Interview with Wade Forster
“Wondering if all these bumps are worth all this dying time
I know what is you and me and couple kids
saving up money for the auction bids
so, we can buy your daddy's block, a long while away from Proserpine
if you don't want all this, I'll just go
but if you do I'm your rodeo Romeo
we can tell our kids how we met
watching drunks spill drinks on cracked cement
at a bar that had no legal reason to be a bar
you told me your name and I told you mine
laughed and talked through cigarettes and wine
living young wild and free in the back of my old car.”
Rodeo Romeo - Wade Forster
When Winton born rodeo riding singer-songwriter Wade Forster tours Australia again with Texan rodeo rider Cody Johnson it won’t be their first rodeo together.
The duo toured and played rodeos together here and overseas on previous sojourns.
Wade, now 26, took Cody to a 2023 rodeo at Townsville where they roped, romped and steer wrestled after they also performed on music stages.
Forster was touring with North Carolina chart-topper Luke Combs when Cody, now 37, invited him on stage at Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne.
“We’re hoping to again perform together at a rodeo during Cody’s tour,” Wade revealed in an interview with Nu Country TV on the eve of his Tamworth return in January where he was 2024 Tamworth Toyota Star Maker winner and is nominated for Golden Guitars at the 2025 Tamworth Country Music Festival.
“I’d love to go roping with him one more time. I just got done roping with him in Co-Jo Texas. I hope we can do that again on our tour and win a buckle for him.”
The duo come from vastly different family backgrounds.
Cody and his drummer dad Carl were Huntsville prison warders before teaming on Black And White Label and Live And Rocking At Shenanigans And Confetti’s Club in Huntsville in 2007.
“My dad is a cattle farmer and his dad before him as well,” explained Wade who left Winton in 2017 to pursue a career in refrigeration in Mt Isa.
He bought his first guitar on Facebook for $50 and became a Top 50 All Around Cowboy in Australian Professional Rodeo Association’s National Finals Rodeo Standings.
Wade played gigs and rodeos and around Western Queensland, Winton’s Way-Out West festival before playing 2023 Savannah in The Round.
These days his music and rodeo riding takes him overseas to the 2025 Calgary Stampede Rodeo, Chuckwagon Races and Grandstand shows in Canada after his seven-day Drifter tour with former Florida Georgia Line co-founder Tyler Hubbard.
“We’ve got concerts in Missouri and Oklahoma and three shows in Texas and another one in Colorado,” Wade explained.
Forster filmed videos for Off The Drugs and Chemistry on his new four track EP he showcases in Tamworth.
He also plans another video for Honky Tonk Bulldogging Man on the same EP.
“It will probably come out some time next year,” Wade revealed.
“It’s the down season of rodeos so I’ll do it later.”
Wade has painful memories of the aftermath of making his Chemistry video when he played a riveting rodeo.
“I ended up in hospital a week later with injuries to my back and spine and a bit of pneumonia as well,” he recalled.
Forster expanded his rural imagery in his Rodeo Romeo from his debut album The Beginning.
“The girl in the song was from Townsville and the boy was from Tumut,” Forster explained.
Fighting Tears
“But God damn I can't help myself I love that rodeo
if only you knew what I was and all that I want
you'd let me roll down blacktop 'til I can't find a place to stop
and if you need my help then come along
cause I've been going too long to be alone
all the rank broncs and the steers
can't find my way past beers
and I hope I'm not the only one out here that's fighting tears.”
Fighting Tears - Wade Forster.
Wade also used his Fighting Tears song as a weapon for attacking mental health issues.
“This song to me is a huge mental health awareness ballad and I am a huge advocate for getting the help needed” Forster revealed after he met a Mt Isa victim.
“This song is a true story of a girl I knew and her battles with addiction and depression. I used to date this girl and she had mental health problems. Unfortunately, it got the better of her. My song is a reminder if you need help to get help. It resonates with a lot of people from messages I get on Instagram and Tik Tok. Every day is a fight to stay. I’m a big advocate for mental health rehab.”
Forster is also a staunch supporter of fellow rodeo riders after losing several peers on the circuit.
“Unfortunately, a lot of those fellows died,” Wade explained. “There’s about two of us left out of the eight we used to travel with. Now we’re on different circuits. I’ve got a new crew I travel around with.”
Wade hopes to write songs with both Cody and Tyler on their tours.
“They’re both good songwriters and I’d like to do stuff with them,” he added.
But he’s also keen to learn more about the Geelong football team when he plays in the bayside oasis.
“I’d like to go to Geelong and see what all the fuss is about,” Wade revealed. “I’m trying to get into AFL more. My mate Josh Williams from school plays for North Melbourne. I’m getting an education on AFL.”
Wade’s Geelong peers include prolific Golden Guitarist and passionate Geelong Cattery football team supporter Adam Harvey and singer Ruby Jane.
Ruby began songwriting at 17 and is a regular on the Tamworth and national rodeo and concert circuit.
She completed her Certificate 3 in Music Performance 2020, CMAA Academy of Country Music Graduate (2021) and achieved a Diploma of Music in 2022.
“She’s a good artist from down there,” Wade explained.
“She’s still battling away and doing the hard yards and not falling over before they get where they need to be.”
Meanwhile back to Wade who mixes his rodeo and radio requiems to the max.
“I’ve written heaps of rodeo songs, it’s just a matter of getting them out there at the right time,” he revealed.
Wade plays Tamworth launch pads – Bicentennial Park on January 17 and 19 and Longyard Hotel – on January 24.
He also returns to Rod Laver Arena with Cody Johnson on March 27.
Wade has 200,000 monthly listeners on Spotify, 6,700 followers on Facebook, 15,700 followers on Instagram and 38,000 followers on Tik Tok.
By David Dawson
