From corporate to country, singer is wild as the wind
Stephanie Gardiner |
Sitting in an office wearing tailored shirts and pin-tucked skirts, Hayley Jensen was always uncomfortable working as a corporate consultant.
It wasn’t just the business attire that didn’t feel quite right, it was her entire life.
After finishing in the top four in an early series of Australian Idol, the hey day of the TV singing competition, Jensen got a double degree in economics and management.
At the time she was with a partner who encouraged her to leave music behind and settle down.
“It was all a bit lofty to have these dreams of pursuing music and it was all going to be too disruptive,” Jensen recalled to AAP of that sentiment.
But Jensen’s dad Rod could see she was struggling with the constraints of a standard nine-to-five.
While she was caring for him before he died of cancer in 2016, he encouraged her to chase her ambition to be a singer-songwriter.
“He dreamed of buying a camper trailer and going down the river in his retirement but he never got to do it because it was taken away from him,” Jensen said.
“That was probably the impetus behind him telling me to do what you want to do with this life.
“Because it’s over in an instant.”
A decade later, Jensen is Australia’s highest-selling female country artist and a four-time Golden Guitar awards nominee, with two ARIA number one country albums to her name.
She is on the line-up for the Groundwater country music festival on the Gold Coast in October, alongside acts like Kasey Chambers, Kaylee Bell, The Wolfe Brothers and Beccy Cole.
“When I started in this scene 10 years ago, the Wolfe Brothers were headlining massive events and Kasey Chambers is not just a country music icon, she’s an Australian icon,” Jensen said.
“These are wonderful artists who you grow up listening to.”
While many music festivals fold or go on hiatus amid a cost-of-living squeeze, the free event is in its 13th year with support from the Queensland government.
Country fans tend to be a loyal multi-generational crowd, following artists wherever they go, Jensen said.
“Country music still feels very accessible and sing-along-able.
“We’re singing about real things and … that appeals to people, particularly in a world of social media where we’re disconnected from one another.
“Live music keeps us together.”
Ahead of Groundwater, Jensen is touring her new single Wild As The Wind across regional Australia and in the UK.
In the years since picking up the mic again, Jensen has launched her independent music career, found love, toured internationally and performed in Nashville’s iconic venue The Bluebird Cafe.
The new song traces the path that opened up after she decided to change her life.
“You can only dream what’s on the other side of that decision.”
Groundwater Country Music Festival is on the Gold Coast October 16 – 18.
AAP