Trying to pin down the charming Fanny Lumsden is no easy feat.
The rising country star is a constant flurry of activity – so much so that when the BRAG calls in for a chat, Dan Stanley Freeman (Lumsden’s partner in music and life), has to race about to find her. Running around like a headless chook isn’t unusual for Freeman or Lumsden; it’s their mantra.
With a rare weekend off to celebrate her sister’s wedding, Lumsden has some time to reflect on her year thus far. “It’s been pretty jam-packed,” she says breathlessly. “We started at Woodford Folk Festival – it was amazing, bloody hot but great. We had five days there, drove from Brisbane to Melbourne via the coast, I flew to Tamworth to teach at the Academy of Country Music – I was the resident songwriter. Then I flew back to Melbourne, moved house, flew back to Tamworth – we did our first ever ticketed show there and it was sold out.”
It’s certainly been a whirlwind start to the year for Lumsden – and that’s not all of it. Back in January she picked up a Golden Guitar for Best New Talent, an achievement that had the singer floored. “It totally feels like a milestone,” she says. “We’ve been touring for six years and playing a lot longer. We’re self-managed, self-produced, so to have that kind of recognition from our peers, it was pretty significant for us – it was fantastic.”
Lumsden will soon make an appearance at the National Folk Festival in Canberra. With fewer and fewer festivals gracing the Australian musical landscape, Lumsden agrees that festivals provide a necessary platform for more than just the musician.
“I think [festivals] need embracing,” she says. “There’ve been a lot that started over the years – like any industry, saturation has to go somewhere. They are these significant cultural events that happen every year and to be able to play at them is a privilege. If they disappeared, there’d be less opportunity for punters too – Canberra is a city many people have to drive to, but it’s not like driving to the coast. It’s good having an inland festival and it’s a good opportunity for punters and musicians alike.”
Her outlook is one to admire. Since the release of her debut album Small Town Big Shot in 2015, Lumsden has been all go, and thanks to her down-to-earth character, she’s extending the reach of country music to a wider audience. But does she feel she’s taking Aussie country music to new heights?
“I’m not sure,” she replies. “I’d say we’re just doing what we love. Where we connect with people it feels normal, natural. We started in 2012 with the Country Halls Tour – last year we sold out 13 halls and we had to apply for ticketing, marketing, we swept floors after… we do literally all of it. We do workshops with young artists – maybe that’s not new, but it hasn’t been done for a while. We did it naturally for us; we didn’t look at the market and think, ‘Here’s a hole, let’s fill it.’
“I love that [country music] brings all the communities together. We had to come through those shows from a community perspective, and it’s evolved to doing this tour. We’re totally DIY – it has been, for lack of a better word, organic. I hate that word, but it really has. Don’t write that word [laughs]!”
National Folk Festival 2017 takes placeThursday April 13 – Monday April 17, at Exhibition Park, Canberra. Expect to see Fanny Lumsden perform, as well as Martha Tilston, Jack Harris, The Aoife Scott Band, Heath Cullen and many more.
