Ria Brcic is an 18 year old up and coming singer/songwriter from a small town called Camden on the outskirts of Sydney, Australia. She’s an eclectic new artist with an expert ear that’s able to fuse country/folk and bluegrass genres. While Ria was doing a student exchange overseas, she reflected on the feelings of being homesick. She channeled these emotions into songwriter and was able to start the foundation for her debut single.
After moving back home to Camden, Ria was able to finished her song and decided to record it. The much anticipated single “Home By The River” gives the listener a personal and in depth look at Ria’s emotive songwriting, while still remaining addicting and catchy. Folk and bluegrass tones paint such a vivid picture in your mind you might feel like you're in Camden yourself. Melodious country guitar riffs throughout the chorus evidently fuse genres together flawlessly. Ria’s vocals are mesmerizing, the power and emotion behind her voice is finely-calibrated beyond her mere 18 years. The toe-tapping rhythm and light hearted theme of “Home By The River” will draw you in and Ria’s warm lyricism will make you feel right at home. Ria has created a single that anyone can relate to. There really is no place like home and Ria knows that first hand. I highly recommend you check out Ria Brcic’s debut “Home By The River” and keep up with Ria’s future releases!
Listen to “Home By The River” here and read more below in our exclusive interview below!
Hi Ria! Can you start by telling our readers more about yourself and your upbringing into music?
Having not come from a musical family it was certainly a surprise to everyone that I had such a deep love for music at such a young age. Since I could speak I always loved to sing and I wasn’t really any good at it, but I just loved it. Although my parents were never musical they too loved country and classic music and introduced me to artist and bands like Kenny Rogers, Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstdat and The Eagles. This quickly sparked an uphill journey as I began to delve into the world of music even more. My love for singing turned into singing lesson and followed by the need to learn guitar. Admittingly in the beginning I was a bit lazy, I hated scales and picked up the guitar to soon put it back down, I had the ambition but not the determination. However, when I picked up the guitar for a second time, it was like there was driven willingness. I started improving and before I knew it I was singing and playing the guitar. Practice was becoming a more frequent activity in my life. A time that I will always remember was when I was driving back from a competition that I didn’t do too well in. I was so devastated and although my parents thought I was amazing, my dad had the greatest words of wisdom that sent me on a path to greater success. He said, “Maybe you don’t practice enough and if you want to be the best you have to train the best just like an athlete”. From then on my practice tripled from a few times a week of practice to everyday of the week for 2 hours followed by busking on Saturdays and Sundays, if I didn’t have a competition. Subsequently my whole life was music, from the theoretical aspects to the practical. I lived and breathed music! From the age of 14, I began my busking career where I had the ability to grow confidence, experience and a repertoire of songs. Shortly following I began gigging across the Sydney region playing at numerous festivals, markets, weddings, corporate events, restaurants and bars. I accredit busking for making me the artist I am today. It has taught me discipline and given me so many great opportunities. One of my greatest achievements was recently making it into the top 10 for the Tamworth Toyota Busking Championships 2019. The finals were held on the ‘Toyota stage’ in Tamworth Australia where I played to an audience of 5,000 people. I have also been lucky enough to play at the Portfairy folk festival in Victoria Australia and Bluesfest in Byron Bay, both times as a busking finalist.
Do you have any specific artists that have influenced your sound?
Throughout my time exploring folk/country and bluegrass music I have become extremely influenced by artists and bands such as, The Lumineers, Leonard Cohen, First Aid Kit, Linda Ronstadt and Gabrielle Aplin. Having drawn influences from such an eclectic range of artists and eras I think it has truly shaped my music into something that is uniquely my own sound. What I love most about folk/country music typically, is the ability to tell a story in a such angelic way. I really enjoy writing about people, places, history and of course love and contrasted with a great melody and feel, it’s a genre that has the ability to create such a range of emotions.
“Home By The River” is a great song! Can you talk more about the emotions you channeled when you wrote it?
My single release ‘Home By The River’ was written a couple years ago whilst I was living overseas on student exchange. I was longing to be home which inspired me to write about my home by the river and my town, Camden. By channelling in on my own experience of feeling homesick came appreciation for everything life had offered me. In the midst of tears and laughter came this song and I think the biggest realization for me after writing it was how lucky I am to have a place to call home.
What is the music scene like in your hometown?
The music scene in my home town is quite small however there is such a great sense of community and everyone is so willing to get on bored and support local artists. So when I do play gigs in my hometown I definitely feel at home. For me, releasing ‘Home By The River’ was also something that enabled me to give back to my community and my town Camden.
What can we expect from you in the future?
This first single release is just the beginning for me and you can definitely expect to see more releases later on in the year. The past couple of years I have been doing a lot of song writing and now finally I have a list of songs that I’m really happy with and I would love for them to be heard. At the moment I’m working on translating these songs into great singles, which really comes down to the production of them. As I work through each song with my producer I’m finding my own sound even more, which for me is the most important thing. This is all just the beginning for me!
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