Another big music talent 'Unearthed' in Gympie

Emerging Gympie artist will rock the Gympie races on Saturday (and then the Muster)

RATTLE AND ROLL: Ethan Roberts belts it out at the Gympie Rattler station. Picture: LEEROY TODD

THERE is one sure thing you will find at the Gympie Racecourse RSL Cup on Saturday.

And if you can find a bookmaker to take the bet, have a wager on Ethan Roberts, or his alter ego, Aspy Jones.

Ethan Roberts generally does the cover versions of favourite songs, while his alter ego, Aspy Jones does the original songs, as on his new album, Tantamount, produced with funding from the Queensland Government's Regional Arts Development Fund and Gympie Regional Council. Picture: Arthur Gorrie

Honed by Gympie's Australian Institute of Country Music, he also has government and council backing as an artist.

https://www.gympietimes.com.au/news/scribbling-songs-on-bar-mats-to-topping-music-char/3757302/

People in Gympie probably know him as Ethan Roberts, but fans across Australia are more likely to have heard of him as his alter ego Aspy Jones, the breakout recording artist who has so far had three leading hits via Triple-J's "Unearthed” series for outstanding and absolutely new talent.

His all-Gympie band, Flintlock, is taking Gympie talent to centre stage at even national events like this year's Gympie Muster.

And on Saturday, Gympie people will be able to hear how he handles their favourite songs, when he appears as Ethan Roberts, keeping the crowd entertained between races at the big RSL Cup meeting.

And the Gympie and Queensland communities are right behind him.

The state government has already backed him with a Regional Arts Development Fund grant and so has Gympie Regional Council, both of them credited on Tantamount, his new all-original Aspy Jones EP.

At 21, he has already clocked up some enviable achievements, including an original music win in the Noosa Surf Club Battle of the Rising Stars.

About 3000 people saw him at Gympie's New Year's Eve Family Fun Night, alongside the X-Factor's Dean Ray.

He has also performed to crowd acclaim at the Peregian Originals and the Gympie Rush Festival (as part of a duo with Caleb Wilson).

And he has secured spots at the Pomona Music Festival, the Rockhampton River Festival, Roma's Woop Woop Festival and, as mentioned, the Gympie Muster.

He gives full credit to the AICM from taking him out of his shell as a person who played with music, turning him into a performer and helping overcome a personal challenge which he said is hinted at strongly enough in his other identity, Aspy Jones.

People can work the rest out for themselves, he said.