Sunday Arvo Session - Josie Laver

Rising star Josie Laver is about to burst onto the Australian country music scene, and brings with her a rare and undeniable authenticity. She not only loves country music, she lives it.

By day, she runs sheep and cattle on her family’s farm in the broad high plains of southern New South Wales near Boorowa. By night, she sings, plays guitar and writes songs of love and heartbreak.

As a little girl she loved two things: music and horses. She grew up on the music of Kasey Chambers, Gillian Welch and Bonnie Raitt. Throughout her teens she poured her time and energy into her horses, and music increasingly took a backseat as she started down the path of becoming a professional showjumper.

A few years down the track, burnt out from the long hours, hard work and injuries that come with the equestrian lifestyle, she moved back to her family farm, sold her horses and saddles to buy a guitar, and began working on ideas that would later become the songs on her debut album.

The album is produced and co-written by Melbourne-based artist Matt Joe Gow, a staple of the Australian Country scene for more than a decade, and recent winner of the Music Victoria Award for Best Country Album. For Josie, meeting Matt was the spark she needed to finally grab the reins of her music career with both hands, and he encouraged her to embrace and be proud of her country roots.