wauchope and now lives in Tamworth, is 31 years old and started playing guitar at the age of 17.

“Before then, I was part of the primary and high school band, playing clarinet.  I got into playing guitar after listening to recordings of Lindsay Butler, Barry Thornton and Chet Atkins,” said Anthony, who is thrilled to be Tamworth-bound and on the John Minson Memorial Scholarship.

The 2019 Senior Academy is bringing together more than 25 talented up-and-coming music artists for the intensive two-week course in Tamworth from January 5. 

The Academy is headed by six-time Golden Guitar winner Lyn Bowtell as director, leading a stellar team of group leaders and mentors. Kevin Bennett, Jayne Denham, Catherine Britt and Simon Johnson are the group leaders ably supported by Roger Corbett, Liam Kennedy-Clark, Amber Lawrence, Allan Caswell, and Katrina Burgoyne who round out the team with their speciality skills. 

There is an array of industry guest speakers who deliver the ‘real story’ from behind the scenes, which is invaluable to a young performer entering the country music industry and avoiding the pitfalls of a career in the arts. 

“The students this year are such a talented group,” says Lyn Bowtell of the 2019 intake. 

“It was extremely hard to choose the successful applicants but in the end we have a really spectacular group of singer/songwriter/performers.” 

Academy general manager Roger Corbett added that Academy graduates have an astonishing track record of success over the years. 

“At the Golden Guitars in 2018, our ex-Academy students won 13 Golden Guitars between them,” he said. 

“On stage, Travis Collins and Amber Lawrence publicly acknowledged the contribution that The Academy had made to their careers.” 

Lyn said the success of The Academy and the experiences gained from the course comes from a range of factors. 

“Maybe it’s the support of their new friends they make at The Academy, maybe it’s the teaching, the exposure, or the contacts in the industry and it’s probably everything, but every student seems to get a new kickstart to their careers after leaving The Academy,” she said. 

The Academy Live! performance is on Friday, January 18 at 4pm in Blazes Auditorium at Wests. Tickets are available at West Tamworth League Club www.wtlc.com.au

The singer-songwriter performers are:

The instrumental performers are: