This story appeared in edition 16 of Mid North Coast Now, you can read the full issue by clicking here
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Port Macquarie country music singer songwriter Blake O’Connor made his first appearance on our news pages at age seven in 2008, as overall winner of a Lego competition at Port Central.
A decade later, this talented young man is 18 years old, but now has a significantly more important title on his mantle – 2019 Toyota Star Maker.
Blake says he was more nervous before he took to the stage for the final at the Tamworth Country Music Festival. “Once I got on stage I was fine, but for the interviews, and the hype behind it all, and the waiting, that’s when I was nervous,” he says.
When you consider he was a prolific winner at the Port Macquarie & District Music Eisteddfod at age 14, performed as a soloist at Schools Spectacular in front of 20,000 people in Sydney, at age 15, sang the New Zealand National Anthem at Anzac Day ceremonies in 2016 as a year 10 student of Hastings Secondary College, and auditioned for X Factor that same year, you can see why stepping onto a stage doesn’t phase him.
Another highlight of 2016 was when a former school mate asked him to play a couple of songs at his mother’s birthday party in November. “When we got there Adam Eckersley & Brooke McClymont and Shannon Noll were there to perform as well. It was more like a home music festival.” He was supposed to sing for 15 minutes, but ended up singing for two hours. “A big thanks to Hugh Grainger for that, as Adam and Brooke have become good friends and great mentors to me.”
Blake is no stranger to the Tamworth’s biggest event having entered all the junior contests (winning four from five) and busking around the town there in 2017. From those wins came his own gigs at the 2018 festival.
Multiple Golden Guitar winner Adam Brand happened to stop by at one of those gigs Blake. “He came up to me later and asked me what I was doing on Thursday night and would I like to open for him.”
A scholarship to attend the Tamworth Country Music Academy under chairperson Dan Biddle, with Ashleigh Dallas as his mentor, and sessions with Australian country music great Kasey Chambers, were also part of his 2017 winnings.
Fast forward to January 2019, and he was finally old enough to enter the Star Maker contest. When his mum Rae got the call to say he had made the top 10, she started “dancing in the arcade” they were walking through.
At the January 20 final, he sang a cover of the Mountain Daredevils’ If You Wanna Get to Heaven and his original song Worth a Little More. In the audience were supporters and family, including Blake’s primary school teacher John Rigg, and Adam Eckersley and Brooke McClymont. The coterie of fans wore black Blake O’Connor Music t-shirts and “all went nuts” when Blake’s name was called.
The following day he was picked up at 5.30am and didn’t stop until 8.50pm. In the 10 days of the festival he performed 25 gigs and dealt with a media whirlwind including a live appearance on Channel 7’s Sunrise program.
Apart from the Toyota Rav he has use of for 12 months, his prize includes a recording session with Australia’s top musicians and producer, and the recording, distribution and promotion of a four-track EP.
Last year, Blake’s debut EP, featuring six tracks, reached No.2 on the ARIA Top 40 Country Album chart, and No.1 on the Australian Independent Record Labels Association chart.
With “about 20” songs up his sleeve, he hopes to release and album in the not too distant future.
He will spend this year concentrating on his music, performing at Toyota-sponsored events, travelling to England’s Buckle And Boots festival at Stockport in May, and Nashville’s Country Music Festival in June, plus our own Wingham Akoostik Festival, Deni Ute Muster, Gympie Muster and more.
Blake is not daunted by the looming hectic schedule. “I’ve never not wanted to do it. I started to play guitar and then sing, then play guitar and sing. I love playing big crowds, the bigger the better.
“It’s getting my bags at the airport and my guitar that I worry about.” That’s the kind of down-to-earth young man Blake is, a trait mum Rae says he gets from dad Paul.
His supportive family will be behind him all the way as he travels on his musical journey. “We just told him to keep practising,” mum Rae says. “Paul made a deal that if Blake mowed the lawn for two years without pay, he would get a guitar,” Rae says. “I’m still mowing it after four years,” Blake chips in. “Once he got it, he didn’t put it down,” Rae adds.
The new Maton guitar he received in his prize package makes 17 guitars in his kit. “When you go from a $500 guitar to a $2000 one, you can hear the difference,” Blake says.
He heads out on the road as support on Adam and Brooke’s The Highway Sky Tour from March 1 until May 3. The tour includes a stop at Wauchope RSL on March 2.