VIDEO PREMIERE: Keely Ellen - 'Cowboys Can't Outrun'

17-year-old Bundaberg-based singer-songwriter Keely Ellen returned with a new song, Cowboys Can’t Outrun, earlier this month, and today, Countrytown exclusively premieres the music video.

The first still of the video stars Ellen before a fire as she sings, “Wildflowers can’t be chained by picket fences”.

Ellen said of that lyric in a statement, “I had little bits written down for a song I wanted to write, but it was that lyric that stood out.”

An acoustic guitar accompanies her strong, soulful vocals before electric instruments come in, never stealing her spotlight. In the video, Ellen holds a bunch of roses on fire, stands before flames, walks through town and sings “Cowboys can’t outrun” before a softly plucked mandolin enters the picture.

You can watch the video for Cowboys Can’t Outrun below.

Cowboys Can’t Outrun was produced by Benjy Pocock and co-written by Australian-born, Nashville-based Katrina Burgoyne.

Burgoyne was recommended as a potential collaborator by fellow country artist Sammy White, and together, they penned three songs.

Ellen explained, “This song is a fictional situation, but it's such an inspiration to work with Katrina. She is so talented and really has a way with words. Despite the crazy time difference – sometimes writing at 8 or 9 pm my time – it's always amazing to work with her.”

On what comes next, Ellen said: “The dream is to release as many songs as I can. I want more people to hear my music and enjoy it.”

Earlier this year, Countrytown shared the video premiere for Ellen’s debut single, Red Head – another song that showed her talent beyond her years.

Ellen has been wowing audiences since (at least) 2021, winning the coveted Gladstone Busking Championships after taking home the top prize at Broxburn in 2020, finishing as a semi-finalist at the Gympie Music Muster Talent Search and coming second in the Mount Franklin Tamworth competition.

In 2022, she won the Ekka competition and earned a life-changing Troy Cassar-Daley Scholarship to attend the esteemed Academy of Country Music in Tamworth. Last year, she won the Country on Keppel Peter Blundell Memorial Talent Search. She’s since toured with The Wolfe Brothers, Travis Collins and Catherine Britt (and scored mentorship from Lyn Bowtell).