Imogen Clark nominated for three Country Music Channel (CMC) Music Awards

The 23-year-old has made the shortlist in the categories New Artist of the Year, Australian Video of the Year (for her music video ‘Collide’) and Female Artist of the Year - the latter in which she is up against country music heavyweight Kasey Chambers.

Imogen said this was the second year she’d been nominated for best New Artist, but being nominated for best Female Artist was a surprise. She said it was “really great” to be classed alongside Kasey Chambers, as she had always been a big fan of her music.

“I see myself as a bit of an emerging act and coming up in the ranks and slogging away - it’s an incremental process. So to see my name up there against Kasey Chambers, it’s way quicker than I thought it would happen!” she said.

“I idolised people like Kasey and to think people might be considering me in the same vein is a really great thing.”

The shortlist of nominations for the CMC Awards is based on airplay during the year, and the awards are completely fan-voted. Fans can vote online once a day, and they need to vote in every category to make their votes count.

Imogen’s song Collide - which landed her a nomination in the best Video Clip category - is the first single off her upcoming album which will be released in the first half of this year.

She is also releasing a new single in the coming weeks, and will be playing a headline show at the Tamworth Country Music Festival on January 25.

She said the Collide clip was filmed over a 12-hour day and she enjoyed the process of being able to “take on characters and get outside” herself.

“I love acting. It was something I was interested in way back when I was little, before music. With my dad being a drama teacher [at Colo High School] it’s always been a natural part of my life, and I studied it inside and outside of school,” she said.

From February, Imogen will be embarking on a tour around Australia supporting artist Diesel. Imogen previously supported Diesel on tour following the release of her first album, Love & Lovely Lies which came out in 2016, and he is also producer of her upcoming second album.

“He’s with my agency [The Harbour Agency] and he’s one of their longest-running artists. We got talking and realised we really liked some of the same music and had a lot in common. The next day my agency said ‘we’ve got some shows with you supporting Diesel’ and I was really excited!” Imogen said.

“He was a wonderful mentor. I learnt a lot from him, watching his show every night was really inspiring. I learnt a lot from his performance style, and also the way he treats people is really wonderful. A lot of the times when you support people there can be some ego involved, but he always looked after me. I learnt a lot from his professionalism.”

The tour includes a gig at the Ettamogah Hotel in Rouse Hill on Saturday, April 14, and also close to home Imogen will be playing a show at the Rooty Hill RSL supporting Adam Eckersley & Brooke McClymont on Friday, February 9.

Imogen will be touring solo after her album is released, and will also be looking for Hawkesbury residents to host a couple of house concerts or ‘listening parties’.

“It’s an opportunity to celebrate the new music. It’s a new fun concept a lot of artists are doing - bringing music straight to people’s homes and cutting out the middleman. They’ll be free shows and ways to connect with fans,” Imogen said.

Vote for Imogen in the CMC Music Awards at cmcmusicawards.countrymusicchannel.com.au (voting closes February 26). To enquire about hosting one of her house concerts, contact her on Facebook at facebook.com/imogenclark.music or via her website at imogenclark.com.au.