WAM Member Spotlight: Darcy Hay ‘The Old Farm Debt’

9 Oct

Author WAM

SCALA FOOM Commendation

Regional WAM Member Darcy Hay received a commendation for his new single ‘The Old Farm Debt’, ahead of releasing his new album, from Songwriters Composers and Lyricists Association as part of their 2018 Festival of Original Music awards.

Folk, blues and country singer-songwriter Darcy Hay has been known to silence noisy pubs with his intricate, rapid fire fingerpicking and deft harmonica solos. Also a prize-winning poet, Hay boasts both a talent for writing vivid, evocative lyrics and a raw, everyman voice – complete with a big, Australian drawl – that has drawn comparisons to an early Bob Dylan, or John Williamson. Darcy has played at Nannup Music Festival, Nukara Music Festival, Blues For The Bush, Big Bash Music Festival out in Narrogin and the Gascoyne River Music Festival. He has also been shortlisted as a WA entrant to the Hobart Festival of Voices, won the 2017 Gerladton Fame Seeker Award (for his original song ‘Free Like The Birds), and won the inaugural 2010 Micth Davies Geraldton Acoustic Guitar Competition.

“‘The Old Farm Debt’ came out of the blue, after bushwalking around farm country in the Chapman Valley, and having a sudden compulsion to do something quite different and write a rural murder-mystery. I came home, grabbed my guitar, whacked on the harmonica and it largely just fell into place without much thought. I’m stoked beyond words to pick up a mention from SCALA – being a regional songwriter living a long way from the country’s (and WA’s) musical focal points, the thought of my work getting a half decent reception on the national stage is frankly a whopping pick-me-up.”

The primary goal of SCALA is to support, nurture and encourage songwriters, composers and lyricists of any style and genre regardless of skill and experience no matter where you are in the world. Find out more about SCALA here.

Watch ‘The Old Farm Debt’ Here