Now that she’s graduated from high school and entered adulthood, Young’s Sami Cooke is off on an Australian tour.
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It’s the 18-year-old’s first album tour and so far she’s spent two months in Victoria performing three to four shows a week in areas as far south as Port Fairy.
She visited more than 20 towns and venues.
Sami, accompanied by her mother, returned home for one week last week before taking flight again on Wednesday, this time north to Queensland for another four months.
They will head to Mackay and work their way back down to NSW with Sami again performing three to four shows a week.
Over the first two months the local singer-songwriter will visit 16 towns and venues.
Of course it wasn’t all perfect sailing for the mother-daughter team when they reached Morwell in eastern Victoria, a little town at the time who were facing a coal fire.
“We had to cancel my show there as they were ready to evacuate the town which was disappointing but I’m sure I’ll be back there again.”
A very excited Sami said the start of her tour began with her album launch and 18th birthday/farewell concert held on February 8-9 at the German Club in Canberra.
“This was the most incredible experience of my career so far as we had over 250 people come along and I was very privileged to have eight, very talented and different guest artists performing throughout the night, which kicked off at 6.30pm and finished at 1.30am,” she said.
“It is hard to believe that this was only two months ago as it feels like years ago with the amount of stuff we fit into such a short amount of time.”
Her launch attracted the likes of local opera performer Mark Brooker, Martin Oakes (bush ballad/country), Joel Causton (country/pop), Johanna Hemara (country/yodel), KG (dancer/hip hop), Steven Keene & Group (pop), Brother Be (folk rock), Roo Arcus (country/ bush ballad), and The Feldons (classic rock).
“Overall, I can’t have imagined a better night so thank you to everyone who came and completed the best birthday for me.”
Another exciting feat for the junior star came the next day, February 9 – her 18th birthday – when she was invited to open the show of Australian country music artist Bill Chambers (father of Kasey Chambers) at the German Club.
“Of course I was so excited! Bill Chambers has to be one of the best musicians and down to earth people I have met for a while,” Sami said.
“He was so encouraging and just a genuine man… it was incredible to hear from such an experienced musician that he believes I will make it in the industry.”