Worn Out West: Mitchell Steele’s Debut Is As Honest As The Land That Raised Him

Before there was a stage, there were firebreaks. Before there were lyrics, there were floodwaters, cattle drives, and long days under the Far North Queensland sun. And before there was a debut single, there was Mitchell Steele, just a 10-year-old kid with a guitar, a lot of feelings, and a desire to make people cry.

“I wrote a song called My Mother and Me, which is very on brand, because I’m 10 years old and I wrote about my mum and I’s relationship and how much we love each other. So, you know it was authentic and just innocently me as a 10 year old” Steele recalls with a laugh. “I sang it at a talent quest in Mareeba at Walkamin Country Music Festival. I did, I won that little talent search… and I can remember the judges were crying.”

Fast forward to 2025, and Steele is still crafting songs that strike a chord, but the stages are bigger, the production tighter, and the spotlight brighter. This week, his debut single Worn Out West is finally here, and with it comes the arrival of an artist who is as genuine as he is gifted.

“It’s mostly a song about what it was like to grow up in Far North Queensland, in such isolation, and to have such a big dream,” Steele shares. “You know, it felt like it was impossible for me as a kid, because my world was so small. The town that I grew up in was a population of 300. So a big dream was really that, it was a big dream.”

Co-written with the legendary Kasey Chambers and Brandon Dodd, Worn Out West is more than just Steele’s introduction to the country music scene, it’s his story. “We knew it was a good song,” he says. “And I’ve listened to it over and over, and I’m not sick of it yet. So I think that must mean it’s a good song,” he laughs, “I do think that it is the best song that says who I am, what I represent, where I come from.”

Steele met Chambers at the Academy of Country Music in Tamworth, but it was a chance busking moment that sealed their creative connection. “She sat there and listened for the whole set… she’d yell out, ‘Do an original!’ You know, because she was sussing out what sort of a songwriter I was.”

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That moment would evolve into a close working relationship, with Steele recording at Chambers’ Rabbit Hole Studios and Chambers herself stepping in as producer on his upcoming album. 

“She doesn’t do that for everyone, so I was like, ‘Yes, please,’” he says, still wide-eyed. “She’s an incredible human being… a consummate professional, an exquisite vocalist and songwriter. But also, she’s really cool to hang out with. It’s like being with family.”

That sense of family and feeling runs through everything Steele touches. “Music was always a connection thing for me,” he says. “I want to feel something when I listen to music, and when I write something for people to listen to, I want them to feel something as well.”

Even in performance, that emotional thread is what matters most. “It’s so important to feel it and to be in it,” he adds. “I just hope people enjoy it… and they feel heard, or perhaps I’ve put lyrics to something an emotion they’ve never been able to say or portray.”

While the music is front and centre, Steele’s signature style is part of the package too. From bold, patterned shirts to an unapologetic sense of self-expression, he’s not shy about making a statement. “There was a part of my life where I cared way too much about what people thought,” he says. “And now I’m on the other side of that, where I could not care at all. When I do wear a shirt like this, I feel good… my vibration gets higher and people feel it.”

Now based in Mullumbimby, on a property with seven horses and a stable for an alarm clock (literally), Steele still keeps his country roots close both in life and in spirit. “I live on 16 acres, and usually I’m the one that goes out and feeds the horses,” he says. “One of them in particular has a really great alarm clock built in where he just whacks the wall, made out of tin, with his foot until you go out and feed him.”

But while his mornings start with boots and hay, his dreams are anything but small now. “I want [listeners] to just want more,” he says of the new single. “I’ve put so much into writing these songs and recording them… I just hope they feel something out of it.”

With Worn Out West, Steele is proving that even the most remote beginnings can lead to remarkable destinations. And with his debut single, he’s inviting the rest of Australia to join him on that ride.