Artist of the Week: Lyn Bowtell

CountryTown is proud to announce singer-songwriter, Lyn Bowtell, as our Artist Of The Week, following the release of her new album Wiser.

From a musical family, Lyn began performing as a child. At 13, she competed in her first country music festival talent quest, a trend that continued well into her teens. In 1996, she formed the band Southern Steel. They released their debut album, Headed South, that same year.

After attending the CMAA College of Country Music, she was named the Toyota Star Maker in 1997. Following the win, she released two singles The One You Love and Searching for Jane. She continued to tour with Southern Steel until they disbanded in 2001. The following year, Lyn released her debut solo album, Heart’s In The Country and joined Kate Ballantyne and Karen O'Shea to form country pop vocal trio, Bella. Following the release of Bella’s studio album, Gravity, they won two Golden Guitar awards for ‘Vocal Group or Duo of the Year’ in 2004 and 2005, before parting the following year.

After taking a break to study music, in 2012, Lyn released her second solo studio album, Secret Songs and supported Beccy Cole on her Australian tour, as a rhythm guitarist, backing singer and opening act. Her third solo album, Heart Of Sorrow, followed in 2014. Produced by Shane Nicholson, the album won ‘Best Alternative Country Album’ at the Golden Guitar Awards.

Since 2015, Lyn has been focused on her trio project Bennett, Bowtell & Urquhart alongside Kevin Bennett and Felicity Urquhart. Their self-titled debut album, released the following year, went on to win the ‘Alternative Country Album of the Year’ Golden Guitar award in 2017. They took home the award for ‘Group or Duo of the Year’ that same year, as well as ‘Vocal Collaboration of the Year’ for the song Every Hello (featuring the late Karl Brodie) in 2019.

Lyn was also appointed creative director of The CMAA Academy of Country Music in 2015, where she has advised and mentored hundreds of emerging artists, including Logan Hoswell whom she released the friendship anthem Sister In Song with in 2021. 

After successfully auditioning for The Voice Australia in 2017, in which she joined Boy George’s team, she released a six-track EP called Calling You. It debuted at #2 on the ARIA Top 20 Australian Artist Country Albums Chart and #13 on the ARIA Top 40 Country Albums Chart.

In total, Lyn is multi-nominee and recipient of nine Golden Guitar Awards, including for collaborations with Catherine Britt, Beccy Cole and Luke O’Shea. More recently, Lyn was inducted into the Australian Country Music Hands of Fame. 

After four years of collaboration, Wiser gives a clear view of Lyn as a deeply feeling and empathetic human being whose captivating voice demands her listener’s attention, and rewards it from a depth and confidence that comes from knowing exactly who she is. Wiser includes the singles I Won't Do That Again (which peaked at #24 on the Countrytown Hot 50 Country Airplay Chart) and Woman To Woman. 

“I’m enjoying the feeling of placing myself at the focal point of my career, these days I have complete confidence in what I’m doing musically,” Lyn says. “I’m less influenced by the image-based nature of the entertainment industry, that pressure imposed almost exclusively on female artists of having the perfect body size and being below a certain age is losing its power over me.”

You can read more about the album here in our exclusive track by track. Lyn is currently on tour – see dates here.

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Follow Lyn Bowtell on her Facebook page here.