Country crooner
31 Oct 2017
Singing about her life in rural Australia, 18-time Golden Guitar winner Sara Storer has ample inspiration for her music.
Sara Storer was just 10 years old when her friend showed her a few chords on the guitar. But it was more than a decade before she put pen to paper
and started writing her own lyrics. While living in the Queensland town of Camooweal, Storer wrote her first song, Buffalo Bill, about an old buffalo shooter.
A few years later, Sara won a talent contest at the Adelaide River in the Northern Territory, and was awarded a scholarship to the College of Country Music in Tamworth. There she met Garth Porter, a country music producer who later wrangled her a record deal with ABC Music.
“I was 26 when I gave up teaching to become a professional musician,” Sara says. “I thought I’d give it a go, and if the album did well I’d go back and write another one.” Four years later, in 2004, Sara won seven Golden Guitars at the Country Music Awards of Australia.
It was the most a single performer had ever received in one night. Sara says the awards were a very welcome surprise. “As an artist you’re always trying to get a new audience and new listeners,” she explains. Since then, Sara has continued to make a name for herself as one of few Australian country musicians who sing with an Aussie accent.
“I just love the Australian accent and I think it’s really beautiful when sung well,” she says. “It would be odd and strange for me to sing about an Australian buffalo shooter who lives in Camooweal, singing like an American. I’d be a laughing stock.” And Sara jokes that finding a way to make Aussie slang sound beautiful is a welcome challenge.
It’s not easy balancing a family life with a music career. Since having kids, Sara has had to treat her career a bit differently. “I’ve been caught between ‘do I go out and do these gigs and leave my children behind, or do I stay at home, where
I want to be, with my kids?’,” Sara says. But despite the tension, Sara remains positive. “I can still write songs, I can still do some touring. It’s just a bit more selective, but I’m happy with that.” And even though her attention has been a bit divided lately, Sara still finds inspiration in the everyday. “My music is shaped around my life,” she says. “I think there is a part of my brain that is always, without me knowing, watching for the next best song.”
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