Nik Hamby

Back in May, I entered six songs into six categories of the 2021 Australian Songwriting Contest. I received a great email on Tuesday, confirming "bragging rights at Christmas lunch" - three of my songs have been shortlisted! How good is that?!  The songs that made it through are:-  "Where We Will Meet Again" (Country), "The Last" (Folk) and "A Dog's Sadness" (Open).  All songs feature on The Magician album.   I'll be keeping an eye on the ASA website for the late Jan/early Feb announcement of the official Top 30 - which is the next phase of the judging process.   You can check the site too, if you're keen!   www.asai.org.au (Last year two songs were shortlisted from three entries and one of those went on to Top 30 status).   A good friend also had her song shortlisted in the country category, so that was extra happy news!  Chookas to entrants!

My Final Release for 2021 came out last week, on 16 December.  Walk My Way is the title track - a song about going through a near-death experience, which changed my life and my perspective on living. The other songs are:  The Key Was on The Hook, Wind in the Trees, Mona, Grandma's Chest of Drawers, Another Mother's Day, Childhood Songs, Wish You Merry Christmas, Once More Unto The Breach and As Time Goes By.  This group of songs is really how I feel about my music. It's about the freedom you take hold of when you can do whatever you feel like. I'm not trying to "Make It". I'm not trying to play to an audience or walk the popular line. I write what comes up and out of me, confident that I'm not alone feeling the way I do.  I have played a lot of these songs on Zoom live nights and also played a couple last week at Banshees Bar. There was more encouragement and I even had a punter let me know I was easily good enough to play in the local pub scene, offer

The Magician was a song written in August 2020 and released on 30 October 2020. As the title track of my second 10-track album, it carries the theme of connection through the album.  Other tracks on the album are:  Look In My Eyes, Song Dreaming, How Much You Mean to Me, Breathe Miss Sunshine, The UK Strain, A Dog’s Sadness, Say Goodbye, Where We Will Meet Again and The Last.  All of these songs were written about connecting with emotional circumstances. Each carries an intimate message of understanding - from happy memories of youth right through to the tail end of life.  Every song on the album have been played by Casey Radio 3SER (97.7 FM), most as pre-release specials.  The album was released on 1 December at midnight. I had played a set at Banshees Bar in Ipswich that night and remembered to announce the release of the album, after playing most of the songs from it. There was a lot of interest and discussion about the project.   The Magician has been picked up by one of the Curate