The senior students will celebrate the end of two weeks of intensive country music study, during which they were tutored by Kevin Bennett, Lyn Bowtell and Tamara Stewart.

Students included Frankston’s Alanna Deutrom and Josh Needs, a guitarist from South West Rocks.

Deutrom said she was excited to work with the artists who tutored at and visited the academy.

Needs said he enjoyed working on his musicianship with the band.

“It was good to get the perspective of how to work in a studio and helping to get the best sound out of a song,” he said.

Academy general manager Roger Corbett said it was a steep learning curve and all had successfully made it through the course.

“They come in, with many having an established foothold in the country music community, and some have made an album or single or something like that, and they’ve all had a variety of experiences,” he said.

“They have made a start on their careers and many of the seniors have found out it’s a lot tougher out there than they thought. They’ve had difficulties breaking through, difficulties wondering what the next stage of the journey is that they’re on. They think ‘I’ve written songs, but they’re not taking the world by storm’, and they’re coming here really looking for how they can speed up their career.”

Corbett said the academy tutors taught them the skills of songwriting, musicianship, chart writing and a whole business module.

“They learn the real nuts-and-guts of the music industry from people who do it,” he said.

“If you don’t do it every day, you don’t get any better. The academy succeeds brilliantly because we are giving them exactly what they need at the right time in their lives.

“Success for us means having the music light shine for them and the career that you can live with, and that you can fit to your everyday life and your family.”

Corbett said tonight’s graduation concert was all about the stars of the future.

“Our track record at the academy shows that we have produced many stars, like Lyn Bowtell, Karen O’Shea, Brooke McClymont, the Sunny Cowgirls, Sara Storer, Drew McAlister, Travis Collins, Travis Sinclair, the Davidson Brothers, Amber Lawrence and Brad Bergen, with several ex-students returning as tutors,” he said.

“The audience are able to say they saw these artists before they were famous. The graduation concert plays into that connection that the country music fans have with the country music stars, and the best way to feel that connection is to come to the show.” 

Tamworth will be well-represented at the concert, with Scott Troutman graduating with the seniors, and junior Amy Pain having graduated last night.

Troutman attended under the Troy Cassar-Daley Scholarship and is no stranger to the country music scene, having played in his father’s band since he was young.

“I’m a singer-songwriter and wanted to brush those skills up,” he said.

Pain said she learned a lot about performance and songwriting at the academy.

“I wanted to get exposure, experience and help and I feel so inspired to write songs now,” she said.