By her own admission, feisty Sydney-based songstress, Amber Lawrence, was something of a "late bloomer" when it came to music, only beginning to sing, play the guitar and write songs in her early 20s, having initially intended to follow a very different career path.
Amber Lawrence: Getting Started
"Yeah, a lot of people think, 'Oh you must have been doing this your whole life'," she admits, "but I didn’t start till I was 22 to even really sing or play the guitar. I got a guitar for Christmas when I was 22, so that’s when I started learning and I didn’t write a song till I was 23, so I was a late starter.
"I studied accounting at uni for four years and then did a post graduate study afterwards. I thought I was going to be a seriously boring accountant for the rest of my life, until fate definitely intervened and got me this guitar for Christmas.
"Then sadly my boyfriend dumped me, so I had a broken heart and a guitar and a love of country music - so what else was I going to do, but write some songs?!"
Suite101: Who were your biggest musical influences?
"Well I don’t actually hook on any big influences because I don’t really want to copy and I think that’s a big risk. Sometimes you could be listening over and over to an album and then you go and write a song and you go, 'Oh, I see what I’ve done here, I’ve just copied'.
"So I guess I just listened to a lot of music. LeAnn Rimes was my first big influence and then Kasey Chambers... But I just try and vary it so you just take little bits from everyone and don’t copy anyone too much."
Amber Lawrence: Bona-Fide Country Star
Amber Lawrence joins the ranks of an increasing number of talented young acts making a name for themselves in the ever-expanding genre that is Australian country music, a genre that has made household names out of artists such as John Williamson, Lee Kernaghan and Melinda Schneider.
Since the release of her debut album, The Mile, in 2007, the affable musician has been nominated for five Golden Guitars, won the inaugural Telstra Horizon Award (at the Golden Guitars in 2010) and enjoyed six number one singles.
Suite101: Why are some people outside of Australia still surprised to learn that there is such a thriving country scene Down Under?
"I’m not sure. It’s a thriving scene, but it’s not big on the media. We don’t get a lot of that commercial airplay and we keep it under the radar a bit. So I guess that always surprises people when they turn up to a country festival and they go, 'Oh wow, it’s this big – we had no idea!'"
Suite101: Do you think that its popularity is partly due to the bush ballads and songs about life in the country?
"It is. That’s what so good about country music in Australia - that it connects with people who are in the country. But I think more and more city people are also embracing country music. It’s not simple music, but it’s music that connects and has nice lyrics.
"I like to say, 'My music doesn’t hurt your ears'. You can listen to it and get something out of it and I think it’s always nice to get something more out of music than just being able to dance to it or sing along."
Amber Lawrence on Country Music
"Look, I see Australian country music as still coming a little bit more from a real place, rather than writing for hits," muses the artist whose second LP, When it All Comes Down, won Album of the Year at the Australian Independent Music Awards in 2010.
"Obviously it’s a much bigger industry in America, so there’s probably more of that pop element and it’s crossed over a bit more, which it hasn’t done as much in Australia. We have hit songs in country music that would never make commercial radio in the States, but they’re just really beautiful songs that tell a real story, so I think that might be a difference."
"I really don’t have any of those hard-line opinions on, 'It’s got to be this or it’s got to be that'," continues the modest star, wading into to the endless 'What is country and what isn't?' debate. "I think you just do what you do - you do your music and if people like it, they’ll like it and if they don’t like it, they won’t.
"So I prefer to use that as the benchmark rather than, 'Well according to this, it’s not right' because people could say about me, 'You’re not from the country, why are you singing country music?' and people may have said that, but now they’ve embraced me and realised that my music is country."
Amber Lawrence in Nashville?
Country superstar Keith Urban is not the only Australian currently making a living in Nashville. Steve Forde, Sherrie Austin and Craig Morrison are three more also hoping to make it big stateside. Does Amber think she may end up joining the growing Aussie ex-pat community at some point?
"I will visit for sure and I’ll come over to write some songs," she replies, "but I don’t think I’ll move because I just want to make it here in Australia and keep plugging away, keep touring and keep having this as a job."
Amber Lawrence: Proudest Moments and Future Ambitions
Suite101: What do you consider to be your proudest achievements in your career to date and what ambitions do you have left to fulfill?
"Lots of ambitions left to fulfill! But entertaining the troops in East Timor (Amber travelled to the volatile region in 2007) was an amazing experience - just to be one of the people that gets to entertain our troops was amazing. Winning the Horizon Award at the Golden Guitars... I mean I’ve still obviously got to win a Golden Guitar, that’d be nice.
"Being able to write a song about my dad who passed away three years ago, called Always Kiss Me Goodnight, from the last album. It’s a song that people always request and e-mail me about, telling me how much they connect with it.
"To be able to sing a song about my dad every time I do a gig is a really proud moment because when you lose someone like that, some people never get to talk about them again. I get to tell this story and sing this song two or three times a week, so yeah, they’re some of my proudest moments."
Amber Lawrence: "Modern Country with a Foot in the Traditional"
Listening to the dark-haired diva's third album, 3, different musical influences, from rock to country, to pop - and even to reggae, are there for all to see. But for the most part, Amber's music, though arguably open to scrutiny from the traditionalists, is unmistakably country.
Suite101: How would you describe your sound? Would you say it's modern with a foot in the traditional?
"Yeah, I’d say it’s modern with a foot in the traditional definitely. It’s hard to describe actually. People often ask me, 'Who are you like, what artist?' and I just can’t really think of another artist - American or Australian - that you’d say, 'Well, it’s just like that'.
"I have confidence now in my own sound and I like that people will hear my songs on the radio and go, 'Oh yeah, that sounds like Amber - it doesn’t sound like anyone else' and whether that’s a good or a bad thing, I don’t mind. I like that it just sounds like me. Everyone asks me all the time, 'What’s your music like?' and I can’t describe it. So I just say, 'Here you are, listen - you decide!'"
Adrian Peel - Adrian is an English freelance writer and journalist currently living in Mexico. Over the past eight years, he has had articles, features ...
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