Star in the making

SHE may not have taken home the top gong, but Teak Fairfull had the time of her life performing in the Toyota Star Maker finals at the Tamworth Country Music Festival last week.

“I didn’t win but getting into the top ten was good enough for me,” she said.

“It was brilliant exposure. I’m still on cloud nine.”

Felicity Kircher from Tingalpa in Brisbane won the competition, which helped launch the careers of Keith Urban, Lee Kernaghan, James Blundell and Beccy Cole.

Fairfull, who lives on a farm at Tatham in the Richmond Valley near Lismore, also reached the Top 12 in reality TV show The Voice in 2015.

She performed two original songs at the Star Maker finals in Bicentennial Park, which is renamed Toyota Park for the duration of the 10-day festival.

They include Bootleg, which she co-wrote on one of her three trips to Nashville and plans to release as a single soon.

“Moonshine is everywhere in Nashville,” she said.

“It’s an upbeat song and gets the crowd up dancing, so that was my top pick to open with on the night.”

Her other song, Never Love a Cowboy, is a haunting ballad.

“It’s a bit of a heartbreaker, but it has a great feel to it I think,” she said.

Fairfull grew up in Grafton and began singing and playing guitar alongside her uncle Peter Fairfull when she was 10.

The pair still perform together at venues such as La Baracca and The Civic in Lismore.

After catching up on some farm work, Fairfull will be doing some arena gigs with event company J & J Rodeo.

“I’ve been touring with them for a year now playing in arenas, and I’m hopefully looking at doing some bigger festivals,” she said.