Harry Hookey, 22, from Cowwarr in Victoria and David Garnham, 27, from Darwin have outshone hundreds of aspiring country music artists to be crowned the winners of the Telstra Road to Tamworth finals last night.
Harry and David take home prizes including a return trip to Nashville to record in a US studio, domestic and international gigs, publicity to increase their profiles and a 12-month career mentorship deal designed to help them take the next major step in their professional careers.
Harry was announced as the winning performer after opening with a song from his idol Bob Dylan titled “You Ain’t Going Nowhere” which proved to be far from the truth, as he won over the local crowd with a fire in his belly and determination in his eyes.
Original hailing from Cowwarr, a small country town in Victoria, Harry showed his talent as a singer-songwriter following the Dylan track with an original song titled “Don’t You Ever Treat Me Like a Fool”.
Harry grew up in a musical household with his five siblings and his first ever live performance was at age 16 with his Dad and three brothers at the local Cowwarr Pub. Harry currently lives in Kooyong and is studying an Arts, Law Degree at Melbourne University.
Completely taken by surprise when his name was called as the winning performer, Harry was gracious in his acceptance.
“I feel like a very lucky man tonight in Tamworth. This is really overwhelming, I don’t have enough words to say how awesome my fellow performers were, and each one of them has a career in the industry if they want it.”
Telstra’s Regional Sales and Service Director, NSW and the ACT, Brett Riley, presented Harry and David with the major prizes and praised the calibre of entries to this year’s program.
“The strength and diversity of talent we have unearthed as part of this year’s Telstra Road to Tamworth has been outstanding and goes to show what a rich future country music has in Australia.”
“Telstra set up this program eight years ago to connect aspiring musicians with Australian audiences and we’re delighted to again be helping two exceptionally talented young Australians with the opportunity to shine both here and on the international stage,” Mr Riley said.
David Garnham was announced as the winning songwriter after performing two original tracks from his impressive repertoire, with the unenviable position as the first contestant on stage.
Dedicating his first song “Father Drinks Too Much” to his Dad who was supporting him in the crowd, David had the local crowd captivated by his delivery which resonated with raw emotion and heartfelt lyrics.
After following with another original song titled “Sobering Up, Settling Down” David set the bar high for his fellow contestants and had the local crowd in the palm of his hand.
This win caps off an incredibly successful year for David who was also announced as a Triple J unearthed artist in June and flown to Sydney to attend an annual Song Summit which included face time with well known musicians Julian Hamilton (The Presets), Megan Washington and Bob Evans (Kevin Mitchell).
As a songwriter who uses words eloquently in his lyrics, uncharacteristically David was rendered speechless when his name was called as the winning songwriter.
“I’m trying not to swear right now and am full of clichés with no good words to give you. This is the second time I’ve come through the Road to Tamworth and I was determined to show how much I wanted it - it’s such a well run program and I’m stoked.”
Performing in front of a capacity crowd of more than 1,000 people at the Tamworth Regional Entertainment and Conference Centre, Harry and David both said they were overwhelmed with their success and excited about the next stage of their Telstra Road to Tamworth journey – Nashville, USA!
On hand to congratulate them were Telstra Road to Tamworth Ambassador’s The McClymonts, who topped off the evening with an energetic set.
“Nashville is the ultimate for any music artist dreaming of improving their craft and learning from some of the best musicians in the world. Harry and David are about to embark on a journey that will expose them to a national and global network of music industry experts – they have an amazing 12 months ahead of them,” Brooke McClymont said.
James Blundell, Felicity Urquhart and Amber Lawrence added to the spectacular live line-up performing at the event, along with former Telstra Road to Tamworth winners Luke Webb and Tenielle who relinquished their titles to the new winners.
Former TRTT alumni include inaugural winner Jessica Mauboy, who has gone on to achieve fantastic commercial success on the pop charts, ARIA nominated country artist Jasmine Rae, as well as Aleyce Simmonds, Nick Kingswell, Kirsty-Lee Akers, Morgan Evans, Briana Lee, Mark Wells, Peter McWhirter, Corey Colum, Luke Webb and Tenielle.
