It’s a full circle moment for Tom Mac, Australian pop-country singer-songwriter, as he gears himself up for the Airlie Beach Festival of Music.
It was only a seemingly short time ago, when Tom first performed on Hamilton Island, his first ever gig actually, and now he returns, to grace the Airlie Beach Festival of Music stage.
With his newfound talent – Tom didn’t pick up the guitar until he was in university – Tom has seen unprecedented success. It was a seamless transition, from the early days of playing cover songs, to moving onto writing and producing his own music.
“I’ve always written poetry, so it was pretty easy to marry up poetry and music,” Tom explained.
Currently looking at swinging his sound around, Tom has started to evolve into more pop-country.
“I’ve always hit the pop-country scene, but I’ve never felt like I had the right sound. I’ve always felt I’m more aligned with folk acoustic, but everyone says I definitely sound more country. But I was born in country Victoria, so maybe I’ve never grown out of the country.”
So, what can Airlie Beach expect from Tom?
“Mainly originals, some with my didgeridoo. I’ll play a few of my newer songs, that aren’t released yet, and a few that the country-music lovers will love. I’ll also play some covers, which are always crowd pleases. But festivals like this are a great opportunity to showcase original work.
“But pretty much, Butto has told me that I have an hour, so between my storytelling, I’m sure the time will be well spent.”
