Harmony James from Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory of Australia has taken out the first prize in the Country category of the International Songwriting Competition.
Harmony James from Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory of Australia has taken out the first prize in the Country category of the International Songwriting Competition.Almost 15,000 contestants from 88 countries entered the contest this year.
Harmony won the prize with her song 'Tailwind' from her debut EP 'Harmony'.
"I wrote the song last year not long after I had been through the college of country music and was going through quite a prolific patch of writing" she tells Undercover News. "The song has been brewing for quite a while with many similar attempts that never left my lounge room. I showed it to my producer just before I went in to record and he said the song was too good to leave off the record. That was the first indication I had that I might have been onto something".
The song is autobiographical. "I wrote it based on a situation I had been in years earlier where I really needed to get out of a situation" she says. "My whole adult life has been characterised by driving with my both my day job and my music requiring a lot of travel. So when things are getting a bit tough my first thought has often been to load up the car and head off".
She couldn't have been happier about winning the contest. "I was really thrilled to find out that I had won, big smile I can tell you" she said. "When I found out I was a finalist people were asking what do you win and I'm like "who cares, I'm a finalist". I didn't really entertain the idea of winning. Then when I told them I had won, they're like what did you win? So I had to go and check, because to me the prize is publicity and the recognition, and come on, I was the only Aussie in the category and I won. That is really cool, and how great is it if someone like Roseanne Cash or Mark Chestnutt has heard my song. However it turns out there is a guitar in the prize, so I'm kinda liking that idea too.'
Judges for the contest include names like Brian Wilson; Tom Waits; Rosanne Cash; Sean Paul; Mark Chesnutt; Jerry Lee Lewis; Frank Black (Pixies); Robert Smith (The Cure); Cassandra Wilson; Isaac Brock (Modest Mouse); Medeski Martin & Wood; Craig Morgan; John Mayall; John Scofield; Amy Ray (Indigo Girls); Darryl McDaniels (Run DMC); MercyMe; Macy Gray; Charlie Musselwhite; Peter Hook (New Order); Blue Man Group; Tiesto; and Jeff Stinco (Simple Plan).
Other Australia's who won awards in the competition this year were:
Connie Mitchell and Angus McDonald (Sneaky Sound System) with 'Pictures'. Second place for Dance/Electronica category.
Roma Waterman from Melbourne with 'Wings Of Love'. Third place in the Gospel/Christian Music category.
Michelle Bradford Jones, Phil Barton and Jamie Sullivan from the Sunshine Coast for 'Racket'. Second place in the Performance category.
Phil Usher, Scott Mullane and Sean Bower from Wavell Heights, Queensland for 'Coolite'. Third place in the Rock category.
