Werris Creek’s Joel “Bear” McKay has swapped the office for the sights and sounds of Tamworth.
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The GrainCorp employee is one of 27 musicians graduating from the CMAA Academy of Country Music’s senior course on Friday.
McKay said past participants “pushed” him to apply in October and he was “quite shocked” to be accepted.
“I applied because I’d gotten to the stage where most of the music I was playing was country music and I figured it was the next best step for an up-and-coming singer-songwriter,” he said.
McKay dabbled with guitar in high school but said he didn’t really take it seriously until a few years ago.
“Really about three years ago, I picked up a guitar and decided ‘I’m going to learn to play this properly’,” he said.
“I’d had a guitar since I was 17 but I couldn’t really play it.”
McKay said he grew up listening to country music and when he started penning songs, “I found that my songwriting, it lent towards blues and roots”.
The musician is now a regular on the pub circuit in Quirindi, Werris Creek and Tamworth – often performing with Jessica Paige – and is concentrating on writing more originals.
“I like the idea of having people listen to something I’ve written myself,” McKay said.
“A lot of [my songs] are about life experience, towns I’ve lived in, stuff like that; I’ve written one about Werris Creek.”
McKay said a highlight of his two weeks at the CMAA academy was a “one-on-one” co-write with Golden Guitar winning artist Kevin Bennett.
“He’s the lead singer of The Flood, which is the sort of the same music I write, which is pretty fitting,” McKay said.
The Werris Creek man has been soaking up as much knowledge as he can during his time at the academy.
“It’s been absolutely amazing,” McKay said.
“It’s just been a big mix of songs, learning about everything from music theory to self-management, media, publishing… Absolutely everything you can think of in the music industry, we’ve learnt,” McKay said.
“I’ve learnt a lot musically. I know what to do. I know where to go to record an EP. I’ve got every tool I need to try and succeed in the country music industry.”
On Friday, the program will culminate in a showcase at Wests in the Blazes Showroom. McKay will perform his original song Easy Street.
“It’s probably the song that I believe is the most well-rounded song I’ve written. “It’s probably the best song I’ve got,” he said on Thursday.
“I don’t get nervous playing gigs around Tamworth, Werris Creek and Quirindi because they’re small pubs and people are just having a beer, but I’m pretty nervous about tomorrow.
“People are there to see you and you don’t want to mess up.”
After he graduates, McKay will join hundreds of other artists in “a week of intense music” at the Tamworth Country Music Festival, which officially starts on Friday.
“I’ll do a week of playing gigs. I’ve never busked before so I’m going to do some busking on the streets of Tamworth,” he said.
When the festival is over, McKay will return to work, but he will have a renewed purpose.
“I will keep playing music where I can play music and write more music and work on releasing an EP … That’s in the plans. That’s definitely a big goal,” he said.
McKay confessed he wasn’t a big fan of crowds and says “I don’t want to be famous”, but he would like to establish himself as a singer-songwriter.
“I want to be known for my songwriting,” he said.
“I’d like to make a career out of singing as well but all-in-all I want to get to a stage where I can play just my songs.”
To find out where McKay is playing during the festival, visit https://www.facebook.com/joelbearmckaymusic
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