That's how 2014 Toyota Star Maker winner Jared Porter feels about his launch on Saturday during the Hats Off to Country Festival.

Jared returned from the US last month after playing the Global Artist Showcase in Nashville, and has had the six months of his life so far.

"I played the outdoor stage on Broadway and that was an absolute blast," he said.

"It's right next to the Hard Rock Cafe and I remember standing there and thinking it would be great to play it, so that was a small dream come true."

While in Nashville, Jared also wrote songs, made some good friends and industry contacts and went to see concerts.

He also recorded with his dad on a song called, The Ham Bone, produced by Sam Hawksley and features body percussion.

"It's a song my dad wrote and my dad sang on it with me and my older sister," he said.

"There were no instruments, just body percussion."

This weekend he will be in our Country Music Capital launching his debut album, East to West.

"Where better to do it than Tamworth?" he said.

"It's a whole exciting adventure in itself because I go to the US, then coming to release an album back home from my home country (Jared spent the first half of his life in the US). It's neat that it's worked that way."

The album reflects these dual influences, with the album more than album to stand up amongst its contemporaries in Nashville.

"We were aiming for something different," he said.

"You've always got to push the musical boundaries."

The album was recorded in the first six months after Jared won Star Maker, with many songs self-penned and ready to be recorded.

"We had a huge catalogue of songs to work through and culled through them," he said.

"We worked on my songs to make them even better and spent a lot of time on my songs to make sure they were up to standard."

Other songs came from Nashville, but Jared said he only chose those that he felt matched him.

"It's quite neat for me because I've never really played other people's songs, and claimed them as my songs," he said.

East to West is released tomorrow ((FRI)) and Jared will launch at at The Good Companions Hotel on Saturday at 5.30pm.

The young singer-songwriter said he would now be "playing his butt off" for the rest of the year to get the good oil out on his first release.