MATTHEW Dames can add busking in Edinburgh and Cambridge to his growing list of achievements.
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Yet, the Launceston musician says Tasmania is still one of the best places to busk.
Dames, 25, returned to the state in September after spending two months performing at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and in his home town of Cambridge, where his mum and siblings still live.
Dames performed 21 shows at the fringe festival, but said busking outside it, on the Royal Mile was the real highlight.
"You rock up and you form queues with other buskers that want to play," Dames said.
"It was first come, first served effectively and you just worked out a fair way of letting everyone have a go.
"I found during the middle of the day my act didn't work in a lot of places because there was so much craziness, but at night it was great."
Dames said a joke he used when performing was: "I live in Tasmania and I find it a little intimidating here at the Edinburgh Fringe. In Tasmania there's half a million people, here I walk down the Royal Mile and there's half a million people."
"Every day for a month the Royal Mile is packed and there's people everywhere," he said.
"Every second person is trying to sell you a show and are handing you flyers.
"It's crazy."
Dames spent a few weeks before and after the fringe performing and spending time in his home town of Cambridge.
The trip was the first time he had been back home since he moved to Tasmania 4½ years ago.
"I'd never played publicly there before so it kind of felt like I was visiting a place where I'd been a different person," Dames said.
While music has always been part of Dames' life, he didn't start busking until he moved to Launceston.
"My mother is a very musical person," he said.
"She would get us instruments and we would always be singing.
"She would always sing to us and we would always be singing together, harmonising around the house.
"But busking, I started here in the Quadrant Mall.
"I came from the UK three months prior and I saw another busker on the street.
"I'd been performing at the walking club, at our social retreat by the bonfire and people had listened so it made me think, 'I might try busking'."
Dames now performs across the state every week and makes a living out of it.
"For my style of music - folk music - Tasmania is one of the best places to busk," Dames said.
"I spend my weekends in Hobart. I do Salamanca and the Farm Gate Market.
"Busking down there is quite enjoyable and quite profitable.
"I make enough to support myself, support my travels and support creating new products."
Dames is working on his second album Walk With Me, which he will launch at the Royal Oak on December 3.
The album will include nine tracks, which are all originals.
"At the moment, I'm 100 per cent focused on that because it is two years of work and I want to get it exactly how I want it," Dames said.
"It is a collection of songs about going on adventures."
Dames plans to stay in Tasmania once he launches the album, but hopes to perform again at the Adelaide and Edinburgh fringe festivals next year.
He played 20 shows at this year's Adelaide Fringe Festival and also took part in April's National Folk Festival in Canberra, winning the prestigious Lis Johnston Memorial Award for Vocal Excellence.
Dames dreams of performing at Canadian busking festivals and also on Prince Edward Island.
Dames usually performs in Launceston's Brisbane Street Mall or Quadrant Mall every Wednesday and Thursday morning. You can follow his music journey at his Facebook page Matthew Dames Music or his website matthewdamesmusic.com.
Email: mdadson@fairfaxmedia.com.au
Twitter: @ManikaDadson