Billboard Magazine Feature Secured for Our clients APRA AMCOS on the Australian invasion in Country Music

When Dylan Scott's single "Hooked" peaked at No. 2 on Billboard's Country Airplay chart dated Sept. 22, its top five achievement masked another success bubbling down under the title in the credits.

Two of its three songwriters, Warner Music Nashville artist Morgan Evans and LOCASH producer Lindsay Rimes ("Heaven"), are native Australians. Together with the ongoing success of Keith Urban and Evans' own growth as an artist, the development puts a face on a quiet evolution in Nashville: the rising tide of Aussie influence.

It would be a mistake to call it a full-fledged wave, but the uptick is evident. In the last four years, the number of Australians working actively in the Nashville music business has mushroomed from 30 to 110, according to APRA-AMCOS Nashville member relations representative Mark Moffatt, with about 15 more visiting monthly to work in Music City for multiweek stays. Established Australian songwriters Phil Barton ("A Woman Like You") and Kylie Sackley ("Nothin' 'Bout Love Makes Sense," "Sunshine and Summertime") are entrenched members of the Tennessee capital's music community, and songwriter-guitarist Jedd Hughes ("Put You in a Song") has played a key role in such recordings as Little Big Town's "Pontoon," Dierks Bentley's "Drunk on a Plane" and Lee Brice's "Hard to Love."

Guitarist Tommy Emmanuel continues to occupy his own niche as a world-class guitarist, Kasey Chambers is a widely acclaimed Americana contributor, and the Sydney-bred duo Seaforth -- Mitch Thompson and Tom Jordan -- is already signed to Sony Music Nashville after moving stateside in October 2017. 

"I find that in Nashville, Americans like Australians," says Rimes, whose wife, songwriter-producer Danielle Blakey (LOCASH, Jimmie Allen), pushed for the couple to move to town. "They love the accent and stuff, but you do have to have the talent and work ethic to make it."

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