Singer-songwriter Joseph Lim grew up performing with his family in concerts and nursing homes across the south-west but this weekend he will step out on the Port Fairy Folk Festival stage as a solo act.
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The Woodford 18-year-old learnt piano and violin until he was about 13 but stopped because of the pandemic.
"During COVID I picked it up myself and that's when I started making my own music and loving it," he said.
Lim grew up in a musical family. He, along with his parents and 10 siblings, often performed at concerts across the district and are even lined up to perform at next month's Koroit Irish Festival.
"Growing up with the family we've done lots of music together, lots of little concerts and in lots of nursing homes," he said.
About a year ago he started teaching himself guitar and this weekend will perform six of his own original songs and one cover - Stephen Sanchez's Until I Found You - during his 20-minute set.
"I've got a little loop station I'm using," he said.
The young songwriter has plenty of new material he's working on. "I've started almost 700 projects and probably finished 50 songs," he said.
It was a folk song he wrote with his brother Matthew called Down By The Ocean that caught the attention of Folkie organisers.
He was performing it at the recent youth awards in Warrnambool when he was invited to showcase his talents at this weekend's festival.
He will perform at the Fiddlers Green at 2.45pm on Saturday, and on stage five on Sunday at 9.45am.
And now he is keen to see how far his music takes him.
He's been building his online profile through his Youtube Channel Joseph Lim Music which features music videos that he also makes himself.
Katrina Lovell
Katrina Lovell is a senior journalist at The Standard who covers council news and human interest stories.
Katrina Lovell is a senior journalist at The Standard who covers council news and human interest stories.
