ANDY Golledge may have been raised in Tamworth, but he and his musical career were reborn in the hipster enclaves of inner-west Sydney.
If you've spent five minutes treading the sticky carpets of Newtown and Marrickville's music scene, you've undoubtedly stumbled across Golledge.
With his handlebar moustache, cowboy hats and hedonistic live performances, Golledge is arguably the king of the inner-west alt-country scene. But he remains relatively unknown outside his adopted home.
In fact, despite 15 years of playing live he's never performed a show in Brisbane or Melbourne.
That's about to change as Golledge prepares to release his long-awaited debut album Strength Of A Queen on Friday, followed by his first national tour.
"I hope everyone jumps on board," Golledge says. "Sydney has been my best friend as far as my relationship with music is concerned. It's great.
"Hopefully we can spread it out and then go to the rest of the world. That's the dream."
A lack of demand cannot be blamed for Golledge's limited touring. The release of his acclaimed debut EP Namoi in early 2020, whet the appetite of music fans, but COVID crushed Golledge's touring plans.
"We were gearing up for that with the EP," he says. "I wasn't mentally ready to do music as a career until then.
"Then COVID hit and that was another bag of management skills. We're ready now. I'm healthy and happy, the band's great and everyone is super excited.
"It's year-on-year now. The next album, the next tour. I'm really looking forward to working really hard."
Golledge's lack of released material - despite his long apprenticeship and solid reputation in the Sydney music scene - had almost become a running gag.
Strength Of A Queen features several tracks like Baby Mumma and Ain't Nobody which are a decade old, but they have evolved from stripped-back folk songs to full band alt-country numbers.
Others, including the title track, were penned only a year ago following the release of Namoi.
The album was recorded at Golden Retriever studios, a stone's throw from Golledge's beloved Marrickville Bowling Club where he pulls beers as a day job.
"I had a few more songs I wanted to get down and a few more things I wanted to achieve and write and I kind of felt I was ready," he says.
"The record has a few new songs on it that weren't from those [Namoi] sessions and once they were down it felt right as a whole piece of art.
"I was just ready mentally. I think that was a big thing."
Golledge has long battled depression and anxiety dating back to his teenage years growing up in Tamworth.
Navigating toxic masculinity was difficult in his youth, but as Golledge has matured he's discovered the power of vulnerability.
Strength Of A Queen directly explores Golledge's journey in opening his heart and emotions to scrutiny.
"Vulnerability is a big strong part of this record and it's a big strong part of my journey through mental health," he says.
"If you can exercise vulnerability, it opens you up to a lot of change and that's super important."
While music and songwriting has helped Golledge cope with negative feelings, it's an ongoing battle.
If you can exercise vulnerability, it opens you up to a lot of change and that's super important.
- Andy Golledge
He addresses this directly in the Strength Of A Queen's powerful opener Ghost Of Love, which sees Golledge tell he's own story of leaving Tamworth for Sydney and struggles with confidence, assisted by the sweet vocals of good friend and collaborator Caitlin Harnett.
"I'm the one who's breaking down, drowning in a sea of doubt/ The ghost of love haunts my dreams/ Why do I go down these lines?," he sings over the Tom Petty-style arrangement.
"It's definitely hard, and it still is hard," he says. "It's so easy to revert to the latter [toxic masculinity], especially as a man. You can just fall back into old habits and isolate yourself and doing all those things.
"Not to say it's exclusive to men, but it's always been hard. It was easy through music because you can wear a mask. You're telling a story.
"All of my songs are purely based on my emotions, so music for me is an easy way to express vulnerability because I didn't know how to do it outside of music.
"Doing that outside of music is something you have to work on every day, whoever you are. We all have the same struggles with emotions and vulnerability, but once you do it, it makes everything a lot less stressful, that's for sure."
Golledge has long possessed the musical chops. His sound borrows strongly from Bruce Springsteen's '80s heartland rock, with a large dose of '60s and '70s country soul tossed in for seasoning.
His life-long fascination with rock'n'roll pioneer Buddy Holly is also prevalent in his vocal phrasing and style.
"I used to put the glasses on and pretend to be Buddy Holly at mum and dad's family barbecues," Golledge says.
"I'd put my greatest hits tape in the cassette player and mime along to Buddy Holly. I thought he was the best, man. He still is one of the best."
Andy Golledge's Strength Of A Queen is released on Friday.
The Strength Of A Queen tour visits Eltham Hotel (March 11); Tamworth Hotel (March 12); Northern Republic, Euroa (March 25); Meadow Festival, Bambra (March 27); Stag & Hunter Hotel, Newcastle (April 1); La La La's, Wollongong (April 8); Lansdowne Hotel, Sydney (April 9).
