Artist of the Week: Casey Barnes

CountryTown is proud to announce Gold Coast-based country pop rock singer-songwriter, Casey Barnes as our Artist Of The Week, following the release of his new album, Light It Up.

Inspired as a six-year-old when he saw his first gig – Johnny Cash in his hometown of Launceston, supported by John Williamson – Casey started playing gigs while still in high school. He continued his singing career in Tasmania before relocating to Queensland. He later appeared on season seven of Australian Idol, alongside James Johnston in 2009.

Before Australian Idol, he released his self-titled debut album in 2007 as well as a string of singles. In 2010, he released an EP titled Red Lion Motel and the follow up, Flesh & Bone in 2014. He also released a further two albums – Jet Trails in 2012 and Live As One in 2016, respectively.

He has since opened for acts like Bryan Adams, Diesel, Mariah Carey, Lady A to name a few and performed at major events including Savannah In The Round, CMC Rocks, Tamworth Country Music Festival and BluesFest as well as multiple USA stadium outings in Kansas City and South Dakota, topped off by performances at the Professional Bull Riding World Finals in Las Vegas.

He released his album, The Good Life in 2018. It debuted at #1 on the iTunes Country Album Chart, peaking at #2 on the ARIA Australian Country Album Chart. Radio welcomed album favourites The Way We Ride, Be Mine and Set Sail, with smash hit Ain’t Coming Home racking up consecutive weeks at #1 on The Country Top 40 charts. Meanwhile, Better Days became the #1 Most Downloaded to radio and amassed over 1.7 million streams.

His follow up album, 2020’s Town Of A Million Dreams, debuted at #16 on the ARIA Albums Chart and #1 on the Australian Country Chart, the iTunes Country and All Genre Charts. It has spent over 70 weeks on the ARIA Australian Country Albums Chart to date, and earned him an ARIA Award nomination for ‘Country Music Album of the Year.’

In 2021, he earned four Golden Guitar nominations including ‘Album of the Year’, ‘Contemporary Country Album of the Year’, ‘Male Artist of the Year’ and ‘Vocal Collaboration of the Year.’ Casey was also a first time APRA Music Award nominee, receiving a nod for ‘Most Performed Country Work’ for his catchy single, A Little More.

Over the last 18 months, Casey has delivered a string of successful releases. He has nailed five number ones on the Australian country radio charts, and eight of his songs have blasted past one million streams. His all-time streams are collectively more than 25 million, making him one of the most streamed Australian country artists of all time.

Now comes the new album, Light It Up. Produced by Melbourne based production team MSquared (Michael Delozrenzis and Michael Paynter), Light It Up features ten new original songs, all co-written by Casey with MSquared and Nashville based singer-songwriters Kaci Brown and Sam Gray. 

His latest single Get To Know Ya currently sits at #12 on the Countrytown Hot 50 Country Airplay Chart, ahead of his previous single, God Took His Time On You at #13.

Casey says of Get To Know Ya, "This song is all about meeting someone for the first time, that spark you have and wanting to know more about them. We've all had our fair share of lockdowns and isolation over the last two years and we're finally enjoying the luxury of being able to get out and about again and reconnect. That's what this single is all about... that instant connection when you lay eyes on someone for the first time. The nervous feeling about getting to know them and hoping they feel the same way because in your eyes, they're that one in a million. This single is one of my favourite songs on the album and I'm so excited to finally get it out there!"

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