NASHVILLE, Tennessee- Lily Grace is a seventeen-year-old powerhouse vocalist from Australia who recently moved to Nashville to chase her music career dreams.
Naturally gifted, Grace began singing at 10 years of age. She dived deeper into music a mere six years ago when she was gifted her first guitar at 11 years old.
“I fell in love (with the guitar) and would practice every night until I got it perfect,” she said.
Her voice teacher would play the local cafes and by age 12, Grace was determined to do the same thing, but she knew she needed a microphone and an amp.
She recalled, “I literally spent every Sunday morning busking at the local farmers’ market, and I accepted tips. It took me about 8 or 9 months, and I saved up the money I needed to buy the amplifier that I was dreaming of.”
She was determined to self-fund her own equipment, and soon after, she played local cafes, restaurants, events, and festivals. She also began writing her own songs.
But Grace wasn’t always into country music. Around age 12, her parents took her to the famed Tamworth Music Festival in Tamworth, New South Wales, and it changed her perspective on the genre.
“I got back from that trip and really just started listening to a lot of country and exploring the sound and the composition of it all and really fell in love with it,” she reported.
Shortly after that event, COVID hit, and there was nothing else for Grace to do but write music. She began writing songs daily. She would write about things that had happened in her own life as well as the lives of her friends and family. Soon after, she began releasing music and performing ticketed shows and festivals.
Grace fell in love with songwriting and quickly realized that Nashville, Tennessee, was the place to be. Although she is still in high school, she stated that “songwriting is one of my favorite things to do. I’ve written over 250 songs now and I love it. As my dad says I’m a part-time student and full-time musician.”
She spends most of her time in Nashville, where she attends an online high school. The only problem is that she must take all her tests simultaneously as her classmates.
She explained, “Sometimes it’s like three AM and I’m on a Zoom call doing my math test, which sucks sometimes. But I’m super grateful that there was an opportunity for me to do that and to complete my studies from so far from home.”
Two years ago, the song that put the then 15-year-old on the musical map was “Annie June,” a duet she performed with the legendary James Blundell.
Grace said, “There were so many firsts that came with that song, and I get all nostalgic and giddy when I talk about it. This was my first music video, my first time in the studio. All those things came from that song. And with the help of James, I got a little bit of recognition from the Australian music scene which is something I’m grateful for.”
Grace wrote the song “Sixteen Wishes” right before her 16th birthday. She was juggling school and all her gigs, and she felt she was missing out because she didn’t have time to hang out with her friends.
“The song is about wanting to go out and make memories and do something else aside from work sometimes,” she said.
With more than a million streams on Spotify alone, her most popular song to date is “The Two of Us Meet,” the coming-of-age song is relatable to many teens/young adults who also have doubts about the relationship they are in.
She said, “I think it’s so important that you have that saying something that’s true to you and your music. And one of the best ways to do that is to write your own songs and be a big part of the creative process.”
Before her move to the United States this year, Grace was the supporting act for Vance Joy at Riverstage in Brisbane, playing to a crowd of over 10,000, and most recently performed at the Tamworth Festival that she attended as a tourist several years back.
Grace was awarded the People’s Choice Award and Best Video Award for her single “Annie June” at the 2022 Gold Coast Music Awards and was nominated in several categories, including Best Female Vocalist and Most Promising Future Star. Earlier in 2022, she was nominated in nine categories of the 2022 Tamworth Songwriters Association Awards and won awards for both Country Song of the Year and Country Rock Song of the Year.
Even though she has only been in Nashville a little more than two months, the songstress has already earned quite a reputation as a gifted songwriter in Nashville. She has solid six or eight pals with whom she consistently writes because “We always get good stuff.”
Her latest song, “Follow My Road,” shows a slightly older, more mature version of the adolescent artist. Written by Grace, Chaise Flanders, and Kirsti Manna and produced by Australian award-winning Michael Flanders, the track tells an optimistic narrative of this rising singer-songwriter’s journey as she ventures from Australia to Nashville with an upbeat, catchy tempo to complement.
The busy teen is set to graduate high school this November. All the while, she continues to write songs and tour when she can. I love Grace’s energy and optimism. But what stands out most is her ability to write songs that resonate with her audience- in much the same way a young Taylor Swift did at her age. The future is bright for the rising artist.
You can follow Grace on her website, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, and all music streaming platforms.
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Bethany Bowman is a freelance entertainment writer. You can follow her blog, Instagram, and Twitter.
