Gig Preview: Julie Kember @ Maker & Co

Fighting off jet lag after returning from recording in Nashville, Tennessee, Julie Kember is back home in Bunbury for the official release of her EPGypsy Woman .

Kember exudes an eclectic cool hippy vibe in her long-flowing pants, homemade jewellery and traditional rock star bandanna holding back her long blonde locks.

Speaking to theSouth Western Times as she soaks up the morning sun, the 39-year-old singer tells of her early attraction to a career in performing at just six years old, and how almost leaving the muso life behind sparked a renewed passion for her craft.

Continuing on from her first studio albumSugar & Stone ,Gypsy Woman '''' was a fork in the road for Kember after a tough few years saw her stray from the musical path.

“It’s only now that the EP is complete that listening to the lyrics toGypsy Woman I appreciate it was a song to self. I was bogged down with it all, butGypsy Woman is the baseline for starting again and is really all about growing where you are planted,” Kember said.

“It’s a true story and it’s awesome, but I have moved on from it, I joined a band and haven’t looked back since.”

Kember had writtenGypsy Woman just before she jumped on a plane to live in London but was the first track picked to begin recording with James Newhouse and band mates Pat O'Connor and John Retter.

“The recording process ofGypsy Woman has been quite a journey, it was recorded here in Bunbury and then it ended up in Nashville with a live band,” she said.

“It’s only now that I got it printed and in my hands as of last week, I look at the lyrics and I’m really proud.”

The EP’s second trackDonnelly placed in the top five at the Musicoz Awards and has a special place in Kember’s heart.

“I actually wroteDonnelly in about 20 minutes, that’s often how the magic songs happen, it was dedicated to my boyfriend’s father who had sadly just passed away,” Kember said.

“It’s just an honest and true song about a river, not me, and was the first song I’d ever written about something else.”

Kember says her travels led her to discovering her “Americana” sound, a genre Australia has yet to fully discover.

A fusion of country, rock, blues, folk and soul, “Americana” frees artists from being pigeon-holed.

“As an artist, when you write songs you don’t sit down and think ‘I’m going to write a country song’,” she said.

“How I write is poetry, if you are writing from your heart, then how dare someone put that in a box?”

Kember remarks that her life has come full circle, as Bunbury was the first place she ever started singing with a band called Shut Up and Kiss Me.

After travelling around the world for her career, Kember reveals she originally struggled with the idea of returning to Bunbury after 14 years, but this time around has her holding a different view.

“I love Bunbury, how cool is it that I can do all this and come back home where my family and friends are?” Kember said.

“Now that I’ve been around the world a few times it’s great that I can jump on a plane now, go and come home again.”

This year will see Kember playing festivals in WA for the first time, with appearances booked for the Boyup Brook Country Music Festival and Nannup Music Festival where she will also sell her handmade wares.

“I realised we have it all here, so my goal is to stop running over to the other side of the world, take all I have learned and bring it back to my roots here in WA for a while,” she said.

“I feel pretty lucky right now; I’ve made the choice to do what I’m doing and putting 100 per cent into it.”

TheGypsy Woman EP is available for pre-sale on iTunes, with Kember and her band performing it live at the official release tomorrow night at Maker and Co. from 7.30pm.