Sixth Time's The Charm - You Have To Be Determined If You Want To Crack The 1%

Country music mainstay Sara Storer is looking forward immensely to her debut set at Broadbeach Country Music Festival this weekend, and not just because it allows her to go north and escape the cold. Rather, she's a massive fan of the Australian country festival circuit, and can't wait to get back amongst a sea of familiar faces.

"I love [the country festival circuit] because it's my genre of music and I love to sing about country themes and regional themes, I love to sing about people of the land and their stories," she enthuses. "I love how a song tells a story and moves you in that way. So it's really good fun and the people that I work with - other musicians and other artists - are all really down to earth, easy-going people so it's always really fun when you're at a festival catching up with people: it's like catching up with mates."

Storer's sixth album Silos came out last year, and the singer-songwriter is delighted with how the album was received. "Just getting an album out is a big achievement for me and a real relief," she laughs. "Because it's hard for me with a family and kids and trying to manage all that, but I still love music and I love singing and I love putting out albums - it's something that I'll always do. And when you put out an album you just want it to be your best work yet. I really want every album to kinda improve on the last, just with my songwriting or my vocals, the music and the production."

And while Storer is no stranger to awards and accolades - she's won a staggering 21 Golden Guitars after all - she was still overjoyed when Silos took home the ARIA Award for Best Country Album, given all five of her previous albums had been nominated without success. "I was so relieved because I've been wanting one of those, it's been a little dream of mine to win an ARIA," she smiles. "It's a one-percenter - it's something that only a small amount of country artists can get - and it's just something that I want to show my children and my grandchildren, and say, 'If you follow your dreams you can get there.' That's kinda why I really wanted one, and I just thought, 'Well if I don't get it this year I'll just have to keep trying and come back next year.'

"But I'll be able to tell the kids and grandkids that it took me six times, and you can't get bitter and twisted and all that - everyone's doing exactly what you're doing, writing songs and being their own artist in their own right - and I just felt that I was really lucky and was really grateful to finally get one. Yay!"