By LACHLAN MOORHEAD
CATHY Dobson finally sees herself as a songwriter.
This affirmation has come after the Narre Warren South mother was named the Capital Country Music Association (CCMA) Songwriter for 2014 at a gala awards ceremony in Tamworth on Sunday.
The honour was reward for the last six years in which Cathy has worked tirelessly to hone her songwriting.
While Cathy has entered a range of her original songs into different competitions over the years, it was her piece Go to Hell With You that saw the aspiring artist given the top Tamworth gong.
The former teacher said she was incredibly honoured to win the Tamworth competition, which lasted for 10 days, and finally felt like her hard work was paying off.
“For me, I’ve been trying to establish myself in the industry, trying to make the transition from a musician with just a couple of songs,” Cathy said.
“Now I feel like I’m a songwriter.”
Cathy started playing guitar when she was 17 years old and made music a significant part of her life before putting it to the side to raise a family.
It wasn’t until six years ago that Cathy got the musical itch again and started performing at several open mic gigs around town, including Fathers in the Chapel at Cranbourne.
“I got back into it six years ago and started writing songs because my friends kept hearing the same ones,” Cathy said.
“Then I started submitting my songs for competitions last year.”
Cathy described her style as an amalgamation of several genres, from country to rock and, more recently, blues.
“I’ve been spending a lot of time with blues musicians and that’s influenced my sound,” she said.
“I’ll go anywhere to get a new audience.”
When it comes to her subject matter, Cathy said her songs can come from many ideas but admitted they are often firmly entrenched in one theme.
“A lot of my songs are based on family and friends,” she said.
“The last 12 months I have been going to a lot of workshops and spent the year finding the best way to write songs.”
Another Casey musician, Sonyta Trahar, also fared extremely well this month at the Manilla Country Music Awards, just over 40 kilometres from Tamworth.
Sonyta, a 19-year-old from Hampton Park, won the Duet Section at the Manilla awards with her 13-year-old music partner Kaitlyn Thomas.
