Jamie Lindsay wins Tassie country music awards

Former Meander Valley country music singer Jamie Lindsay has returned “home” this week with dual aims of rocking the roof off the Italian Club at Prospect on Saturday night and making amends to the fans who have missed seeing him live during the past 20 or so years.

Now living on the central coast of New South Wales, it’s been a bittersweet few weeks for the 47-year-old father of two, who was back home for his mum’s funeral, closely followed on November 3 for the Tasmanian Independent Country Music Awards held at the Tram Sheds in Launceston.

Lindsay picked up the Best Album award for his latest album, 1977, which went to number one on the Aria country music charts and number 7 across all genres on debut in March.

He was also presented with the Rising Country Star award – recognition a long time in the making.

“I played at the Italian Club for the first time in a long time in May, and then during the subsequent trips back it hit me how long I’d been gone and how much I missed Tasmania,” he said.

“I feel like I abandoned my fans and that’s something I regret – that’s a situation I intend to turn around.”

One song on the new album, This Is Where I Am, sums up his return to his country roots. 

After building a solid following in his home state in the ‘90s, Lindsay moved to Melbourne and away from country music.

He explored other genres, formed a band, moved to Sydney, toured the US, and then when the band broke up in 2013 he and his wife went to Nashville.

“It was the inspiration I needed. This was the music I grew up with and I knew that I’d come full circle,” he said.

“I couldn’t wait to get back home and start writing country songs again and the first album came out in 2020, called Eleven, closely followed by a pandemic that put everything on hold for performers.

“Since then I’ve been working on 1977, named for the year I was born.

Lindsay has taken the album to Tamworth and other music festivals around the country while already working on his next album, which he expects to release in February.

True to form, every song is not only written by Lindsay but produced in his home studio where he also records for a variety of artists.

1977 chronicles the most recent chapter of his life, the up and downs, love and loss, and the self-awareness that has brought him back home.

Growing up on farms in the Whitemore, Hagley and Westbury area, the experiences of his youth are often the inspiration for his lyrics. 

“One thing I know is that I’ll never forget where I come from, and Tasmania had better get used to seeing me here far more regularly than I’ve been in the past,” he said.

“It’s not a mistake to seek the big city lights, but it is a mistake to leave home behind.

“I’m just a kid from Hadspen, who went to Hagley Farm School, and now I’m coming back to country music and I’m coming back to Tassie.”

On Saturday night Lindsay will be joined by the ever-popular stalwarts of Tasmanian country music, Gina Timms and Dennis Quillarat.

Tickets to the show at the Italian Club on Saturday, November 24 can be secured at jamielindsaymusic.com or for large group bookings secure a table by calling the club on 6344 7332. Buffet dinner available with bookings through Jacinta on 0456 914 907.