Travis Collins, Hayley Jensen & More Join Monday’s KIX Live!

On Monday, October 24 at 7pm AEST, KIX Live will feature performances from Travis Collins, Hayley Jensen and Clayton Bellamy, Davisson Brothers Band, Max Jackson, Ashleigh Dallas, Rachael Fahim and Ella & Sienna, plus Justin will announce the week's 'Centre Stage' artist.

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Travis Collins

Travis Collins began busking on Peel Street in Tamworth at age 11. He won Toyota Star Maker in 2004, before the release of his debut album, Start The Car, in 2005. Albums No Boundaries (2007), self-titled third album (2011), Wired (2015), Hard Light (2016), Brave & The Broken (2018), Wreck Me (2020) and Wreck Me Acoustic (2020) followed.

He joined Adam Brand together with Drew McAlister, Matt Cornell and Mike Carr as Adam Brand and the Outlaws in 2015 and Amber Lawrence in 2017 on the EP Our Backyard.

Collins was awarded the CMC ‘Male Artist of the Year’ for 2017 and 2018 and swept the Golden Guitar Awards in 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2021. The CMA Global Artist Award-winner has toured alongside US megastars Tim McGraw, Luke Combs and Billy Ray Cyrus, and will support Midland on their upcoming Australian tour.

Following the release of singles One Of Them Nights and Just The Way from his forthcoming album, Collins will join Canadian platinum and award-winning artist, Dan Davidson on his collaboration single, Girl Drinks Beer, and play a co-headlining show in Hamilton, NSW.

Davisson Brothers Band

Hailing from the hills of West Virginia, the Davisson Brothers Band first caught the attention of Australian country music fans in late 2017 with the release of their hit single Po Boys (from the album Fighter), which peaked at #2 on the national country singles charts in Australia.

Upon arriving in Australia for the first time in 2018, the band famously received a very public endorsement by Australian country superstar Lee Kernaghan during the CMC Music Awards. Their acclaimed performances at the CMC Rocks QLD festival took place several days later.

The Davisson Brothers Band returned to Australia in 2019 as international headliners at the Groundwater Country Music Festival and released the song Greatest Show On Earth with local artist Amber Lawrence in 2020.

The band’s music has been well supported in Australia, on country radio networks such as KIX Country, Triple M Country, iHeart Radio and Triple A, as well as CMC and CMT. They will release a brand-new album, produced by Brett Cobb and David “Ferg” Ferguson, across the world in the Autumn of 2023, with the first single from the new project scheduled for release on October 21.

Hayley Jensen

After placing fourth on Australian Idol, Hayley Jensen formed her own record label (White Dove Music), released a solo album titled Note To Self and released a number of singles while touring the country. Following her work with alternative pop/rock band Seasons (who later became Silver Cities), Jensen appeared on The Voice Australia in 2014, where she was described as ‘the whole package’ by coach Kylie Minogue.

2016 saw Jensen return to country music with her single The One. She was nominated as a Toyota Star Maker Finalist and released two further singles, followed by the EP Past Tense & Present Peace in 2017, which became her first #1 iTunes Country Chart. In 2018, she was a CMC Award finalist for ‘New Artist of the Year’ and released her album Turning Up The Dial.

Following touring Australia, the UK and Canada, in early 2020 she joined Beccy Cole for a duet of Sarah McLachlan’s Angels, the song which got her to the top 12 on Australian Idol. In 2021, Jensen released her third album, Breakin’ Hearts, which peaked at #1 on the ARIA Country Albums Chart and #25 on the ARIA Top 50 Albums Chart, and features the hit singles Breakin’ Hearts, Fireworks, Just Gonna Party, Karma, Better Than That and Shake My Bones.

Her current single, Four Boots, was co-written with Canadian country acts Dan Davidson (with whom Jensen featured on the duet Really Shouldn't Drink Around You) and Clayton Bellamy (of Canadian trio, The Road Hammers) who also features as guest vocalist the country-rock banger.

Max Jackson

Raised on country music in the small town of Coonamble, NSW, Max Jackson has been forging her way to a successful career, stepping from talent quests, to graduating from both the Talent Development Project (CEO Mary Lopez), and the Country Music Association of Australia’s The Academy of Country Music to being part of a successful group The Apprentices (2012). 

Inspired by female writers who really have something to say, like Kacey Musgraves, Alanis Morissette, Sheryl Crowe and Dolly Parton, Jackson has been happy as a behind-the-scenes songwriter, honing her craft, and taking trips to Nashville and Los Angeles, and writing with international and Australian artists. A highlight was a co-write with Nashville-based pop artist Svrcina on the song Astronomical, which was included in the smash TV Series, Legacies.

She released her debut album (as well as its deluxe edition with three extra songs) in 2020, following a Christmas album in 2017. Her current single, Stratosphere, follows Runnin’ which peaked at #14 on the Countrytown Hot 50 Country Airplay Chart. 

Jackson also tied the knot to The Viper Creek Band guitarist Jeremy Minett last month.

Ashleigh Dallas

Four-time CMAA Golden Guitar Award winner, Ashleigh Dallas is third generation in a country music family dynasty. Born in Australia’s Country Music Capital of Tamworth NSW, the CMAA graduate grew up listening to the musical sounds of her family – Roll of Renown recipient and Golden Guitar winner, Rex Dallas and Golden Guitar winner, producer and multi-instrumentalist father, Brett Dallas. She began violin lessons at the age of 6, and learned to play acoustic guitar, mandolin, ukulele, and banjo and started songwriting when she reached her teenage years.

Her current album, In The Moment, was released in September. It follows 2015’s Otherside of Town and her award-winning 2017 album Lighthouse, which debuted at #2 on the ARIA Country Charts just below Keith Urban, and Reflection (2019). Since the age of 16, Ashleigh has been a proud ambassador for the music festival Tunes In The Tropics, held on Fiji’s Coral Coast. In the 10 years of the trip, Ashleigh has been a part of raising money for the local Fijian Community and local schools while sharing her songs to the festival goers and local families.

Rachael Fahim 

Rachael Fahim started competing in talent quests at roughly ten years of age. She released her debut single, Say It in 2015 and the follow-up, Rope in 2016, before going on to win Toyota Star Maker in 2017. Her prize pack included the recording of three singles and three video clips, a brand-new Toyota RAV4 withunlimited fuel card for 12 months, and guaranteed performances at major festivals throughout Australia.She released of her self-titled EP later that same year.

For the past three years, she’s been the second highest streamed female country artist in Australian history after Kasey Chambers. She’s seen over 11 million audio streams since the release of her Iconic EP in 2019, which features the singles Brake Lights, Even If I Wanted To featuring Brad Cox and What I Don’t Know.

Fahim was also the co-creator (and a former member) of Southbound with Missy Lancaster, Sarah Bernardo and Andrea Krakosvka. Before she left the all-female country rock super group to work on solo projects, they topped the country charts with the singles Drink, Get Drunk On Me, Drink, Find Our Way featuring Shannon Noll and This Is Us.

Her current single, City Girls In The Country, follows Middle Ground, which spent a massive 5 weeks at #1 on the official Australian Country singles airplay chart, and Darts In The Dark.

Ella & Sienna

Hailing from the Adelaide Hills, Ella, 19, and Sienna, 15, are multi-instrumentalists, whose live performances mainly feature Ella on vocals/guitar, and Sienna on vocals/bass. With diverse influences from artists including Missy Higgins, Fleetwood Mac and Taylor Swift, the 2021 CMAA Junior Academy graduates have formed a pop/country/folk sound that is all their own.

In 2021, the duo were announced as finalists in Groundwater’s KIX-Start competition. Further accolades over the past two years include Finalist in the Folk Alliance Australia 2021 Youth Folk Artist of the Year, Live Performance Category Winners in the Songwriters Composers and Lyricists Association 2021 Festival of Original Music, Winners of the AGSA Battle of the Bands 2020, 2nd place in both the Battle of the Young Stars and Best of the Buskers competitions at the Tamworth CMF and Semi-Finalist in the International Songwriting Competition 2020. They also placed in the top 3 of the Gympie Muster Talent Search in 2019.

They competed on The Voice Australia earlier this year as part of Rita Ora’s team, and this month were named the 2022 champions of Groundwater's KIX-Start competition. Their current single, Saved, follows Next To Mine, which reached the Countrytown Hot 50 Country Airplay Chart.