Shenai Johnston was in the United States country music capital of Nashville, Tennessee, when Farm Weekly's Ripe magazine caught up with her last month.
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The Boyup Brook-based local was recording her debut EP 'Made for Living on the Land' after returning to singing from a long hiatus while raising a family.
It is a long way from the paddocks of Ongerup, where the 32-year-old grew up with two sisters belting out tunes to the sounds of their battery-powered compact disc player.
"I was always singing around the house and all over the farm from a young age," Ms Johnston said.
"It just seemed to come naturally to me and I was continually putting on shows at home.
"Then I started singing at local community events and getting mum to take me to district competitions."
Ms Johnston continued to sing during her high school years in Albany, and started writing her own songs inspired by the bush and farm life.
As a teenager, she did many gigs in and around Albany, mostly singing cover songs.
This continued when she left school and expanded to events in Perth and across the South West and Great Southern, including weddings and birthdays.
Ms Johnston learned the acoustic guitar, which she won in a singing competition, with teacher Steve Dougherty, of the Big Men Working band.
Marriage and the birth of three children put a hold on the progression of any music career for a while and the Johnston family moved to a 22-hectare farm at Boyup Brook, where there are picturesque olive groves and fig trees.
But with Harry now six-years-old, Patrick 5 and Hugo 3, Ms Johnston said she was more freed-up for time and had been inspired to start writing songs again after a six-year break.
"I am at my most happy place when writing, and I have fallen in love with country music," she said.
In the past 12 months, Ms Johnston has been touring Western Australia singing her original material.
Her house is filled with music every day and youngest son Hugo is fond of stealing the microphone from his talented mum.
"He loves to sing and the others love to dance," she said.
Ms Johnston confesses she is "quite compulsive" and decided at the age of 32 she wanted to record a high quality EP.
"I said to my husband David, who is a mechanic with his own business, that I would love to go to Nashville and record some songs," she said.
"He was a bit bewildered at first, but insisted I go when he heard my latest material.
"He said the timing was right to give it a shot."
Ms Johnston found a studio in Nashville and sent a song to them.
They helped to find her a producer and a band, which she met on arrival in Nashville with her father.
She now describes herself as an "indie artist without many industry connections".
"Despite not knowing many people, I am getting a lot of help in Nashville," she said.
"It feels quite brave, and a bit overwhelming, to come to Nashville to record.
"But this is the capital of country music and the producer has done a lot of amazing work."
While in Nashville, Ms Johnston had two days to record five songs in the studio and the rest of her two-week visit has taken up with practice and checking out other bands and singers.
She will produce a video clip for Spotify for at least one song.
Ms Johnston said her passion was telling stories through song, and creating intimate and memorable occasions through her performances.
When she finds time for herself, she takes her guitar outside - just like she did as a child - and writes songs to help her process trauma and life's challenges.
"Some of the best songs that I've written recently have been drafted at Eulin Crossing, which is a beautiful river out in the bush in the middle of nowhere," she said.
Ms Johnston is drawn to the honesty of country music lyrics and covers a lot of themes in her songs - from heartbreak, to being in awe of her sons' resilience, to living on the land.
She also wants her music to show women they're not alone.
"I want to empower young girls and mums out there,'' she said.
"The sky's the limit.
"You can be a mum and you can have an incredible career as well.
"That's one of the biggest things for me, why I'm recording this album, because you need to live your truth and be who you are.
"Otherwise, you're never going to be happy.
"We all have our challenges, we all have things that we go through and music is medicine."
Ms Johnston sang at the Boyup Brook Country Music Festival this year for two nights and said she had phenomenal support from the local community.
She plans to go on the road to promote her new album when she returns from the US.
This will encompass a tour through WA's South West, Great Southern, Perth, Bunbury, Busselton and Albany.
The album will be distributed in Australia and the US.
Ms Johnston is under no illusion about how crowded the local music scene is in WA.
"But people are wanting more live music from local outfits and I want to bring them more country music," she said.
