THEY’VE been mates for more than a decade, so it was only fitting that Amber Lawrence and Travis Collins made music together.
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The established artists have joined forces to create their new EP, Our Backyard to be released on August 4.
They’ve been working on the release since February this year and the title single, Our Backyard has been met with rave reviews.
It is patriotic and is what Lawrence says pays tribute to the things we could take for-granted right outside our back door.
The two completed the CMAA Academy of Country Music together in 2004.
Both hailing from Sydney, they remained friends ever since.
“We’ve been doing gigs together, but when it came to touring this year I had already booked a tour with Catherine Britt,” she said.
“It went through until July and I thought in the second half of the year it would be good timing to tour with Travis again.
“Our manager said as a joke, why don’t we do an album or an EP together? and so we did.
“Now that our solo careers are cemented and we’ve both come off our own solo albums we can have a little fun and throw caution to the wind.”
Lawrence said there were rules set between the pair when putting the release together.
“They had to be original songs, we didn’t want songs that somebody had sung before,” she said.
“We wanted to keep our careers as original Australian artists moving forward. We sat down when we got home from the Festival and knuckled down.
“The idea for the song Our Backyard was from two words written down – Silverton Sunset, i had sung with Catherine Britt out there and there’s nothing like a Silverton sunset.”
Lawrence said she believed she was lucky to be able to travel across the country and see the sites and what she and Collins have written together reflects on Australia as the lucky country.
“I go to the beach for a walk everyday and forget to look sometimes,” she said.
“If you travel the world you say I’ve seen the most amazing things but here in your backyard you kind of ignore it.”
Lawrence said the response to the new music so far has been “amazing.”
Among the songs on the EP, the duo have collaborated on a love song along with what they’ve described as “in the moment types of songs.”
Lawrence is also gearing up to join Travis Collins at the Gympie Muster in late August where she’ll perform.
She’s also performing a concert for the kids there aswell, so there’ll be something for everyone.
“I can’t wait, I’m really looking forward to it,” she said. “It’s a reflection of the inner child within me to be able to sing songs from the kids album.”