Artist Of The Week: Angus Gill

CountryTown is proud to announce rising folk and country artist, Angus Gill as our Artist Of The Week, following the release of his new single, The Scrapbook.

The singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, comedian, engineer, and producer, who grew up in Wauchope, NSW, began playing guitar at age seven. He formed his own band in primary school and honed his craft by playing regular gigs from 11-years-old onwards at the local historic theme park. Gill also hosted his own show on community radio.

After receiving a scholarship to attend the CMAA Academy of Country Music in 2012, Gill released his debut EP, Livewire in 2014. His self-produced debut album, Nomad followed in 2017. That same year he was named a grand finalist in the 2017 Toyota Star Maker competition.

In 2019, Gill released his second studio album, Welcome To My Heart, which debuted at #2 on the ARIA Country Albums Chart and was later nominated for ‘Traditional Country Album of the Year’ at the 2020 Golden Guitar Awards. That same year, he collaborated with the members of Paul Kelly’s band, dubbed Seasons of Change, on the critically acclaimed album, 3 Minute Movies. The album secured two Golden Guitar nominations for ‘Alt Country Album of the Year’ and ‘Group or Duo of the Year’. It also debuted at #28 on the ARIA Top 100 Albums (All Genres), #8 on the Australian Albums (All Genres), #2 on the Australian Country Albums and #4 on the Country Albums Chart.

In 2020, he was nominated for an ARIA Award for his songwriting and production work with Melbourne comedy legend Bev Killick for ‘Best Comedy Release’.

In 2021, he released the bluegrass inspired, The Scrapbook. The album debuted at #1 on the ARIA Top 20 Australian Country Albums Chart. It also debuted at #2 ARIA Top 40 Country Albums, #4 ARIA Top 20 Australian Albums (All Genres), #19 ARIA Top 50 Albums and #12 ARIA Top 20 Vinyl Albums. The album is up for ‘Traditional Country Album of the Year’ at the 2022 Golden Guitar awards. Gill also scored nominations for ‘Bluegrass Recording of the Year’ (Always on the Run), ‘Bush Ballad of the Year’ (The Easy Way) and ‘Instrumental of the Year’ (Musterin’ season with Linsday Waddington).

The title track is a tribute to his late Grandmother.

Gill says, “The Scrapbook is a song very dear to me, because it’s so personal, but yet universal. My Nan had dementia and prior to her going into a nursing home, she would always remind me that she had collected every newspaper and magazine article of mine and she was in the process of putting them into a scrapbook. The sentiment of the song is summed up in the lines “flicking through those pictures of me/It’ll only be her that I see". It’s ironic, but the truth is that when I flick through the scrapbook Nan made for me, I’ll only see her and think of the bond we had and the great times we’ve spent together.”

He adds, “When I asked my friend, artist Judy Nadin to do the cover art for this album, I sent her several pictures of my Nan holding up The Scrapbook. I don’t get emotional very often, but the artworks she sent back made me tear up. She got every detail right in Nan’s face, it’s remarkable.”

Additionally, Gill has toured nationally and internationally several times, becoming one of the youngest Australians to perform on the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee in 2019, as a guest of Nashville TV star Charles Esten. He has supported US country music superstar Kris Kristofferson, as well as the biggest names in the Australian music industry, including The Black Sorrows, Rick Price, Lee Kernaghan, Troy Cassar-Daley, Sara Storer, Beccy Cole, James Blundell and others.

-

Keep up to date with Angus Gill, follow him on Facebook here.

For more Artist Of The Week features, including Angus Gill, check out here.