Hayden Phillis Interview 16-08-2026

Music has been a part of Sydney-based singer-songwriter Hayden Phillips' story long before he began releasing music himself.

His parents first met at the Tamworth Country Music Festival way back in 1996, and years later, Hayden began carving out his own path, first performing an original song publicly at just nine years of age as the lead singer of his primary school rock band.

where the group came second in the competition.

Busking soon followed and became a major part of his development as a live performer and songwriter.

A three times graduate of the CMAA Academy, Hayden has fostered a strong connection with the Australian country music community and was last year a top ten finalist in Tamworth's Best of Buskers competition.

Can't read my writing here.

Plus he won several awards at major country music festivals, including Tamworth, Gympie and Brisbane's Echo Show.

Hayden's debut album, Too Young, You're Never Too Young, which was recorded at the creative home of Casey Chambers and Brandon Dodd, has received glowing industry reviews and was even recognised in the New South Wales State Parliament with MP Eleni Petanos reading out a congratulatory note.

to the members in a statement of recognition that acknowledged Hayden and the release of his latest single, Stick Poke Tattoos, that I played a moment ago, which is clearly destined to be another huge success for this very talented young artist.

Interestingly, when he's not performing, Hayden spends much of his downtime building online video games, with one of his creations currently outperforming his music streaming numbers.

Good stuff.

I'm genuinely delighted to have Hayden standing by on the phone waiting to have a chat with me, so allow me to bring him on air without any further ado.