Award-winning country singer-songwriter Amber Lawrence has released five studio albums since her debut EP in 2004.
Alongside this, she also released a children's album ('The Kid's Gone Country') in 2016. “Since the beginning of my career, I've noticed that a lot of children come to my shows with their families.
"Early on, I was always saying that I'd do a kids album one day. I have nieces and nephews, so I was always coming up with songs when I was with them,” Amber says.
Last year Amber released an EP with fellow country music star Travis Collins. “We met in 2004 at a place called the College of Country Music.
“Groundwater Country Music Festival is already one of the bucket list festivals for both fans and artists.”
"We wrote some songs together and over the next 12 or 13 years, we remained friends and we'd see each other at different festivals. We even did some touring back in 2009.
“Then it came to late 2016 and we'd both released new albums, so we decided to work together then. We sat down and wrote songs for the EP and then recorded them, and then released them and won three Golden Guitars for it.”
Amber is currently working on her next album, which will be released in early 2019. “I'm looking at songs I've already written, working through them and figuring out what I need to do to and deciding where to record it. I'm actually having a baby as well, so I have to squeeze that in too!”
Amber has been a regular performer at festivals like Gympie Music Muster and CMC Rocks for years. “I've known a lot of people who've come to these festivals for a long time now and it makes me feel like we've grown up together.
“I look out into the audience and I do a song where I name people in the audience and where they're from. So I point to the familiar faces and say, 'oh there's Jenny from Caboolture'. It's kind of like a big group of friends.”
In July, Amber will perform at Groundwater Country Music Festival. “It's already one of the bucket list festivals for both fans and artists. So it's great to be on the billing,” Amber says.
“The McClymonts are my good friends, so I'm excited to see them. And Granger Smith, I actually interviewed him last year as part of my radio show iHeartCountry Australia. So I got to chat with him for a bit and talk to him about his alter egos. He's a lot of fun and good energy.
"Groundwater is such a great environment, it's so easy to get around and enjoy – it's a luxury festival. I've got my band sorted and our airfares booked.
"I'm performing on Sunday afternoon, so I'll be doing a Sunday afternoon kind of set. I'll still be putting in my favourite songs and songs that I know people like, such as 'Honeysuckle', 'Superhero' and 'Cheers To The Girls'. The set-list is written pretty much.”
