Poster girl Beccy Cole finds her power at Mannum

Country music superstar Beccy Cole has written the songs on her latest album Through the Haze within eyeshot of the River Murray.

Beccy now lives in the historic river town of Mannum, where she continues her journey of authenticity, Aussie style.

Although she has received 11 Golden Guitars – the Country Music Awards of Australia – and had over a dozen number-one Australian country singles and multiple ARIA top 10 albums, she’s not resting on her laurels.

Instead, the laurels keep growing, with Through the Haze reaching number-one on the ARIA top 20 Australian country albums.

Beccy started life in the burbs.

She was born in Glenelg and went to school in Blackwood, but the country life and country music beckoned to her as a child.

It helped that her mum, Carole Sturtzel, is a country singer who always played country music in the house.

“She had a band and played every weekend,” Beccy says.

“I would go along and watch. From a really young age, I thought everyone’s mum was a singer.”

Beccy’s brother didn’t share her interest in country at first.

“My brother used to call it ‘ring-ding-a-ding’ music,” she says, “but he even comes to Tamworth every year these days.”

Indeed, Australia is now the third-largest consumer of ring-ding-a-ding music in the world, after the US and Canada.

Beccy also appreciated the storytelling aspect of country music.

“Certainly, these days,’ she says, “as I write 100 per cent of my own stuff, that’s sort of what remains – the drawcard to the genre, I guess.”

Storytelling aside, what about the stereotype that country music is just songs about self-pitying alcoholics? 

“There’s an element of that,” she says, laughing.

“And there’s a touch of self-pity on this record.

“But I think for me, it’s more about finding your power.

“Great art comes from vulnerability anyway … and I think that as I’ve gotten older, I’m not afraid to tap into that.”

Beccy’s songs explore different facets of her engaging personality.

Sure, she writes about the intense break-up pain and mental health issues she’s endured.

But as anyone who’s seen her performances can attest, she’s also hilarious.

A YouTube clip of Beccy and long-term collaborator Adam Harvey duetting on Slim Dusty’s hit song Duncan shows not only how strong Beccy’s onstage chemistry is with Harvey, but also how much fun she has performing.

Speaking of Slim Dusty, early in Beccy’s career, she toured with the great man. 

“Slim’s such a legend,” Beccy says.

“I mean, he’s still in the Australian ARIA charts 20-plus years after his passing.

“Slim, in so many ways, was the benchmark for a long time of how successful you can be in the genre in this country.

“I toured with Slim in ’94 or something – I was only about 20, and I was the person he took out on the road after Keith Urban, who toured with him in the early 90s as well.

“I just remember watching Slim with the fans: he treated everyone the same, and he stayed until the last autograph was signed.

“I realised then that there’s a capacity for longevity in country music if you look after your fanbase, and there’s this loyalty within that fanbase that they’ll come with you through hard times and all that kind of stuff.”

Beccy sang on stage with Slim – she loves doing duets, as she has with other big names in Aussie country music, such as old mates Harvey, Gina Jeffries and Kasey Chambers.

A duet that Beccy and Chambers did was Millionaires, a song which Beccy wrote with her characteristically witty turns of phrase – one of the few songs in the world that uses the word “undies”. 

At one Tamworth show, Beccy says, Chambers set a couple of challenges: “I think mine was Smells Like Teen Spirit by Nirvana, and those kinds of things can be a real stretch, but a lot of fun as well.”

She’s even up for doing a duet with her fellow Blackwood High alumni, the successful hip hop group Hilltop Hoods.

“Yeah, that would be unreal,” she says.

“I wouldn’t say no to anything like that – it would be so much fun.”

Read more of Beccy Cole’s story in the winter 2026 edition of Murraylands Life magazine.

Where to get your copy of Murraylands Life magazine

The autumn 2026 edition of Murraylands Life magazine should be available at more than 110 newsagents, supermarkets, hotels, service stations, accommodation providers and other outlets around the region from this Friday, June 12.

Click here to find out where you can pick up your free copy at Callington, Coonalpyn, Karoonda, Lameroo, Mannum, Monarto, Murray Bridge, Mypolonga, Pinnaroo, Tailem Bend or Wellington.

Copies may take a few extra days to reach some locations.

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• More information: Visit www.murraylands.life or email jane@murraybridge.news.