NEWCASTLE has a new country music talent on the rise after Sammy White was crowned the 2020 Star Maker at the Tamworth Country Music Festival.
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The award is one of the highest honours for emerging country acts in Australia with the Star Maker's 41-year history littered with first-class alumni like Keith Urban, Gina Jeffreys, Lee Kernaghan and James Blundell.
Newcastle's Bob Corbett (2012), Kurri Kurri's Kirsty Lee Akers (2007) and Cessnock's Travis Collins (2004) are also previous winners.
While Star Maker is an obvious rocket boost to her career, the 22-year-old is most happy that one of the prizes is a 12-month use of a Toyota car and fuel card.
"My car blew up a couple of months ago, so I've actually been borrowing my housemate's car literally just to get some groceries," White said. "So to be able to have a Toyota that I can just do life things, but also go on tour now with something that's really practical and reliable, is super exciting."
White, whose partner is 2018 Star Maker winner and rising country-rock star Brad Cox, moved to Lambton in October from her hometown of Townsville to further her career.
"I made the move because the music scene there [in Newcastle] is booming," she said from Tamworth. "It's so much more beneficial as a songwriter and a performer than to be in a town like Townsville.
"There's more opportunities for music. To be able to do a live gig on a Wednesday night is unheard of back home."
White grew up listening to traditional country like Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson before falling in love with the modern alt-country of Kasey Chambers, Shane Nicholson and Chris Stapleton.
She embraced that alt-country and rockabilly sound on her debut single, Drowning My Sorrows, co-written with Lachlan Bryan, which was released last May. A second track I Can't Outrun You followed in November.
With the Star Maker in the bank, White plans to finally start preparing the release of her debut EP.
"I recorded a bunch of songs in Nashville in June, so they're all sitting in my Dropbox at the moment," she said. "I have a few tweaks and loose ends to tie up.
"It's actually part of the Star Maker package to do an EP and I wasn't able to afford to finish it, so that's why it's been sitting in my Dropbox. Now I'll be able to do that and I'll get that new music out."