Andrew Swift ProfileWith his toe-tapping recent single, Brick By Brick, singer-songwriter Andrew Swift is proving that he can’t be pigeonholed.
The two-time Golden Guitar Award-winner has long been beloved for his timeless country tunes, but this latest track, with its abundance of fiddle and banjo, sees him dipping his toes into bluegrass.
“I was pretty late coming into country music,” Swift explains enthusiastically over a Zoom call, “and when I did I listened to a lot of sub-genres.”
Bluegrass was one that stood out to him immediately. “I loved it. For a few years I’ve been saying I’d love to do a bluegrass side project, and that’s how it was meant to start out.”
But once he got going, he realised his enthusiasm for the sound was too great for it to be relegated to the outskirts of his career.
“I was like, this needs to be the focus. But even way back on the first album I released, there was still some bluegrass influence. I feel like now I’m really embracing it and seeing what I can actually do with it.”
His journey through sonics and genre hasn’t exactly been straightforward. Swift found his start in a Melbourne indie/pop punk band, Race The Frey, which was something that seemed to happen almost by accident.
“I played guitar and there were some guys at school who were like, ‘Swiftie, you’ve got a big shed at your place, you play guitar, we’re starting a punk band, you’re in it.’ I’d never listened to any punk music in my life.”
His influence at the time included an eclectic array of artists: Van Morrison, Cat Stevens, Tonic, and Goo Goo Dolls, to name a few. When he started writing his own music, people told him that his songs possessed a country flair – something he thought, at the time, was decidedly uncool.
“I was like, ‘Don’t use that C word with me.’ Especially being in Melbourne back then. Melbourne was late to the party.”
He fought against the label until he ended up at the Tamworth Country Music Festival.
“It was my second time there, in 2015, when I fell in love with it and realised that that was what I wanted to do.”
His plan of action, then, was to stop writing for 18 months and flood his ears with country music. “I wanted to take it all in so there would be some new influences in my writing.”
Swift admits, soberly, “One of the few regrets I have in life is that I wasn’t more open-minded about it earlier. I was ignorant as to what country music involved. I feel like if I’d gotten into it ten years earlier it would have been great.
"So I’m extremely proud to be a country artist these days. I’m screaming from the mountaintops.”
Brick By Brick follows his fourth studio album, Lightning Strikes And Neon Nights, released in 2023. The single, which was co-written with his partner Simone Sordello, as well as Melanie Dyer, Gretta Ziller, and Jackson James, was a cathartic undertaking. Its inception was prompted by a painful falling-out with a mutual friend.
“Some lies had been exposed,” Swift sighs. “We'd given them a couple more chances than we probably should have, and then the lies continued. It was rough, because it was someone who we had considered to be an extremely good, close friend…
"That was the first time the three of us got together and discussed what happened. We were letting our feelings out. Talking it out and writing about it ended up being a bit of a therapeutic thing.”
Friend break-ups, he says, are often gradual – a process of slow dissolution. “So when it happens suddenly, that’s when it shakes you a little bit. It’s pretty unusual. But I feel like the good thing about Brick By Brick is even the people who have been burnt in a romantic sense can still relate to what we’re talking about.”
The past year or so has seen Swift take a step back from full-time touring since becoming a stay-at-home father to his fifteen-month-old daughter Valentine (blissfully asleep at the time of the Zoom call).
“This year’s been extremely difficult for me,” Swift admits. “And it’s been quite a juggle.”
His fiancee’s pursuit of a corporate career has seen a role reversal take place. “I fell into that stay-at-home dad role, which was pretty nerve-wracking to begin with, because I didn’t even think I wanted kids.”
And now?
“I love it. She’s the best. I didn’t think my best friend would be a fifteen-month sassy little girl, but it is. But juggling music as well has been tricky.” Scheduling creativity around daycare isn’t exactly easy – the muse waits for no one, after all.
“It’s funny, people have been asking me if she has been inspiring songs and the answer, in short, is not yet. I’m someone who writes when I reflect on times in my life. But I feel like I’m so deep in the trenches right now that I can't reflect on it, I’m just getting through it.
"She’s the best, but she just keeps me on my feet. It’s just been very weird for me to be home so much this year.”
Constant touring and performance gives the artist instant validation. “When you’re on the road and playing to people, you get an immediate reassurance from the audience that what you do is wanted, that people enjoy what you do.”
Sequestered at home, Swift finds it easy to overthink. “I get in my head and start questioning, like, does anyone even want to hear my music? For someone who’s been pretty much living on the road for ten years, it’s just a very different headspace to navigate.”
That being said, Swift can still be caught onstage here and there, including at the prestigious Groundwater CMF, and eventually at Tamworth CMF too.
“Something like Groundwater is such a fantastic festival for families,” he gushes. “We’re taking the whole family up – I’m taking Valentine, I’m taking my stepsons and my fiance, and we’re making a weekend of it.”
With major performances such as these, stage fright has never really been an issue for Swift. Imposter syndrome, however, is something he still grapples with.
“I’m someone who is constantly doubting myself. But I try not to let that show too much.”
His sense of self-worth is slowly becoming more assured. “I think I’m more comfortable in myself now. I take everything in my stride. It’s this weird thing of knowing your value but also staying humble.
"I’m just trying to focus on making music that I’m enjoying making, because that’s going to cut through everything else anyway.”
Andrew Swift performs at the Groundwater CMF festival this weekend, with tickets on sale now.
GROUNDWATER 2026
LINE-UP
KASEY CHAMBERS
KAYLEE BELL | THE WOLFE BROTHERS
BECCY COLE | JAMES BLUNDELL
LANE PITTMAN | KINGSWOOD | TYLA RODRIGUES
HENRY WAGONS | ANDREW SWIFT
HAYLEY JENSEN | ANDREW FARRISS
DAN DAVIDSON | DENVAH | MELANIE DYER | AUSTIN MACKAY
RUTH MOODY | THE PIGS | ALLAN CASWELL | TORI FORSYTH
JAKE PENROD | PETE DENAHY & THE SURREAL MCCOYS
STERLING DRAKE | THE BURES BAND
2026 STARMAKER JARRAD WRIGLEY | BEAU SHEARER
JAKE WHITTAKER | JOSH STUMPF | DEAR TOMMIE
MIDNIGHT CHICKEN | NATHAN LAMONT | JOSIE
& MANY MORE
This piece of content has been assisted by the Australian Government through Music Australia and Creative Australia, its arts funding and advisory body
