More touring beckons for Broome singer Tanya Ransom

The award-winning artist, like most of her contemporaries, had her wings clipped during the pandemic - and used the downtime to turn inward to write, learn and create.

Having just spent a couple of weeks touring venues on the New South Wales South Coast, she is preparing to head to Margaret River in a week's time to rejoin the music festival circuit at Strings Attached, the WA Guitar Festival.

"It is the first time in 2.5 years that I have been able to tour outside of WA,'' Ms Ransom said of the NSW trip.

"It is so nice to be able to do that again and I feel like now I am back to the possibilities of planning ahead.

"And being able to play at music festivals is so great.

"This will be my first guitar festival performance and I am really excited to be part of it."

For Ms Ransom, it's been an interesting time.

She is showcasing her third independent recording - an EP called Breakdown to Breakthrough released in September last year - which is gaining traction and is on high rotation on the ABC's Double J and Country radio stations.

The EP, she says, is a collection of songs about the human condition and the title track was written in WA's most intense lockdown period.

"It is about having difficult times and having those breakdowns but growing from that and having those breakthrough moments and becoming stronger for those difficulties,'' she said.

Her just-completed NSW tour saw her return to her birthplace for the first time in a long time.

Ms Ransom moved to Broome with her family as a 17-year-old - and didn't start playing music until she was 19.

"I found that I was spending time with friends who were musicians,'' she said.

Over the years, Ms Ransom said she had slowly evolved to become an alternative country/folk artist.

"I call my music soulful folk blues with a hint of old country,'' she said.

"There is quite a bit of storytelling in my songs, and I like to put different instrumentation along with those stories.

"It is a feeling that is created.

"I want the listener and the audience to have an emotional connection with my songs.''

Ms Ransom's music has been described as hitting the "sweet spot between tough and tender''.

It's honest, passionate, soul-searching and beautiful.

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And though she doesn't quite know how to define it, she appreciates that her work echoes a certain Kimberley sound - something listeners often acknowledge.

"Finding music in Broome, I think I found my influences, because I was surrounded by musicians such as the Pigram Brothers,'' she said.

"You find, especially in the Kimberley, it is such a genre blend of music, but the country kind of slips in there.

"You are so connected to the land there - to that vastness.''

Being based in the remote Kimberley has its challenges for any performer seeking a wider stage.

For a decade she has spent about six months a year travelling.

"Because of the distance I need to travel,'' she said.

"I end up packing up my life, jumping in my van and I will do anything from three up to six month-long tours.''

It meant she became a regular and popular figure on the touring and musical festival calendar.

Over the years, she has supported prominent artists such as Kate Miller-Heidke, Boy & Bear, John Butler, Missy Higgins and Tim Rogers - and performed as a soloist or in bands at the Nannup Music Festival, Blues at Bridgetown, North West Festival, Fairbridge Festival and WAMFest.

She was named Western Australian Music's Best Regional Act in 2020 and was a recipient of the inaugural Nannup Music Festival director's award.

Whether playing at intimate house concerts or being in front of thousands of people - the joy of performing remains.

The travel less so - she has returned to Broome to pack up her house for a move to the State's South West, where she will be embraced by a growing group of friends and enjoy a reduced tyranny of distance.

"I feel really ready for a change,'' she said

"I feel like living regionally and I have ended up having a nice community of friends in the South West.

"It is a bit of a home away from home and it feels like a nice landing place, to be closer to Perth to be able to tour more easily and not have to pack up my home for half a year.

"But I know that I will always go back to visit Broome, it is so ingrained in me that place and I have friends and family still there.''

Like many artists, Ms Ransom has endured the COVID-19 challenges - and when touring and performing work was cancelled, she hunkered down in Broome to concentrate on song-writing and creating, even enrolling in an online writing course.

Jobkeeper payments helped sustain her and she remains grateful that WA escaped the worst of the pandemic and its lockdowns.

Coming out the other side is a relief, but also presents new challenges for musicians, she said.

All Australians are dealing with a new-normal and working out what that means.

"It's not really back to normal yet, it's still not how it was, I think there are almost new challenges that have come about,'' she said.

"I feel like there are so many musicians touring at the same time.

"It is really difficult for them to sell tickets to shows, because people are really worried that shows might be cancelled.

"And people don't have as much money to spend right now on going out.

"It is great to be able to perform again, but there is a real uncertainty about how much income you are going to make or if you will break even in doing that.

"For me, this is what I want to do, I have just got to do the best I can and try to navigate it."

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