Songwriter, Producer, Performer

Sharon Benjamin has been writing, performing and recording country and roots music since 1988 — starting with a four-hour solo gig in a small-town NSW hotel, guitar and drum machine, and building from there.

Her debut single "Ghost Train" reached the Top 5 on Australia's national country radio airplay chart. A few years later, "Jack of Diamonds" went to No.1 on independent country radio airplay in Europe — the kind of reach an independent artist gets through the stations that actually champion new country music, not major commercial radio, but real support all the same. Her songwriting has also picked up recognition closer to home, including a Tamworth Songwriters Association award in the Open Traditional category.

In 2005, Sharon and her husband Mark built their own recording studio, Redbak, together with longtime collaborator Marcus Hooper — partly born from wanting more control over her own releases, and partly from a growing interest in helping other independent artists make theirs. Redbak has since produced releases for a number of Australian country artists.

These days Sharon performs solo — her voice doesn't do everything it used to, so the shows have changed shape rather than slowed down. If anything, there are more of them: acoustic sets, clubs, country music festivals, and regular themed shows for aged care communities that can fill several days a week on their own. Alongside all of that, a new chapter has opened up in the studio: revisiting old songs with new tools, and turning decades of half-finished and hard-won material into releases that are finally seeing the light.