Songstress supreme Townsville teen gets big break at country festival
YOUNG Townsville country musician Brooke ‘Josie’ Roberts has added another tick to her list of successes in 2019, being named as a finalist in the annual Gympie Music Muster’s Talent Search.
Roberts, 16, will compete against nine other junior finalists from around the country at the Muster this weekend.
“I have never been to the Muster before, but when they announced that the talent quest was open for entries, I jumped on the opportunity just to see where I would go with it. A few weeks later I received an email confirming I had made it through to the semi-finals,” Roberts said.
“I wasn’t expecting it, I was (applying) purely for the experience. It was pretty awesome. I’ve heard so many good things about Gympie and it looks absolutely amazing. There’s so many people who go there.
“We get to perform on the main stage with all the other big headline acts. We get to play with a band as well, they learn our songs and we play with this super professional band which is going to be amazing.
“We’re going a week early to spend some time with family. Parts of my family are from Gympie so we’re making a bit of a holiday out of it. I can’t wait to get amongst it all.”
Roberts said she would enjoy having some friendly competition in the quest, performing against lifelong friends she made at the Country Music Junior Academy in Tamworth last year.
“I’m definitely looking forward to that,” she said.
“I’m really excited to gather around the campfire and jam out with everyone and write a few songs, and just catch up with everyone. You don’t get to see each other much because we’re from all around Australia.
“I think that’s the best thing about country music, it brings people together and that is what I love about it. The friends I have made through music have supported and helped me with so many things and I am super grateful, so I can’t wait to kick back at the campgrounds with a few.”
The Gympie Music Muster starts today and runs until Sunday. It will feature more than 100 artists from Australia and around the world.
Roberts has become a regular name on country music lineups in Townsville and further afield, and brought home a swag of performance and songwriting awards including People’s Choice from the recent Hughenden Country Music Festival.
“I am incredibly humbled to have received these awards. I was lost for words,” she said. “I gained some great experience during my performances, receiving feedback sheets, and playing my songs with one of the best bands in the business.”
After Gympie, Roberts said she hoped to attend other music festivals across Queensland before returning to the iconic Tamworth Country Music Festival in January next year.
“There’s a couple more little country music festivals around the place that I’d really like to check out, but the big one is definitely Tamworth,” she said.
“It’s only five or six months away, so I’ll just be preparing for that.”