Wingham based singer-songwriter Hudson Rose's star is steadily rising, with her latest accolade being the bestowal of the Young Person of the Year Award at MidCoast Council's 2020 Australia Day ceremony (under her real name, Georgia Hudson).
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Hudson could not be at the ceremony to accept her award as she was performing at the Tamworth Country Music Festival (TCMF) and only found out she won later when Kevin Ballard messaged her.
"That was really lovely and a nice surprise to come back home to," Hudson says. "I'm super honoured."
It was the 17-year-old's fourth foray to TCMF. She started out there three years ago playing covers after being invited to share a busking spot every morning to sing three songs on a guitar she could barely play.
"I learnt three songs, but I did carry it around the streets so I looked like a musician!" Hudson says.
The following year she shared a busking spot with due Jake and Jackson. Last year she was among the top 10 buskers selected by judges over 10 days to battle it out at the Toyota's Best of the Buskers competition at Toyota Park.
Related reading: Dream come true for buskers in Tamworth
This year she played 14 shows on stage at TCMF.
"I opened for Queensland band Homegrown. They were on The Voice last year. That was really really cool. And I got to play on the Fanzone Stage in the heart of Peel Street, and the HSF Artists' Showcase," Hudson says.
She recognises it is gratifying to look back and see how far she has come in Tamworth from her first year.
"It's good because sometimes you don't think you're progressing at all. To see that is like a marker each year to where you've come from."
Taking part in the TCMF came hot of the back of an extremely busy year for the teenager.
She completed two units of the HSC in her favourite subject - music, of course - although she was only in year 11 (Hudson is in year 12 this year).
She was a semi-finalist in the 7NEWS Young Achiever Awards - NSW/ACT for 2020 (nominations were in 2019) but only four were selected to make it as finalists and she missed out.
Hudson is now a graduate of the Junior Academy of Country Music after completing a course for artists and their parents at Tamworth in July 2019.
Related reading: Learning from Australian country music mentors
The same month she started regular travel to Sydney after being accepted into the Talent Development Project, a joint initiative of NSW Department of Education and the entertainment industry. The project means a lot of work on tasks she is given to work on in her own time. If she gets through each successive phase (more artists are eliminated at different stages), she will graduate in June 2020.
One of the tasks she was given to complete for the Talent Development Project was to organise and perform in her own headline show.
The result is Up Close with Hudson Rose at Bent on Food in Wingham from 4pm on February 8. Tickets for that show sold out within three days and Hudson has added a second show as a result - same place, same time, but held the next weekend on February 15. The shows will feature her own compositions and a few covers she has adapted.
Related reading: Hudson Rose to perform her first headline show in Wingham
Hudson chose to do her headline shows in her home town because it holds a special place in her heart.
"I think it really shows what a community we have here. It's so special. I really wanted to have it in Wingham because it's my town, it will forever by my town, and it's beautiful here," she says.
Tickets for Up Close with Hudson Rose are $10 and will include the afternoon's entertainment and shared light snacks. Drinks can be purchased from Bent on Food.
Tickets are limited and can be purchased by emailing hudsonrosemusic@gmail.com.