Murgon Music Muster

TANIA KERNAGHAN

 With the release of her seventh career album, ‘All Australian Girl’, Tania Kernaghan can honestly say she has been singing out for family, friends and fans around the nation for almost three decades – and this release is sure to capture the hearts of country music true believers everywhere. 

As one of the Kernaghan ‘dynasty’ – her parents are Ray and Pam, big brother Lee and sister Fiona is a sought after and respected songwriter.  Tania has fulfilled the great Australian country music dream of making chart topping hits and touring the country with her own shows. 

She has six career albums – with number seven released in February 2017 – a swag of awards, including four Golden Guitars and the respect of the country music industry and fans alike. 

Her 1992 debut single ‘I’ll Be Gone’ put Australian music circles on notice that she was ready to make a name for herself and her 1996 debut album, December Moon, won the Album of the Year Golden Guitar in 1997 and has been certified platinum, while that and subsequent albums have featured 15 number one hit songs and a swag of awards, including ‘Boys In Boots’, ‘Where The Murray Meets The Darling’, ‘Dunroamin Station’, ‘A Bushman Can’t Survive’ and ‘The Verandah’. 

Tania was inducted into the Hands of Fame Gallery in 1999 and was the first female artist honoUred with a star on the Galaxy of Stars on the forecourt of Tamworth’s Entertainment Centre. 

While music is obviously Tania’s first love, there is much more to this ‘all Australian girl’ – and it more than meets the eye, as she is a television presenter with a long list of credits to her name, including Channel 10s caravanning and lifestyle program What’s Up Down Under, Queensland Weekender and a leading role in the movie Shadows of the Past. 

Add to all that a heartfelt love of her country she continues to make time for her much loved charity work.  Tania is a patron for both Riding for the Disabled and a proud supporter of Angel Flight Australia and is a board member and Ambassador for the Outback Queensland Tourism Association. 

Tania also tours the country as an in-demand keynote and motivational speaker for corporate and charity organisations where she shares many entertaining stories about her life on the road, growing up in the Kernaghan family and all the incredible highs and lows that come with that. 

She also travels throughout Australia emceeing awards nights and gala events. 

With such varied and bright career highlights to her credit, Tania is still a friendly, down-to earth, all Australian girl and that is surely a fitting title for her seventh career album – released on KCR Records, a label her father Ray started in 1977.

TRACY COSTER

For Golden Guitar winner Tracy Coster, country music is running through her veins – it’s part of her DNA. 

There’s no other life for Tracy, having been raised on the road, the youngest daughter of the late, great Australian songwriter Stan Coster. 

From her home base in Manilla, NSW (named Coster Country in tribute to her late father), Tracy sets up tours and travels the country, much as she had done with her dad since the age of 13, until his untimely death in 1997. 

Armed with a new album, the wonderful Coster Country Take II, it’s a follow up to the original Coster Country released more than a decade ago to celebrate the remarkable work of this modern-day Lawson or Paterson. 

Her touring and performing credentials are impressive.  Tracy has shared the stage with some of Australia’s finest – Slim Dusty, John Williamson, Anne Kirkpatrick, Gina Jeffreys, Beccy Cole, Kasey Chambers, Lee Kernaghan, Sara Storer, Adam Harvey and the list goes on. 

She has performed at festivals from Tamworth to Gympie and from Darwin to Nashville, Tennessee. 

Tracy began her recording career in 1985 with the release of From The Heart.  A single from that release, Why Do I Feel Like Crying, propelled Tracy into the final five Female Vocalist of the Year finalists in 1986. 

The Girl in the Band, her 1991 album, spawned two top 10 hit singles, City Sidewalks and the classic, Don’t Say Goodbye. 

Her acclaimed contemporary release in 1993, Play the Game, resulted in another finalist berth in the 1994 Golden Guitar Awards for Someone. 

That same year she was inducted into the Hands of Fame, at the time the youngest artist to do so. 

In 2004, her fourth album, Bush Baby followed the lead of its predecessors, delivering Tracy another top 10 hit and yet another finalist berth at the Golden Guitar Awards. 

That year also brought the release of Coster Country, the recorded tribute to her dad.  At the 2005 Golden Guitar Awards, that album delivered Tracy her first Golden Guitar for Vocal Collaboration of the Year with Anne Kirkpatrick on the track, Back to the Saltbush Plains. 

This is just one of many awards that have come Tracy’s way over the years – Australian Independent Country Music Awards, Stan Coster Memorial Bush Ballad Awards, People’s Choice Awards and more. 

In 2009, Tracy released Moving On, and landed another finalist berth in the 2019 Golden Guitar Awards. 

An Australian storyteller, Tracy’s latest release, Coster Country Take II was launched in fine style at the 2018 Tamworth Country Music Festival. 

Having been living and working in Tamworth, the Country Music Capital, Tracy’s itchy feet got the better of her and she hit the road again, conducting several short tours throughout the year. 

She’s road-ready and willing to travel the country doing what she loves – writing and singing about Australia and its people.

ANNE KIRKPATRICK

Singer songwriter Anne Kirkpatrick seemed destined to be a performer, being the daughter of country music legends Slim Dusty and Joy McKean. 

A talented songwriter with a unique vocal style, Anne has been recording since she was 12 years old, and 1st appeared on stage at age 10 in her parents’ travelling country music show, before rising to prominence as a solo artist in the mid 70’s, releasing 14 albums along the way. 

Emerging from within the ‘First Family’ of  Australian country music to claim her own identity and her own following, Anne  has been fondly described as “the godmother of Australian new country” after her 1991 release ‘Out Of The Blue’ was heralded as  a watershed album in Australian country music.  

There’s been a myriad of accolades along the way---6 Golden Guitars, a couple of Mo awards and,  honouring   ‘Out Of The Blue’ as Best Country Album, a coveted ARIA award.   Anne was inducted into the Australasian Country Music ‘Roll Of Renown’ in 2010.