Moe singer-songwriter Darcy Fox is heading to Elmore today to compete in a heat of the Telstra Road to Discovery.
Nineteen year-old Ms Fox has been perfecting the two songs she will perform, with the big day occupying her thoughts since she found out she was selected to compete.
“I can’t wait, I’m pretty nervous, but really excited,” Ms Fox said.
There are 12 heats around the country with six people competing in each heat.
These 72 performers were chosen from hundreds of entrants.
The winner of each heat will compete in the semi-finals in Melbourne next month.
Ms Fox, who also competed in heats in Sydney and Birregurra last year, said she was excited when she learnt she would compete again.
She will perform two original songs – “I choose you” and “Forget the girl next door”, both of which she wrote herself.
This singer-songwriter also plays guitar and has been “gigging around” since she was 16 years old.
She said she had been playing at gigs more in the past two years since she left school and had a regular gig in Traralgon, performing nearly every Friday.
“I also like going busking in Melbourne,” she said.
She was chosen to perform her song “Home tonight” at the Transport Accident Commission Make a Film Make a Difference Award night in December 2010.
While other highlights of her young career include being accepted into the Academy Of Country Music at Tamworth as one of 21 Australians to attend a two-week music course, and the release of her first single “I’m here” in 2010, which was played on the Country Music Channel, Rage on ABC, and Landed Music on Channel Ten as well as charted at 13 on iTunes.
She said she had written “too many” songs to count and even had a website business on blog site Tumblr, where she would write songs for people who requested her to.
“What I ultimately want to do is perform and earn my living through music,” Ms Fox said.
The performer’s mother, Roberta Fox, said when her daughter wanted to pursue a career in music she told her that it was a “hard road to go down”.
“I said if there’s nothing else you want to do then go for it,” Mrs Fox said.
Ms Fox said her family and friends had been “so supportive”.
She will launch her debut album “Unprotected Grounds” in November and has been working on it for the past nine months.
It has 13 original songs recorded in Melbourne and produced by her cousin Justin O’Dowd.
With a musical background, Ms Fox first began performing at her mother’s O’Dowd School of Singing.
“I trained her and she preformed with the group until she ventured out on her own,” Mrs Fox said.
She began playing guitar as a 15 year-old and said she “picked it up and didn’t put it down”.
“It sounds like a cliche, but I’ve been singing since I can remember,” Ms Fox said.
She described her style as country pop with a bit of folk; country with a little bit of a twist.
Following the semi-final in Melbourne next month, the final will be held at Tamworth in January.
The major prize includes a 12-month mentorship in Nashville, United States.
“I’d want to travel (around) Australia and I’d love travel to Nashville, so that prize is the most appealing for me,” she said.
