QUT music student Briana Dinsdale was just 13 when she was plucked from a Brisbane concert crowd to sing with Keith Urban on stage in front of 13,000 people. Now, nearly eight years later, she's hoping to become the next Queensland-grown country music star and ride the Gen Z resurgence of the country genre.
Briana, 20, is studying a Bachelor of Fine Arts (music) and Bachelor of Education (secondary school teaching) and combines her flexible online and in-person uni studies with writing, recording and performing her music.
August has been one of the biggest months of her music career so far.
She performed at the Gympie Music Muster last week, will support former The Voice US winner Craig Wayne Boyd on his Australian tour this week, and has released a new single, Real Time Love.
Briana co-wrote and recorded the song in Nashville during her summer uni holidays.
Real Time Love's music video also dropped last week and is directed by fellow QUT student Sean O'Brien.
Sean also directed the video for her single Whiskey Worked that Way, which was released in April.
Briana's burgeoning music career is the type of life she dreamt about as a child – and now it's getting very real.
"My mum Lisa is from America and when I was 11 years old we went to Nashville for two days," she said.
"It was at that point that I realised that I wanted to be a country singer and Nashville was going to be home in the future.
"My family was into music, but country music was never my go-to up to that point. But after Nashville, I couldn't imagine doing a different genre."
Briana said she was fortunate to be making music at a time when country music was finding renewed popularity.
"Everyone my age is obsessed with it now," she said.
"In high school I was teased for liking country music and people thought it was weird.
"There was a lot of talk for so long that if you liked country music you weren't cool, it wasn't the trending sound.
"But since COVID hit, country has just become the thing.
"I don't know how it happened, but all the friends in high school who laughed are now buying boots and going to country music concerts. It's great for me and others trying to emerge in the genre."
New country music stars who feature heavily on Briana's own playlists include Megan Moroney, Morgan Wallen and Lainey Wilson.
She also loves country royalty like Keith Urban and Carrie Underwood – both of whom she saw with her family at a sold-out concert at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre at Boondall back in 2016.
Her ticket to the concert was a present for her 13th birthday and a sign she made saying that caught Keith Urban's eye while he was chatting to the crowd.
He invited her up on stage, found out she was a singer-songwriter and asked her to play the keyboard and sing a few bars.
Briana's family's video of her getting up on stage has been watched more than 250,000 times on YouTube, with another fan video of the encounter racking up 360,000 views.
"Keith is one of my biggest inspirations and he was my first major concert," she said.
"Being invited up on stage was very surreal – I have to watch the video because I don't really remember it.
"But I know I didn't feel nervous or scared – it was very comfortable, it felt amazing. It was the closing show of that tour and it was very special. My family all cried with me afterwards."
Keith also had an influence on Brianna's life at the end of high school.
"In Grade 12 I was awarded the Keith Urban Scholarship – that was funded by Keith and his team – to the Academy of Country Music in Tamworth to do a 10-day course learning about the industry," she said.
"It was a lot of fun, a lot of hard work and a real blessing … another little invisible string to Keith."
Music is definitely in the Dinsdale family's DNA.
Briana's dad Ken and sister Ashlyn run a music management company, GoldSpur Entertainment, which books artists for live country music venues and festivals around south-east Queensland and recently presented the first Lasso Country Music Festival.
"My dad got me into songwriting – he always wrote songs when he was a teenager, and he taught my sister and I the guitar," Briana said.
In addition to co-managing the agency, Ashlyn plays bass guitar in Briana's band and is a first-year student at QUT, where she is studying a double degree in business and music.
Briana is in her third year of her double degree in music and teaching and said she was enjoying both sides equally.
"I've always been passionate about working with kids," she said.
"I had such incredible music teachers growing up – I really wanted to stay loyal to that and become a great music teacher for kids to look up to.
"I genuinely really do love it and am really passionate about it.
"I have a mindset that you can never learn too much – I love learning, I loved school, I love listening to podcasts … When the opportunity came about to study a double degree in education and music it was two things I'm very passionate about. So it was a no-brainer for me."
Although being signed by a major label is an ultimate goal, Briana is happy to be an independent artist.
"It's been a dream since I was a little girl to have my songs played on radio – I never get over that, that's very cool," she said.
"I played pub gigs through high school as background music. It's a whole different feeling to now get out on front on a stage."
People can follow Briana on Instagram (@brianadinsalemusic), Facebook, TikTok (@brianadinsdalemusic), and YouTube.
The Briana Dinsdale Band's upcoming gigs include three shows supporting Craig Wayne Boyd at Twin Towns on August 30, the Distillery Road Market on August 31 and the Kings Beach Tavern on September 1.
