“I’ve been visiting Nashville for the past decade, and I started out going over there to just experience it and to put my feelers out to see music-wise who was over there. I was pretty green when I first started out going over there, but every time I went back I started being able to network a bit more and I ended up having a second family in Nashville. They took me in and hardly knew me, but then I started going over just to visit them and that’s how I ended up meeting Mike Flanders.”
By the time Favourite Thing is released in Australia, almost 14 months will have passed since Coote finishing recording it. But her enthusiasm for the album hasn’t waned.
“I’m probably more excited about the album now than I was when I finished recording, because it has been so long between stages,” Coote says. “I’m also really excited to be able to give all of my fans a snippet of the album with my east coast tour in February.”
Joining Coote on this tour will be Tyrone Noonan, co-lead vocalist of the early 2000s band George. “My booking agent manages Tyrone Noonan and he thought it would be a great idea to join together for my album launch tour,” says Coote. “Tyrone and I met for the first time a few weeks back and we got on like a house on fire. He’ll be my special guest and we’ll end up singing a couple of songs together at the end of each show, but I can’t tell you what they are because it’s a surprise.”
Back when she was still working towards a full-time career in the industry, Coote kept herself involved with music and songwriting as much as she could, and she credits this with giving her the drive to keep at it. Now she offers a piece of advice for aspiring musicians who are still waiting for that big break.
“Just stick with it. No matter what, it’s always going to be inside you that music is what you want to do. Unfortunately you have to keep your full-time job until those dreams become a reality. Keeping myself involved with music and songwriting a few times a week meant I was at least still involved with music in some capacity and it kept me passionate.
“Even though I’ve been a singer/songwriter for 15 years, I’ve only been able to do it full-time in the last couple of years. I’ve set up my own record label and publishing company in these past few years and it takes such a long time to be able to do that, but it has to be the right time. It was such a good feeling to be able to focus solely on my music, and you’ve only got one life so you’ve got to be able to just go for your dreams.”
BY TEGAN REEVES
