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A community based songwriting and music development program that inspires collaboration and connection through the arts.

Rae Leigh - Host of Songwriter Trysts Podcast

Songwriter Trysts host, Rae Leigh, had her year 2020 all planned out. It was to be a year of festivals, talent competitions, and a breakout into the music scene. With her debut single released in January in support of the bushfires, she had tours and launch parties lined up before COVID-19 hit and everything stopped.

Missing the connections she had been making in the music industry, she turned to the idea of creating a podcast but struggled to develop an original concept until a play-on-words game came up with the word 'tryst', and Songwriter Trysts was born.

Launched in August 2020, the podcast has had over 210+ episodes and growing weekly. Licensed with APRA AMCOS and now featured on IMDB as a show with guests. The show's concept is to discover the songwriters behind the music, support them and inspire others.

Starting with a small in-person event Songwriter Trysts brought songwriters together from all areas, levels, genres, locations, and abilities. Online we create opportunities for artists to promote, learn share and connect with other songwriters.

In person we create an important part of the development path for emerging artist to collaborate and engage with strong songwriting practice, co-writing and music business.

The Songwriter Showcase is the middle ground in the performance space for artists who want to collaborate and move beyond the ‘open mic’ faze of their development and not quite at the space to open for or run headline shows for themselves. This allows collaborative Nashville-style songwriter rounds shows in a safe and entertaining way to showcase local original art.

Events and public engagement:

podcast weekly is free
Monthly (Gold Coast & Brisbane) songwriting night (3-4 hours of networking and crafting)
Full-day songwriting workshop with hit songwriter mentors
Annual Retreat - future goal 3 day 2-night Songwriting retreat focus on songwriting and music business education.

For future goals we would love a community album created by artists who are a part of the songwriter trysts community and can record and release music with opportunities for more live music showcase events.

Songwriter Trysts - Home Recording Studio

Artist Songwriter Showcase 2021 at Mo’s Desert Clubhouse

Featured guests have included Pat Pattison, Kitt Wakeley, Amy Sheppard, Josh Pyke, Allan Caswell, Aimee Mayo, Lyn Bowtell, Keppie Coutts, Jessica Lynn, Christie Lamb, Ashley Taylor, Amber Lawrence, Kristy James, Benny Allen, Marty Dodson, Dan Biddle, Kat Cunning, Matt Cornell, Mimoza, Casey Barnes, Michael Flanders, Petric, Shaylen, Hayley Jensen, Alan Roy Scott, Jeff Cohen, Gina Jeffreys, Dante Palminteri, Jayne Denham, Dan Rennie, Mae Muller, Bec Lavelle, James Blundell, Aimee Mayo, Kevin Welch, Andrew Farriss, Shane Nicholson, Darlinghurst, Jimmy Fortune, Kirsty Lee Akers & The Wolfe Brothers.

Songwriter Trysts releases an episode a week, sometimes more, and shows no signs of slowing down. There is a waiting list of songwriters eager to share their secrets which will take the show through to the end of the year. It regularly features in the top ten of the Music Interview category on Apple Music charts, competing against the likes of Song Exploder, Sodajerker & The Music Show.

Songwriter Trysts is building a community of songwriters who now meet monthly to the workshop and co-write new songs, support each other, and are putting on their debut Songwriter Trysts showcase a Mo’s Desert Clubhouse on the Gold Coast on the 4th of December 2021.