20-03-2023
Twenty year old Goulburn woman Megan Baragry has been named the winner of the inaugural Crookwell Country Weekend Busking Competition.
Megan will pocket $3,000 dollars as first prize, with Runners Up Walk the Line (Bianca Coombs and Scott Woodhouse) winning two days recording at the Old Binda Road Recording Studio and Junior Winner, Harriet Lowe, winning a recording session at the Hume Conservatorium and an invitation to a mentoring group at the Con.
The results came after lengthy and difficult deliberations… first on Saturday when judges Giselle Newbury, George Brenan and Jenny McCarthy (all from the Hume Conservatorium), Anthony Lewis (Rocky Hill Musical Theatre Company) and multi Golden Guitar winner Catherine Britt had to extend the finalists to seven places.
The four senior acts chosen were Polly Hazelton, Mariah K, Walk the Line (Bianca Coombs and Scott Woodhouse) and Megan Baragry while the junior finalists were Tiarna Bill, Harriet Lowe and the duo of Chloe Mitchell and Reid Yeadon.
The judging didn’t get any easier following Sunday’s Finals with judges Roger Corbett (General Manager of the Australian Country Music Academy, board member of the Country Music Association of Australia and founding member of the Bushwackers) and Sam Phillips (Administration manager of Australian Country Music Academy) having long discussions.
Roger said he was blown away by the depth of talent in this area but that, while he felt all of the finalists were winners, at the end of the day he and Sam had been tasked with the final choices.
Megan Baragry
Not a novice to busking, overall winner Megan Baragry has previously competed in the Tamworth Country Music Busking Competition – a competition featuring around 300 buskers over 10 days.
Overjoyed at winning, she said even if she hadn’t won, she’d had enjoyed the Saturday portion of the competition.
“The whole atmosphere on Saturday was so great,” she said.
“And it was local. My favourite part was that it supported local artists and gave them a chance to showcase themselves, and also that the whole town seemed to come out to support us.”
Megan said she enjoyed performing at two different venues as it made her have to regain an audience. Placed at one of the more distant venues for her second stint, she said it helped her focus on winning people over and getting them to hang around.
On stage for the finals, she admitted to a small case of nerves due to the talent around her but enjoyed mixing with the other performers backstage.
Megan, who is already building a name locally as a performer at live venues, intends to invest the $3,000 first prize on her musical career.
“Roger and Sam both mentioned I should consider the Academy, and that’s something I’ve always wanted to do, so maybe that’s where I’ll spend the money,” Megan said.
Walk the Line
Runners up Walk the Line, made up of Bianca Coombs and Scott Woodhouse, had previously played in Goulburn group Sweet Mercy, but Bianca made it clear that she was proud to be a Crookwell girl.
“Born and bred in Crookwell,” she said.
“Proud to be a local and I was so happy to have the most important people in my life here to see us today.”
While the duo won second prize, they both felt the prize was so great it felt like they’d won first prize. As runners up they will receive two days recording at Old Binda Road recording studio.
“I’m feeling on top of the world,” Bianca said.
“I’ve never done any studio recording before so I’m so excited. And I was just discussing it with Scotty… he plays so many instruments, we have so many options. It’s a great opportunity for us.”
The pair described the whole event as a great weekend and said they’d had a ball.
“Crookwell really put on something special,” Bianca said.
“The weather was great, the people were great. It was perfect and this is just the icing on the cake.”
Harriet Lowe
Crookwell’s own Harriet Lowe won the junior prize – a recording session at the Hume Conservatorium and an invitation to participate in one of the Conservatoriums mentoring groups.
At the tender age of just 17 years, Harriet has already participated in the Tamworth Country Music Festival in the Golden Gig, a competition for people aged 17 and under, and also busked at Tamworth.
“Winning this feels great,” Harriet said.
“Especially with these other performers around me, it felt very inspirational.”
Harriet said she would like to record a song, or several songs, with her studio session, time permitting, but also felt making connections with judges Roger Corbett and Sam Phillips from the Academy was another great opportunity for her.
All three prize winners said they’d like to perform at any future Crookwell Busking Competition.
Crookwell Country Weekend is an Upper Lachlan Shire Council initiative funded by the NSW Government’s Reconnecting Regional – Community Events Program. The Busking Competition was a partnership between Upper Lachlan Shire Council, Old Binda Road Recording Studio and Hume Conservatorium.