A third-generation country musician with three Golden Guitar nominations says she felt a responsibility to be honest and vulnerable in her reflective new album.
Ashleigh Dallas first knew music was in her bones when standing on stage surrounded by her family, madly strumming away on her guitar.
The Dallases were playing a show at their property near Moonbi, a leafy NSW farming village where they hosted lively gigs during the Tamworth Country Music Festival.
Performing at the age of five, it didn’t matter that her electric guitar was not plugged in.
“When I play music and sing on stage … it just levitates me,” Dallas told AAP.
“The best I can be is when I let myself just fully go mind, body and soul into the song.
“It’s deeply ingrained.”
Dallas, a third-generation country musician and Golden Guitar winner in the tradition of her grandfather Rex and dad Brett, explores that natural affinity with music on her album Setting Suns.
The record has earned her three nominations at the awards on Saturday, including for Female Artist of the Year.
It is a deeply reflective piece of work, as she found greater artistic depth through early motherhood and turning 30.
“Write it down, it all goes by in leaps and bounds,” she sings in one of the closing tracks Worth Remembering.
“The highs, the lows, the great unknowns.”
Dallas felt a responsibility to be honest and vulnerable after the births of her two daughters.
“I want to show the next generation, and obviously my girls, that being who you are is all we should be asking for.”
That vulnerability extends to sharing her experience with managing anxiety through the song Over to Me, about finding inner strength to face life’s challenges.
Dallas decided to be up-front on the track, when once she would have hidden behind the melody and lyrics.
“I’m at a place with my music where I’m willing to share that it was me who had that experience, it’s me who needed to ask for help,” Dallas said.
“I want to lean into that connection for my audience. We’re all craving to have someone understand and to share stories.”
After starting out on that little stage in Moonbi, going on to tour full-time in Kasey Chambers’ live band from 17, Dallas is something of a local legend.
An accomplished artist who plays guitar, fiddle, banjo and mandolin, Dallas teaches at the Tamworth Regional Conservatorium of Music and works with a youth choir.
Standing near Tamworth’s main drag as festival crowds gathered on Friday morning, she was warmly greeted by nearly every second person.
“Thanks for looking after my grandson,” one man told her as he walked by, having watched the boy perform in the choir at Dallas’s show.
Dallas smiled and put her hands to her heart.
“Being a hometown girl … there’s a big part of me that wanted to connect with my community,” she said.
“The festival for me isn’t just 10 days.”
Don’t miss any of the important stories from around the region. Subscribe to our email list.