Will Will be the new Garth?

EVER since Garth Brooks hit the Country music world like a sheet of lightening in the early 1990s countless young Country singers have tried to emulate his success but none have succeeded. But out of the current mundane Country scene a young singer named Will Banister from Clovis, New Mexico hit the headlines at this year's Wembley Country Festival and he has a tour of Ireland in his sights for next year. Will's album Turned her on to Country has become a big seller following his success at the International Festival of Country Music and after rave reviews in the UK following his appearance at the festival he is undertaking his first international tour there next month. 'After the Wembley Festival, I'm really excited about returning to the UK. To go overseas and perform for the fans is a real honour and September can't come soon enough,' says Will. Playing at the launch party for the new Dallas TV series in London for Channel 5 TV this week was a high profile gigs for the young Stetson-wearing singer. But as it was in Ireland that another Stetson-wearing singer, Garth Brooks, first made his mark on this side of the Atlantic then it is to be expected that Will and his team would have similar hopes. 'Hopefully he will be in Ireland next year,' says his publicist Tony Byworth who was also the publicist for Garth Brooks during the years when he was such a success over here. His manager and band member and producer Johnny Mulhair says everybody involved with the band is excited about coming back this side of the Atlantic to tour. Two additional dates were subsequently added following considerable interest after the first shows were announced. Will has written all eleven songs on his current CD and he is currently putting the finishing touches to a follow-up album which will have nine originals from him and three new songs by other songwriters. The new CD, as yet untitled, will be released to coincide with the tour. Will will be hoping that the new album receives rave reviews similar to what Turned Her On to Country received last year and kicked off his British career. His style of Country is probably more traditional that that of Garth Brooks but it still has enough modern nuances in it to attract people of other music tastes as well. Nobody in Country music has emulated the success of Garth since his heyday in the 1990s and so it will be interesting to see if Will Banister can be the one to do so. â€â€œ TG.