Every Australian blues act that has tasted success in Memphis over the years has its own story of opportunities, opened doors, and connections that led to new beginnings in recording, appearances, and other, often unimagined, options in the entertainment business.
Queensland’s Lecia Louise, who won the BASEQ playoff, walked away with the opportunity to represent our organisation in Memphis next January, and she’s working overtime raising the rest of the money she’ll need to pay all the Trip To Tennessee bills. Lecia could find some additional incentive to run faster by considering the trajectory of the career of Melbourne’s Nardia Brancatisano – known professionally as just Nardia – who made the top five in the finals of the International Blues Challenge in 2025.
After that top-five spot in Memphis, Nardia went to work calling in the connections she made in Tennessee. After touring Australia through 2025, she’s been doing shows almost non-stop in the USA, mainly in California, where she’s made her home away from home. In the coming weeks, she’s appearing at clubs in San Pedro, Long Beach and Marina Del Ray. This follows 30 performances since she finished the rounds of competition in Memphis.
Looking back on what’s happened with her life and her musical career since she was on the stage in Beale Street, Nardia has a simple, direct reply: “It had an enormous impact. In many ways, the IBC was the catalyst for everything that followed.” Key contacts she made in Memphis included Darin James of Stingerboy Entertainment and Lawrence “Boo” Mitchell, the Grammy Award-winning engineer, producer, and composer (not to mention his awards in filmmaking).
Boo is also the co-owner of the storied Royal Studios in Memphis, one of the powerhouses of modern blues, r’n’b and funk.
“Those initial connections led to other relationships and opportunities right across the US,” says Nardia
“Today, I have an entire team of people here who genuinely believe in me, support what I’m trying to achieve and help drive my music career forward. Those relationships kept bringing me back to America — recording in Memphis and Nashville, touring across the US and continuing to build my network. With every trip, it felt like another opportunity appeared, another relationship developed, and another door opened.”
Nardia says it wasn’t a simple matter of getting into the final five in Memphis, going to bed that night and waking up proclaiming: “I’m moving to America.”
It did, however, plant the seed.
“The more time I spent here, the more I began to see what might be possible. Eventually, I realised that if I really wanted to find out how far I could take my music, I couldn’t keep dipping my toe in the water and then flying home.
“At some point, I had to take the leap, back myself completely and give it everything I had. And that’s ultimately what I decided to do. Because why not, you only live once!”
No doubt, Nardia’s “dare to dream, dare to take a chance” attitude helped, but she needed to take the next big step of actually backing herself into the USA, and it wasn’t always easy.
“Leaving behind the life I’d built in Australia was definitely the hardest part,” says Nardia.
“Australia is home. My family and friends are there, I’d built a career there, and I had an established musical network. Moving countries means walking away from a lot of security and familiarity and effectively starting again.”
That’s the emotional side; there was also the hard practical reality: Visas, finances, finding somewhere to live, building new relationships and trying to establish yourself in an enormous music industry.
Each of these challenges could break a budding musician’s spirit, but Nardia also feared the unknown.
“You can always find reasons not to do something that scares you, but I also knew I would regret it much more if I didn’t try,” she says, reflecting on the last 18 exciting, life-changing months. I’d reached a point where I thought, ‘If I’m going to back myself, now is the time’.”
Once Nardia settled into the US music scene as a performer and recording artist, she sat back and surveyed where she was, initially surprised by the “sheer scale” of the industry she found herself in.
Here’s her verdict: “It’s been exciting, challenging, exhausting and incredibly rewarding. Sometimes all in the same week!”
The number of musicians, producers, writers, and people doing all the other jobs throughout the entertainment industry means a newcomer like Nardia can have a random meeting or strike up a casual conversation and discover the person worked alongside someone you had listened to for many years.
“I’ve also discovered that Americans seem to love an Australian accent! Sometimes I joke that my accent has done half the networking for me,” says Nardia.
“You say a few words and suddenly everyone wants to know where you’re from — so apparently being Australian is a pretty good conversation starter!”
There is, of course, a constant reality check happening as you travel, meet and mix throughout the music industry.
“Moving to another country also teaches you a lot about resilience. It’s definitely not all roses,” according to Nardia.
She says: “There are incredible highs, but there are also difficult days when you’re thousands of kilometres away
from your family, friends and everything familiar, wondering, ‘What on earth am I doing here?’
There are cultural differences to navigate, setbacks, disappointments and moments when things don’t go the way you hoped.
“And then something happens. You play an incredible show, walk into a recording session, meet someone who opens another door, or have a stranger tell you that your music connected with them.”
Nardia’s experience demonstrates what going to Memphis for the International Blues Challenge can do. This is why the Blues Association of South East Queensland digs deep when we can to support sending one of our local artists or acts to Tennessee, and why our fellow organisation in Melbourne backed Nardia last year.
We believe in the blues and the success of Nardia – and the opportunities Queensland artists like 8 Ball Aitken & Taya Chani Band and Zed Charles have enjoyed – demonstrate why it’s worth doing.
