TAMWORTH’S classrooms went a bit countrified yesterday as Amber Lawrence, Aleyce Simmonds and Paul Costa performed at schools in the city to entice a new generation of country music fans.
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The country music artists wanted to let students know that country was cool and to encourage young people in Tamworth to get out amongst the entertainment during the festival in January.
“We did this last year after we’d toured together,” Amber said. “It came about after I said at a CMAA board meeting that we should have more younger people in country music so I was told to go out there and do something. So we did.”
The country singer/songwriter said that they wanted to get young people excited about country music.
“I think it worked last year,” she said.
Aleyce, who is a Tamworth girl, said they wanted to show the students that there was something for everyone in country music.
“The three of us are all different, so we show them that there is a broad spectrum of artists,” she said.
Amber said the students got three samples of country music in one show, which proved there were all sorts of country out there to enjoy.
Paul said the three artists also shared snippets of their life stories with the students, and encouraged them to aspire to follow their dreams.
“We want to encourage them to follow their hearts,” he said.
“Giving up your day job to do country music full-time is one of the hardest things you can do.”
The shows were also interactive, with a student getting up to play tambourine for the country stars at each school.
Each school also turned out in force when it came to getting autographs from the artists at the end of each show.
The artists visited schools in the city yesterday and will be back at it again today and will return with their own shows during the Tamworth Country Music Festival in January, with hopefully a few new young fans among the audiences.