Dynamic singer-songwriter and proud Wiradjuri man, Nathan Lamont, breaks new ground in modern Country music.
The first time Nathan Lamont ever sung a note on stage was to the bush ballad, Bound For South Australia, at the Tamworth CCMA Talent Quest. “From there on I had the taste for performing and stealing the limelight,” he chuckles.
He was just nine years old. However, the road to that first performance was anything but smooth sailing. As one of 22 siblings, Lamont’s childhood was turbulent. “I grew up in and out of the foster care system, but lived with my mother from about 5 years of age through till I left home at 16,” admits the singer. Living in public housing on a budget of welfare payments meant Lamont grew up quickly.
“Life was challenging in the care of my mother and I often had to fend for myself.” It was through his step-mother, Millie, that he discovered a passion for performance. “She saw a lot in me,” he smiles.
“Millie was the Chair of the Leeton Country Music Association for many years. She would run a bus for people to attend various country music talent quests and/or festivals and would subsequently enter me into talent quests.” Shortly after teaching himself to play guitar, Lamont returned to the CCMA Talent Quest and took home gold – a goal he set for himself after setting foot there 6 years earlier. But that was just the beginning.
He went on to appear on the nationally televised, Young Talent Time (2010) and The Voice (2014, 2016); and has been a two-time finalist in Australia’s most prestigious Country music talent quest, Toyota Starmaker. Before too long people were resonating with the singer-songwriter’s impressive voice around Australia.
The boy from rural Wagga Wagga was opening stages for massive acts like Thirsty Merc and Morgan Evans. Eventually he decided to step away from music and focus on his growing family, with his wife and two children. But he’d already tasted the limelight… soon the allure of the stage would beckon him back. In that hiatus he honed his sound.
“I had really struggled to find and confine myself to a particular style and sound for many years, until recently.” Inspired by trailblazers like Dan and Shay and Keith Urban, Lamont’s music is cutting edge Country Pop. Recorded at Sydney’s, Only Hits Studio, with producer, Alex Mather, Lamont’s newest offering in several years is the infectious, Drink You Up.
His earnest lyricism and captivating vocals are on full display in this romantic ode to his wife of 14 years. “I try to write music that is uplifting or positive, I struggle to tap into my struggles as it unravels too many unaddressed things from the past.” Everything about Nathan Lamont’s journey has influenced his music.
From a chequered past of homelessness and poverty, emerges breathtakingly powerful music of joy and hope.
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