Lessons Learned from a Music Career, with Duncan Toombs, Singer-Songwriter and Director
Your World of Creativity
Mark Stinson
5.0 • 45 Ratings
🗓️ 3 November 2025
⏱️ 21 minutes
🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS
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Summary
Today, we’re heading to Australia to welcome Duncan Toombs—one of the country’s powerhouse vocalists and storytellers. Duncan’s music reconnects us to our humanity and reminds us of the importance of love, life, and family. I first heard Duncan live this summer when I visited Sydney and stopped into Jolene’s country bar and I was blown away by his performance.
Then, I learned Duncan appeared on Channel Seven’s The Voice, where his raw, powerful vocals won over the hearts of millions. His original song, Steel on Steel, went viral with nearly 3 million viewers tuning in, and it has since reached audiences worldwide on TikTok and Instagram.
Duncan is also a nine-time Golden Guitar Award winner, an ARIA #1 album artist with Steel on Steel, and a Hands of Fame inductee.
Here is an overview of our conversation, plus you'll hear samples from 3 of Duncan's songs:
The Voice & Viral Breakthrough
- Duncan, your performance of Steel on Steel on The Voice captivated millions and went viral globally. What was that moment like for you—and how did it change the way people connect with your music?
Storytelling Through Song
- Your songs are deeply rooted in love, life, and family. How do you translate personal experiences into stories that resonate so universally with listeners?
Crafting an Album
- Your album Steel on Steel reached ARIA #1. What was your creative process in pulling that project together, and what makes it different from your earlier work?
Sustaining a Career in Music
- With nine Golden Guitars and a Hand of Fame induction, you’ve already built an incredible legacy. What has kept you inspired to keep writing, performing, and pushing your artistry forward?
The Other Creative Pursuit: Filmmaking & Content Creation
- Many of our listeners are creatives themselves—writers, musicians, makers—trying to find their voice. What advice would you share about staying true to your craft while navigating other creative pursuits and an ever-changing industry?
Duncan, what’s one message you’d like to leave with listeners about the role of music in keeping us connected to each other and to what really matters in life?
Thanks to our sponsor, White Cloud Coffee—fueling creative conversations everywhere. Listeners, enjoy 10% off your first order at whitecloudcoffee.com
And before you go, don’t forget to download your free e-book of Your World of Creativity when you visit mark-stinson.com
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Unlocking your world of creativity with bestselling author and brand innovator Mark Stinson. |
| 0:08.8 | This episode is brought to you by White Cloud Coffee Roasters, where every bean tells a story of adventure. |
| 0:15.5 | Visit whitecloudcoffee.com and use the code creativity. |
| 0:20.7 | Welcome back friends to our podcast, Your World of Creativity. I'm Mark |
| 0:25.8 | Stenson, and we love to travel around the globe talking to creatives of all types about how they get |
| 0:32.2 | inspired and how they organize ideas and most of all how we gain the confidence and the connections |
| 0:37.3 | to launch our |
| 0:38.7 | work out into the world. And today I'm so glad to be traveling to Sydney, Australia, to welcome |
| 0:44.3 | Duncan Tooms to the show, one of country music's powerhouse vocalists and storytellers. Duncan, |
| 0:50.2 | welcome to the show. Thanks so much for having me, Mark. I'd pleasure to be you, my friend. I first heard Duncan. I had a chance to visit Sydney, Australia, this past summer, and I saw him live at a great country bar called Joe Leans, and we're both saying, what a coincidence. You never know who's going to be on stage. You never know who's going to be in the audience. I was really impressed with your music, Duncan, and the way you connected with the audience and your original lyrics really touched on a lot of love, life, family. So I couldn't wait to look you up, and it's great to have you on the show now. It's my absolute pleasure to be here. And you never know who's going to be in the crowd. Yeah, absolute pleasure. Thanks for asking me to be here. Yeah, you bet. Listeners, I learned that Duncan, this was after I said, wow, what great music. And I look him up and I say, oh my gosh, he's been on the voice in Australia on Channel 7. His powerful vocals, I went back and watched a lot of the YouTube episodes. |
| 1:46.1 | And that original song, Steal on Steel, it really touched a lot of people, went viral, 3 million views, and TikTok, Instagram, all the things. |
| 1:56.5 | It really touched a lot of people, didn't it, Duncan? |
| 1:59.7 | It did, yeah. Obviously, it's a very personal song to me. |
| 2:02.6 | Getting to sing that live on national TV was pretty overwhelming experience. |
| 2:06.6 | I would say I was very, extremely nervous. |
| 2:09.6 | But it's a beautiful thing, and that's why I think I've grown to love songwriting later in my life, |
| 2:14.6 | is when you write something that connects to people in that |
| 2:18.7 | sort of way, I don't know. I think it's a beautiful thing where we all take songs our own |
| 2:24.1 | way. Even now, as I'm talking about it, like I get emotional because that's a very personal |
| 2:30.1 | song about losing my dad and seeing him in my mind's eye I see him on the train he's on his last ride to heaven |
| 2:37.5 | hear that engine roar see the wheels take flight they'll be smelling that steam in the heavens tonight there's something about the sound of steel on steel |
| 2:59.6 | it's like a band of angels crying in the night. |
... |
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