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| Amos Morris is a young man with a very bright future. |
| Excerpt and photot courtesy of The Macleay Argus, Kempsey |
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| The 16 year old is wowing audiences, radio listeners and his family and friends with his exceptional country music singing and guitar skills. Last weekend the year 10 Melville High student won the best songwriter award at the Hunter Valley Country Music Association's 24 th annual country music talent quest. |
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| The South Kempsey resident won the award with a tribute song to the late Slim Dusty titled “Legend in the Sky”. |
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| He also won seven other trophies for second or third place in various categories. He was then invited onto the local radio station 2HD to sing and play some more and for an interview. “When I went down there (to the awards ceremony) I was hoping to get known in the Newcastle area and win the songwriter award and I did that”, Amos said. |
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| “All the other awards were just extra. “I was on a high after the night.” |
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| Amos said that he wrote the Slim Dusty tribute song in an hour. “I'm a very quick songwriter,” he said. |
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| The song told of what he did and how he affected my life and how I think most people in Australia felt about him.” |
| Amos is a member of the Kempsey Country Music Group and preforms every month with a group at the Great Northern Hotel. His rise is remarkable considering that he taught himself how to play the guitar in December last year and only started performing in February this year. “When I first moved up here Tank FM had a bit of a walk up artist day for Slim Dusty's death,” said Amos, who credits his grandfather for his interest in Country Music. “I went up there and did a few songs and from then on it's snowballed from there.” |
| Amos says that he loves singing and playing the guitar because of the “thrill” he experiences when he is up on stage. “Knowing that you are making people happy by doing something that you love to do is a thrill,” said Amos. “I think that every song tells a story and I just like to retell it in my own way.” |
| Amos said most of his songs come to him when “I'm exhausted or I'm really, really bored”. |
| “I just sit down with my guitar and start playing different chords,” he said. “I like to think that I write about what's fair dinkum. I don't flower anything up and I write what I think.” That is certainly true for his second song titled ‘Just how long can a good thing last' which is about life and not taking it for granted. |
| Amos wrote the song in about 30 minutes during his music class on Wednesday afternoon. Amos said he would eventually like to make a “good album”, keep writing his own songs, “write a song that everyone likes” and “do a lot of Slim Dusty's songs”. |
| “A lot of young people don't have real appreciation for the old style of Country Music and I just want to keep the old stuff alive,” Amos said. |
| Amos said he would like to thank his mum, grandmother and grandfather, auntie Georgina and the Kempsey community “for being so supportive”. |
| Amos will preform at the Kempsey Bowling and Recreation Club's Country Music showcase this Sunday. He will then travel to Tamworth in early July for some paid work and then preform at the Crescent Head Country Club for a fundraiser for the Kempsey Country Music Group on July 17. He will also preform at the Pub With No Beer at Taylors Arm on July 25. In October he will travel to Canberra for a national talent quest. |
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| Further information: |
| The Slim Dusty Foundation |
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Kathryn Yarnold
General Manager
18 Kemp Street, West Kempsey.
PO Box 70, Kempsey NSW 2440
Phone: 02 6562 6533
Fax: 02 6562 1849
Email: slimdustycentre@midcoast.com.au
Website: www.slimdustycentre.com.au
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