Lane Pittman: Australian Country Music’s Secret Weapon

Lane Pittman is something of an enigma. On the surface, he might seem like just another eighteen-year-old from Tamworth—luscious mullet, mo, and all—someone you'd expect to see enjoying a beer with mates at the local pub.

But spend about three minutes talking to him, and you are acutely reminded why Pittman stands in a league of his own. While most teenagers are still figuring out what to do with their lives or debating whether to buy a second-hand car off Marketplace, Pittman already has a full-fledged music career under his belt.

Having recently moved from his hometown of Tamworth to Newcastle to be closer to his partner, The Music catches up with Pittman just after the New Year’s period. Though he's only just settled into his new life, he’s about to hit the road again. Starting the year on a high, he’s gearing up to fly to New Zealand to support Luke Combs on his stadium tour of Australia and New Zealand.

“It’s actually a really full-circle moment,” Pittman says, a wide smile spreading across his face. “I auditioned for The Voice with a Luke Combs song for my dad, then I opened for his arena shows in 2023. I had a bit of a mental breakdown when I found out I’d be doing that.”

After opening for Combs in 2023, Pittman penned an article for Countrytown, where he described the experience as the “wildest” of his life. Some of the experience was captured for a music video for his song, Love In A Country Town.

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“I came into the tour with little to no expectations about what it was going to be like, and anything I had thought was blown out of the water,” he wrote. “Walking into Spark Arena in Auckland (the first stop on the tour and my first time overseas) was definitely an out-of-body experience.

“It was at that moment it really sank in that I was on this tour, and in five hours, it was happening, so I’d better be ready. After our band huddle, we walked out to the side of the stage. The band walked on, and the lights went down. As soon as I hit that stage, a sense of calm rushed over me. I felt like I belonged on the stage.”

Later in the op-ed, he reflected on meeting Luke Combs backstage. He recalled: “I met Luke for the first time by chance; we both walked out of our dressing rooms at the same time and locked eyes. He walked over, and we started talking. I thanked him for the opportunity to tour with him and how grateful not only myself but my band was as well.

“We met up again later in the tour and got to talk some more. I let my curiosity get the better of me and asked how he heard my audition tape for The Voice; he said, ‘I think it was [Chris] Kappy (Luke’s Manager) who played it for me one night after I’d got off stage, and I really liked it.’ Hearing a man of that calibre say he liked my rendition of his song was an honour for me.”

While playing in an arena is one thing, a stadium is an entirely different beast—and Pittman knows it.

“I’m crapping my pants, to be honest,” he admits, laughing. “But we’re taking the approach that it’s the same office, just a different view. We’ve got one job: to entertain. We want people to walk in not knowing who we are and walk out thinking, ‘That Lane Pittman guy is great. Next time he’s in town, I’m going to see him.’”

It’s the kind of sentiment you’d expect from a seasoned performer, not a teenager who only recently finished high school. But then again, Pittman has always marched to the beat of his own drum.

Born in Far North Queensland, Pittman moved to Tamworth at the age of three, where he was immersed in the local country music scene. “Everything from Alan Jackson and Randy Travis to Tim McGraw—it was subconsciously embedded in me,” he explains. But despite Tamworth being the heart of Australian country, listening to country music wasn’t always considered cool.

“In my friend group, it was almost taboo to like country music. They just listened to rap,” Pittman recalls. “The only way I could get them into it was by playing Post Malone. Now, they’ll listen to it. Occasionally, they’ll be walking around a supermarket, hear me on the radio, and be like, ‘That’s weird.’”

Interestingly, singing wasn’t something Pittman ever envisioned for himself. In fact, it was his primary school teacher who forced him to join the choir. "I was uncoordinated, a permanent benchwarmer in sports, so I reluctantly joined,” he says. “But I fell in love with it.”

When he got to high school, he was given his first guitar. After three years of practice, he began playing pub gigs in January 2020—only to be interrupted by COVID lockdowns. Undeterred, he decided to audition for The Voice, and it would prove to be the turning point in his career.

“It was 2021,” Pittman recalls, nodding as though he’s telling a story around a campfire. “I was sitting in geography class when my mates asked if The Voice applications had opened. Instead of doing my work, I looked it up, and they dared me to apply. So I did.”

After joining Keith Urban’s team, Pittman quickly won over audiences. He describes the filming process as "crazy," with long stretches spent cooped up in a hotel room with little to do. “I could only watch so much The Bold And The Beautiful,” he laughs. While he didn’t win, the experience gave Pittman valuable exposure and the time to find his true voice as an artist. “It was a melting pot of influences and learning,” he says. Though, as he’s quick to note, he’s still learning.

Last year, Pittman released his self-titled debut EP—and it stormed the ARIA Charts. His EP landed at #1 on the Australian Country Albums Chart, #8 on the Australian Albums Chart, and #14 on the ARIA Country Albums Chart. He reacted to the news like so:

WHAT THE HECK!! Just got the news I have the #1 Australian Country Album this week on the ARIA charts. If you would’ve told 6 year old Lane he would’ve laughed.

The EP featured Pittman’s successful singles Love In A Country Town (which landed online in August 2023) and Ain’t Too Much To Ask (which followed in November 2023) – both of which saw great success on the Countrytown Hot 50 chart. The release was rounded out with four other songs, which fans would have recognised from his live shows: Let's Get Lost, Going Nowhere Fast, Who They Were and Yours.

Most recently, Pittman took a whirlwind ten-day trip to Nashville, where he spent his days writing with professional songwriters and trying to stay warm. “One day, it was negative eleven and snowing,” he says with a grin. “As a boy from Tamworth, that was a huge change.”

“I worked with people from Universal—Aaron Pollock, Trent Wayne, Aaron Zuckerman. I wasn’t trying to write hit songs, just songs I was happy with. There are a few I’m excited to debut on tour with Luke [Combs].” One of the songs is about his father’s passing. “I’d been trying to find the words to say for a long time.”

Another song Pittman will perform live is his recent release, Amen For The Weekend. His first major release since the release of his debut EP, Amen For The Weekend is a sunny, energetic track destined to top charts and road trip playlists. Pittman offers a three-minute delight with the song, plus an escape from the every day, and proves why, so early in his career, he’s already up for two Golden Guitar Awards—Male Artist and New Talent of the Year.

Discussing the song, he says, “It was sent to me, and I thought, ‘This isn’t the vibe.’ We went back and forth a few times, and my head boss said, ‘Lane, please trust me.’ As soon as we got in the studio, something clicked. It felt like a Lane song, and I had a hand in the production.” The song will feature in his upcoming live shows.

Of course, no conversation with Lane Pittman would be complete without asking about his iconic mullet. Voted number one in a Countrytown article on the top Australian country music mullets, his distinctive hairstyle has become his signature. “All my mates had one, so I got one too,” he says. “It started as more of a ‘skullet,’ but now I’ve got ‘good stage aerodynamics.’”

With his mullet intact and a jam-packed year ahead—playing some of Australia’s biggest stages and music festivals—we ask Pittman what he envisions for 2025. Expecting a grandiose answer, complete with chart-topping ambitions and massive touring plans, his response is refreshingly simple and grounded.

“I just want to play shows and put out music I’m proud of,” he says. “If my career ends tomorrow, I want to look back and be happy with everything I’ve done.”

He might be playing stadiums next week, but today, Pittman is just an ordinary teenager—unpacking boxes, having beers with mates, you know the drill. Next week, he’ll return to being the star that he is. An enigma, I’m telling you.

You can catch Lane Pittman performing at the Tamworth Country Music Festival and supporting Luke Combs on tour.