Singer, songwriter and self-proclaimed optimist, Claire Kelly, has been on a mission to brighten every corner she steps in with the music she creates. From concerts in living rooms to critically acclaimed festivals and everything in between, she’s opened up for acts like Colbie Caillat, Anderson East & 49 Winchester. She’s also shared the bill with legendary Nashville songwriters like Shane McAnally, Josh Osbourne, Tony Arata and many more through songwriting showcasesBackstage Nashville and Bluebird on 3rd. When she’s not on the road, Claire writes with other artists in Nashville, performs regularly at The Bluebird Cafe and teaches songwriting workshops at The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. In an occasionally dismal world, Claire Kelly sings about a radical amount of gratitude, love & kindness and Nashville is taking notice. Her song “Tapestry”, a song about the people who change you for the better, won the Bluebird Golden Pick Songwriting Contest in 2022 and “Drunk Girls”, a lighthearted anthem about being kind to strangers, placed her in the Top Ten of the 2024 Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI) songwriting contest. She’s also been a finalist in the Kerrville Folk Festival, Songwriter Serenade, and International Songwriting Competition thanks to her songs “Dandelion Wine” and “Running Out” from her 2022 album, The Scenic Route. Her latest album, released October 2024, Can’t Start Loving You Again, includes her song “Together Again” which was used in the trailer for Sundance award winning film, I’ll Be Your Mirror. Claire’s music has also been heard on ABC Network, Max, Hallmark TV, the Miss Universe Pageant, and the hit Netflix series Love is Blind. She supported the latest record release with a European tour through Germany, Poland and Denmark.

Tom West is an Australian singer, guitarist & songwriter performing with a distinctive, androgynous vocal style, finger-picked guitars, stories intricately woven into music for immersive shows.  Originating from the hills and surf-worn coast of South Australia's Fleurieu Peninsula, West's journey has been marked by extensive touring across both the USA and Australia as a musician, tour bus driver, entertainer and guide: From the Oodnadatta track to the I-65 and back again: adventures inspiring emotionally rich songs that hum with a strange kind of wonder.  Post-pandemic West found himself based in Chicago working on music with grammy winning producer Ryan Freeland and some of that city's finest musicians.  From this unexpected location he spent two years immersed in writing, recording & producing from a third story bedroom of a historic Chicago brownstone: absorbing the essence of that historic musical city and diving deeper into his compositions and experiences than ever before.  West's discography includes the much-loved album Antarctica, produced by Allen Tate of San Fermin, which was written during a period following the death of his father from motor neuron disease / ALS whilst taking his first bewildering steps as a touring artist in the USA. This album, born from personal loss and extensive travels, showcases his ability to invite audiences into his world, sharing stories that are as personal as they are universally relatable. 2025 will see West return to the touring circuit, releasing new music, celebrating the ten year anniversary of the release of his EP ‘Oncoming Clouds’ and hosting a first of its kind Outback Songcamp.

In this case, it’s a musical duo composed of Author TM Shaw and Christina Forever. Since their debut performance on the Big Island of Hawaii in February of 2023, BEYOND the STARS has followed the edge of inspiration, and a significant portion of I-80, across the US, in search of momentary glimpses of human community and a welcoming place to park. Having grown up in different times and different places, Tim and Christina found communion with one another in the depths of a conversation that began late one evening in a hallway of a hotel in the City of Angels. It is a conversation that continues to this day. Their sound, born of radical differences and deep kinship, developing through vocal harmony and the interplay of two guitars,or the pairing of guitar and electric piano, is uniquely their own. It is familiar, yet not reducible to any particular genre or era. In the right situation, live shows unfold long narrative arcs, spontaneously discovered in-between the songs. In such moments of shared discovery we might arrive, for a moment, BEYOND the STARS.