AFTER more than three decades on stage, 11 Golden Guitars and 12 studio albums, Beccy Cole has little left to prove as she prepares to bring her Through the Haze tour to Ipswich at the Racehorse Hotel on September 19.
Cole will be backed by the Hussy Hicks, who will double as her band, the Sisters of Twang, while Ipswich-based musician Chrissy Thomas will also be part of the show.
“We have a laugh. We have such a good time,” Cole said.
“There’s fun, frivolity, some laughs, but some really good musical backing as well. Some great instrumentalists.”
For Cole, 53, simply being able to continue touring remains one of the greatest achievements of her career.
“Probably the best thing to strive for is longevity,” she said.
“I’m absolutely blessed. I’ve still got people willing to invest, whether it be a ticket price or record company investment. The motivation is that I can keep doing it.”
Next year will mark 30 years since Cole released her self-titled debut album in 1997, a milestone that had somehow escaped the singer until it was raised during our interview.
“It wasn’t very successful at all as a first attempt, but it had some moments on it. It had some pretty cool moments,” she said.
“It was the second and third albums that really took off, but you need that stepping stone, I suppose. It does give you an opportunity to take stock.”
Cole has rarely stopped working since beginning her musical apprenticeship in her mother’s band as a teenager, before performing with the Dead Ringer Band and becoming a regular at the Tamworth Country Music Festival.
Her early Tamworth experiences included busking in the streets in 1992 alongside Kasey Chambers and the Dead Ringer Band before winning Star Maker in 1993 and her first Golden Guitar for Best New Talent the following year.
She is now approaching her 35th Tamworth festival and, remarkably, there have been very few prolonged periods away from performing during that time.
“I’ve always been such a gig pig,” Cole said.
Her latest album, Through the Haze, however, was born from a far more difficult period of slowing down, with its title drawn from the song Sober, written following a devastating personal breakdown after the end of her marriage.
“I’ve had a bunch of broken hearts. In fact, you can say that broken hearts are pretty much a gift to a country singer, to a country songwriter,” she said.
“But this time, it was more than a broken heart. It broke my mind, so to speak.”
After three decades of albums, awards, collaborations and countless nights on stage, there is no elusive trophy or accolade consuming Cole’s thoughts.
“I’d love to get another 10 years out of it. I’d love to do some more albums. I would love to continue to tour,” she said.
“There’s really nothing on my list apart from keeping on doing it.”
