Kirsty Akers
21 year old Kirsty Lee Akers is Australia's most successful young solo country performer. The winner of the Best New Talent Award and a finalist in Female Artist Of The Year at the 2008 Country Music Awards of Australia Kirsty also won the prestigious Toyota Star Maker Contest in 2007, Telstra Road To Tamworth's Songwriter's Award in 2006. She is the only artist to have won major awards in both of Australia's premier country music talent competitions.
'Better Days' her recently released second album is a world class country record that features a unique mix of classic and contemporary Nashville sounds, albeit with her unique Australian working class outlook well intact. The album debuted at #4 on the ARIA Country Albums chart (week ending 17 January 2009). Only platinum selling CDs from Kasey Chambers & Shane Nicholson and Keith Urban along with the popular CMAA Winners album sold more copies. 'Better Days' also debuted at #7 on the Australian Independent Albums Chart (which features all musical genres). The album was nominated by long running pop radio program Take 40 Australia as one of January's most anticipated releases alongside new albums from the likes All American Rejects, Franz Ferdinand, Bruce Springsteen, Lily Allen and Jamie Foxx.
'Better Days' features songs penned by an all-star list of hit country writers including 2007 BMI Songwriter of the Year Jeffrey Steele (Rascall Flats, Tim McGraw), Hillary Lindsey (Carrie Underwood, Jessica Simpson), Gordie Sampson (Keith Urban, Bon Jovi), Rivers Rutherford (Gretchen Wilson, Tim McGraw), Trey Bruce (Carrie Underwood, Trace Adkins) Tammi Kidd (Rascal Flatts, Brooks & Dunn) and newcomer Angaleena Presley (whose music features on Kirsty's first album) along with material by Kirsty.
The album's first single 'Knocked Up' created a buzz at radio and the hilarious, one take video, inspired by movies such as Juno and Joe Dirt - peaked at #2 on the Country Music Channel's video request chart. Kirsty was recently featured on US cable network GAC after her show-stopping performance at the 2009 CMA Fest in Nashville.
Kirsty's debut album 'Little Things' was released in August 2007 and debuted at #7 on the ARIA Country Chart. The album was extremely well received with the singles 'Little Things, 'Goin' to the Beach' and 'The Territory' all reaching the upper echelons of the charts and receiving amazing airplay on country radio and on cable TV's Country Music Channel. 'The Territory' also received airplay on mainstream music television, a rarity for country music in Australia. Since the release of her debut single, released independently as a 16 year old, Kirsty has scored 6 consecutive hit singles, including four top 10s, in her homeland.
21 year old Kirsty Lee Akers is Australia's most successful young solo country performer. The winner of the Best New Talent Award and a finalist in Female Artist Of The Year at the 2008 Country Music Awards of Australia Kirsty also won the prestigious Toyota Star Maker Contest in 2007, Telstra Road To Tamworth's Songwriter's Award in 2006. She is the only artist to have won major awards in both of Australia's premier country music talent competitions.
'Better Days' her recently released second album is a world class country record that features a unique mix of classic and contemporary Nashville sounds, albeit with her unique Australian working class outlook well intact. The album debuted at #4 on the ARIA Country Albums chart (week ending 17 January 2009). Only platinum selling CDs from Kasey Chambers & Shane Nicholson and Keith Urban along with the popular CMAA Winners album sold more copies. 'Better Days' also debuted at #7 on the Australian Independent Albums Chart (which features all musical genres). The album was nominated by long running pop radio program Take 40 Australia as one of January's most anticipated releases alongside new albums from the likes All American Rejects, Franz Ferdinand, Bruce Springsteen, Lily Allen and Jamie Foxx.
'Better Days' features songs penned by an all-star list of hit country writers including 2007 BMI Songwriter of the Year Jeffrey Steele (Rascall Flats, Tim McGraw), Hillary Lindsey (Carrie Underwood, Jessica Simpson), Gordie Sampson (Keith Urban, Bon Jovi), Rivers Rutherford (Gretchen Wilson, Tim McGraw), Trey Bruce (Carrie Underwood, Trace Adkins) Tammi Kidd (Rascal Flatts, Brooks & Dunn) and newcomer Angaleena Presley (whose music features on Kirsty's first album) along with material by Kirsty.
The album's first single 'Knocked Up' created a buzz at radio and the hilarious, one take video, inspired by movies such as Juno and Joe Dirt - peaked at #2 on the Country Music Channel's video request chart. Kirsty was recently featured on US cable network GAC after her show-stopping performance at the 2009 CMA Fest in Nashville.
Kirsty's debut album 'Little Things' was released in August 2007 and debuted at #7 on the ARIA Country Chart. The album was extremely well received with the singles 'Little Things, 'Goin' to the Beach' and 'The Territory' all reaching the upper echelons of the charts and receiving amazing airplay on country radio and on cable TV's Country Music Channel. 'The Territory' also received airplay on mainstream music television, a rarity for country music in Australia. Since the release of her debut single, released independently as a 16 year old, Kirsty has scored 6 consecutive hit singles, including four top 10s, in her homeland.
