Coonamble’s favourite country singer Max Jackson will head back to Tamworth in January with five nominations for the national Golden Guitar Awards.
The nominations were announced at a Sydney dinner on Tuesday 18 November, with Max in the running for the Best Song, Single, Video, Vocal Collaboration, and Female Artist of the year.
She said it’s the largest set of nominations she’s ever received for an awards.
“We’ve tried to write songs from the heart and about real things in my life, and I think it’s been really cool that those songs have connected with people out there,” Max said.
“That’s what country music is all about, it’s sharing stories.
“The timing just feels really cool, because I’m at that point of my career where I really feel like I know who I am, and what I want to say and what I want to bring to the industry.”
Her love song ‘A Country Heart Can,’ which she wrote on her own, is up for both Song and Video of the Year.
Her husband Jeremy Minett directed the video.
They will be up against the likes of ARIA (Australian Recording Industry Association) hall-of-famer Kasey Chambers.
TikTok takes notice
The Golden Guitars judges aren’t the only one keeping an eye on Max’s recent achievements.
Social media giant TikTok has also picked her as one of five users contending for their Australian Music Artist of the Year award.
“That was a massive surprise to me. Up until a few years ago, I had no idea even how to use TikTok,” Max said.
“It’s not based on who has the most followers.
“It’s actually based on who’s used the platform throughout the year to grow their brand, or grow what they’re doing off the platform.”
She said her TikTok account took off during 2023 when she began posting countrified versions of popular songs.
The videos include ABBA’s ‘Dancing Queen,’ Whitney Houston’s ‘I wanna dance with somebody’ and Adele’s ‘Rolling in the deep,’ while her account has over 90,000 followers.
The winners will be announced this evening (Wednesday 26 November) during a livestream via TikTok and Stan.