O'Shea will debut new album at Tamworth

COUNTRY music couple O'Shea is looking forward to bringing their new album home to Australia.

The Nashville-based duo, Mark and Jay O'Shea, will launch their new album at the Tamworth Country Music Festival in January.

"We're recording it now," said Jay over the phone from Tennessee.

"I don't think we've changed genres or styles dramatically. We just tried to choose songs that we really believe in, and production-wise it's similar to the last record."

The new record will feature the couple's first collaboration with other songwriters.

"There are a couple of songs on the album that we didn't write this time, which is something we haven't done before," Mark said.

"I'm excited about those. When you hear something and feel so passionate about it you have to record it.

"We're at a point where we know the kind of music we want to make and the songs we want to write. It's about sharing our life and experiences through song."

One major milestone that is sure to make it on the record is the birth of the couple's baby ??

"I used to hate it as a single man when people would sing about babies and stuff," Mark said.

"It was so boring and I was not into it, and I kind of said to Jay 'we can't have a whole album of I love my baby, I have a baby now'. But we couldn't overlook it because it is the biggest thing that's happened to us in our lives. It would be remiss of us not to address it, so we have one song on the album which is about that."

The couple will also be playing Tamworth tour guides for a day as part of the largest ever social media competition for the festival.

Fans simply need to follow the prompts on the festival's Facebook page to enter the draw for A Day with O'Shea or A Day with The Girls.

The prize includes tickets for flights and accommodation for two people to attend the 11-day festival as well as the CMAA Country Music Awards and a day out with either O'Shea or Amber Lawrence and Lee and Paula Bowman from Jetty Road.

"We're going to start off with skydiving at 7am, followed by bungee jumping and some mountain climbing," Mark joked.

"The idea is to do a behind the scenes kind of thing, so they'll spend some of the day experiencing Tamworth from the performer's point of view, doing interviews and going to performances and signings."

Jay added: "It's a brilliant prize. It can be quite expensive to fly to Tamworth. I secretly want to enter to win a day with the girls."

The Tamworth Country Music Festival runs from January 18-27, 2013.

To enter the Festival Experience of a Lifetime competition go to the Tamworth Facebook page.