Teenager Laylah Baines hones her craft ahead of dream to travel and perform around Australia

Young Albury singer-songwriter Laylah Baines can see herself packing up her guitar and travelling around Australia “in a little caravan” performing in small country towns and adding stories to her repertoire along the way.

That is, when she finishes school of course.

The nearly 16-year-old is becoming well known on the local music circuit and in July last year graduated from the CMAA Academy of Country Music in Tamworth.

She has just returned from the Tamworth Country Music Festival where she rubbed shoulders with the cream of Australia’s country music scene and performed herself at various gigs.

“Tamworth was an incredible experience,” she said.

“All the musicians I met were so supportive and I was able to perform in lots of different little venues and busk on Peel Street; it was great.

“I also got to see John Williamson for the first time in concert; he’s been a really big inspiration for me, and I was able to go to the Golden Guitars, which was amazing.”

She also got to catch up with new friend and Australian favourite Sara Storer, who she performed with in a charity concert on the shores of Lake Hume last November.

Laylah grew up listening to country music. While she was learning classical piano she was absorbing the tunes played by her parents of greats such as Dolly Parton, Kasey Chambers, The Judds and The Chicks.

After learning the art of tickling the ivories, she picked up a guitar and then singing and performing flowed on from there.

She said there wasn’t a “moment” when she realised she could sing but her parents may have seen her future mapped out while listening to her crooning along to all her favourites in the car.

Laylah is one of many local aspiring musicians about to take part in a one-day workshop in Albury which will see artists such as Jem Cassar-Daley, Montaigne, L-Fresh the Lion, Dallas Frasca and Lachlan Stuckey from band Surprise Chef share their insights and tools of the trade.

“I’m really looking forward to hearing from industry professionals and getting to know their personal experiences,” said Laylah.

“Unlike a lot of cities, regional towns don’t have a lot of access to these types of resources and there’s a lot of great musicians in our area that would really benefit from something like this.”

Laylah describes her music as a country folk blend and her song Little Town of Nowhere was awarded Best Country Folk track as part of Melbourne’s Empire Music Studios 2024 Kool Skools songwriting and recording project.

She also picked up a third place in the Australian National Busking Championships in Cooma in December and is about to play at the Yackandandah Festival on the emerging artist’s stage.

No mean feat for someone so young, but one who clearly knows which direction her boots are pointed in.

“This year I’m trying to incorporate more songwriting and originals into my sets.

“I like to do a bit of my own life experiences but I also love doing research on other Australian stories and I take inspiration from people around me and listening to their stories.”

At the upcoming workshop, presented by music industry organisation APRA AMCO, she says she’s looking forward the most to hearing from Jem Cassar-Daley.

“I’ve been watching all of her stuff and listening to it and feel as though I’m gravitating to her and her songwriting a lot.

“It doesn’t matter that she’s an indi artist and not country; it doesn’t matter what sort of artist someone is at something like this, or in general, because you can take pieces of inspiration from every little genre there is in music.”

The APRA AMCOS workshop is being held at The Mantra in Albury on 27 February and you can find out more on the events page on its website.