IT was a decade ago when Kirsty Lee Akers started making serious waves in the Australian country music industry.
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The sweet-looking 18-year-old from Kurri Kurri had just been crowned the prestigious Star Maker at the Tamworth Country Music Festival to join an illustrious list of performers which includes Keith Urban, Lee Kernaghan and Gina Jeffreys.
Some have failed to take the step from Star Maker to genuine star, but not Akers. In 2008 she won a golden guitar for best new talent and she’s received three nominations for best female artist.
The 28-year-old’s latest nomination for best female comes this year for her first ARIA Country No.1 album Burn Baby Burn. Her competition at the January 28 awards will be Amber Lawrence (Happy Ever After), Kristy Cox (Part Of Me), Sara Storer (Silos) and Seleen McAlister (Follow The Journey).
“I’m just at a point in my life and career where I’ve got a lot more to say from when I did on my first album at 18."
- Kirsty Lee Akers
“You never know,” Akers tells Weekender of her chances of finally winning best female. “I’m not going into it thinking I’m going to win. It would be nice to add to the resume, but if it doesn’t happen, it’ll still be nice to dress up and have a good night out.”
Burn Baby Burn is Akers’ best ever chance of leaving Tamworth with the golden statue. The album has superseded its three predecessors in quality and success, producing three country No.1 singles in When I Miss You Most, Burn Baby Burn and I Will.
“When I was making the album I wanted to make sure it wasn’t just full of album filler songs and just one or two songs that could be singles,” she says. “I wanted to struggle to pick singles. The album has been so well received and people have been asking, ‘When’s this going to be a single,’ so I think we’ve got a few more under our belts yet before we put it to rest.”
The record combines Akers’ typical Dolly Parton-esque vocal with a rockier edge and even analyses themes like alcoholism.
“I’m just at a point in my life and career where I’ve got a lot more to say from when I did on my first album at 18,” she says. “This album I had a lot longer time to work on it. It was five years between albums, so with this I was writing songs over a long period of time and had so many to choose from that I had been writing over the years in Nashville with different writers.
“It came out in April and I was already thinking about the next one. We’ll be busy this year working on the next one.”
Akers plans to tour nationally through autumn before returning to Nashville in June for the Country Music Association Festival and a songwriting session. The majority of Burn Baby Burn was written in Nashville, but Akers already has enough material for album No.5.
“I was looking at the songs yesterday and I’ve already got enough for more than one album and I haven’t even tried to write for it yet,” she says.
Kirsty Lee Akers will perform during the Tamworth Country Music Festival at the Family Hotel on January 28.
Josh Leeson
Josh Leeson is an entertainment and features journalist, specialising in music, at the Newcastle Herald. He first joined the masthead in 2008 after stints at the Namoi Valley Independent and Port Stephens Examiner and has previously covered sport including the Asian Cup, A-League, Surfest, cricket and rugby league.
Josh Leeson is an entertainment and features journalist, specialising in music, at the Newcastle Herald. He first joined the masthead in 2008 after stints at the Namoi Valley Independent and Port Stephens Examiner and has previously covered sport including the Asian Cup, A-League, Surfest, cricket and rugby league.
