Tom Curtain’s latest album ‘Heatwave’, has taken out the coveted ‘Album of the Year’ award at the Tamworth Independent Artist Recognition Awards (TIARAS) at the 2008 Country Music Festival.

With some of the industry’s biggest independent artists vying for the award, Tom says the win is a huge honour.
“The TIARA Awards are extremely important in recognising the contribution of independent artists to the larger country music industry, so receiving this award is a really big deal to me. It was also very unexpected.”

Tom, also a horsebreaker who travels throughout Australia to meet work commitments, says the horses have taken a back seat this year while he concentrates on his latest album.
“I released ‘Heatwave’ at Tamworth last year and have spent most of 2007 on the road touring and promoting it. I’m really proud of the album and the response it gets from people”, he says.

“All three releases to radio from ‘Heatwave’, ‘Born out Here’, ‘Chew like Hell’ and ‘Wearing out Leather’, have made it into the Top 10 of radio’s ‘Country Music Tracks Top 30’. Last night’s award just tops off a really exciting year for me.”

The album contains 12 authentic Australian country music tracks that will get singing along.