APPLYING for the Academy of Country Music in 2020 turned out to be a sliding-doors moment for Piper Rodrigues.
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Originally the budding Gwandalan singer-songwriter sent her application in two days before the closing date only to miss out. But after a late cancellation, Rodrigues was in and off on a life-changing maiden trip to Tamworth.
"That happening was an instrumental thing for me," Rodrigues said. "I went and met all these people. I met people I'm recording with now and I just stumbled into the perfect situation."
Two pivotal people Rodrigues met and quickly formed a bond with were Greta's Golden Guitar-winner Lyn Bowtell and ex-Newcastle, now Brisbane-based, artist Melody Moko.
In November Rodrigues released the single Ain't That Kind Of Girl, which was co-written with Moko. The track unveiled a different side to Rodrigues' poppy brand of alt-country, coloured with haunting flourishes of fiddle.
Then three weeks ago she released the pop rock-flavoured I Hate That I Love It, which was co-written with Bowtell. The track's video featured a host of Newcastle landmarks such as the light rail and Dixon Park Beach. Both singles were produced by alt-country heavyweight Shane Nicholson.
"Writing with two women who are in a similar pocket of the genre is big, because country is divided into so many sub-categories," she said.
"It's lovely to find someone in the same pocket that I could go to and write with and not feel bad about it."
Music is in Rodrigues' blood. Her grandfather John Manners was the bassist in '60s band Ray Brown & The Whispers and her father was a nightclub DJ in the '80s.
Rodrigues made her own debut as a performer aged six singing Jolene at a talent show, before she starting gigging and busking in her teens.
Now at 22 she's a regular performer around the Hunter and Central Coast and a music student at the University Of Newcastle.
During the initial 2020 lockdown Rodrigues threw herself into songwriting and penned 15 tracks with Moko, including her 2021 debut single King Of Cups. An EP will be released this year.
"When I wrote the songs I had a lot of growing to do," she said. "Now I've grown a little and I'm releasing them, it's 'OK I've still got growing to do.' It's very poetic looking back and seeing how I felt.
"It's nice as a songwriter because you're really chronicling how you're feeling. I'm throwing my journal out on iTunes."
