Fine tuning his way to the top

By Sheree Hoddinett

Ryan Brockway is well on his way to becoming a big name in the music industry. At just 11-years-old, this musical youngster (who hails from Morayfield) is already making a name for himself right in the home of country music, Tamworth. From singing on stage to busking and plucking the strings on his guitar, Ryan’s definitely hitting all the right notes in a bid to share the limelight with some of his favourite stars.

Ryan’s mum Liz (who also doubles as his roadie, manager and everything else in between) surprised him with his first trip to Tamworth in 2022, thanks to a festival date change because of Covid. It quickly became the trip of a lifetime for Ryan, who also managed to come third in The Golden Gig – a talent quest for young budding musicians to perform and show off their skills. Aiming for success once again was at the forefront of Ryan’s mind ahead of the 2023 trip back to the home of the Golden Guitars.

“I came third last year, which I wasn’t expecting at all,” Ryan said of his Golden Gig performance. “This year, it would be really cool if I could win.”

Although not quite the result he was hoping for, Ryan still finished in the top five in this year’s Golden Gig. He’s determined to work even harder throughout 2023, once he’s had a short break and settled back into school.

Ryan picked up his first guitar when he was just four-years-old, but by the age of seven things started getting a bit more serious in the playing stakes. Although some of his skills are self-taught, Ryan also spends time every week with a guitar teacher at the Guitar Exchange. He has built quite a collection over the years, storing each one away as he adds to his line of strings.

Not only does he like to play a tune or two with influences including the likes of Lee Kernaghan, Luke Combs and everybody’s favourite ‘Caboolture boy’ Keith Urban, Ryan also loves to belt out a tune. The last year has been pretty busy for Ryan who has also written and recorded his own song Chipping off the Stone.

“It’s not easy writing a song,” Ryan said. “Getting the words right, feeling them come to me and putting it all together, there’s a bit of work involved and it’s taken a lot of time to get it all down. But I’m really happy and proud with how it’s come about and I look forward to performing it.”

For someone so young, Ryan is already making leaps and bounds as he works his way towards a career in music. While he was in Tamworth in January, he even had the chance to support Lane Pittman of The Voice fame, something he was very excited about. His greatest supporter in everything he does, of course, is his mum.

“I’m so proud of everything Ryan has done. He has worked so hard to get to where he is and I know he’ll continue down this path,” Liz said. “He’s also just launched his own merchandise, because we often get people coming up to him and asking about his shirt and wondering where they can buy one. So it definitely gets the attention and we thought why not share it with others.”

Ryan admits nerves are one of the things he struggles with when it comes to performing. Not that you’d notice, because once on the stage he oozes charisma and even likes to crack little jokes with the audience. It seems musical talent runs deep in Ryan’s family, on his mum’s side of course.

“I wouldn’t say it’s directly from me,” Liz said with a laugh. “I’ve played piano and I like to sing. I’m not saying I’m a good singer though! Ryan tried to teach me the guitar, but it didn’t go so well, I can’t even play a chord! But yes, there’s definitely musical talent on my side of the family. My grandfather was a composer and he also played the piano. He was a multi-instrumentalist.”

Just when you think Ryan couldn’t surprise you more, he brings out the big guns, so to speak.

“I can play ‘The Last Post’ on electric guitar,” Ryan said. “It’s one of those tunes that’s really hard to learn on the guitar. There’s a lot of timing involved to get it right and I had to practice it a lot.”

Ryan has been lucky enough to meet and gain advice from the King of country music Lee Kernaghan and also Andrew Farriss of INXS fame, encouraging him to keep doing his best and he’ll go far in the industry.

“You know, it might only be a couple minutes out of their time but for somebody so young, it can mean the world and it’s something they will treasure forever,” Liz said. “There’s always going to be people out there telling you that you can’t do it, but we encourage Ryan to rise above it.”

Even with music a big part of his life, Ryan is also a student at Minimbah State School with his final year of primary school still ahead of him. Long term, with music taking more of a focus, home schooling will likely become a better option. But for now, he’s taking it all in his stride and can’t wait to see what else is ahead of him. If you want to see Ryan in all his music glory, you can actually catch him busking at the Bribie markets in Brennan Park on the third Sunday of each month.

“I’ve been doing it for about six months now,” Ryan said. “Everyone loves listening to me.”

You can follow Ryan’s musical journey via his Facebook page Ryan Brockway Music.