Sara Tindley's bush tracks

It’s a song being heralded as one of the most touching to come out of Australian country music this year and it certainly cuts to the bone in terms of reflecting what drought can do to people on the land.

Tindley, raised in western Victoria but now a NSW “North Coastie”, says Country Girl was the story of the daughters of a man from Broken Hill whose family had farmed for generations.

“Because of drought he lost the farm,” she said.

“He had to bring his family to Sydney to find work. He and his wife split up. He told me all about it while I was in his cab.

“When he left I couldn’t stop thinking about his girls, what it must have been like having been brought up out there only to find yourself in this hardcore city.”

Tindley herself came from a small country town, the agriculturally rich farming district of Camperdown.

“I was a townie but all my girlfriends were on dairies,” she said.

“I know the taxi driver’s story is not unique.”

Country Girl is on Tindley’s third album, Time, released through Vitamin Records in September.

Her earlier songs have played on the ABC series East of Everything and commercial television’s Bondi Rescue and through her career, she has garnered comparisons to the likes of country music greats, Lucinda Williams and Kasey Chambers.

She describes her style as country-roots – modern songs with a country lilt.

Her last album was released in late 2006 and the songs on Time, all written or co-written by Tindley, have been in the making since.

It has been a long time between drinks because she had started to question herself as a musician.

“The more I learnt about music the more I realised how much I didn’t know,” she said.

“And I wondered what I had to offer as a songwriter – who gives a rats what an aging housewife thinks about anything? “It was a real stumbling block.”

She even went back and had guitar lessons, despite the fact she has been playing since she was a teenager.

“The questions I had were relevant. I did need to broaden myself but I have come through that and realised this is my path and I will keep learning and trying to be better,” Tindley said.

Time, recorded live in the small South Australian studio of alternate country band, The Yearlings, is very organic. No doctoring, few overdubs – and Tindley plays guitar on every track.

She is now in the midst of taking her new material to the masses, with gigs at Sydney and in Victoria this month.

Australian country, she says, has a lot going for it at the moment, particularly given the strength of the younger generation, but it is also facing some big challenges like all music.

“People seem to take music for granted now,” Tindley said.

“The way we listen has changed and not necessarily for the better. It’s piped through our shopping centres, available at a touch on the internet . . . it’s the wallpaper effect, oversaturation.

“The beauty and power of music seems to be pushed to the background.

“Music needs to stop you in your tracks.”

But then, she said, there are events such as the Wingham Akoostik Festival near Taree, in October, which she has just played, that restore her faith.

“In small country towns, the music community nourishes its youth,” she said.

“Where today’s teenagers so often like to pretend they don’t have parents, here they embrace being a part of the community and they are so good on their instruments and focused on what they want to say with their music – their songwriting is incredible – it really is encouraging.

“Country music breaks down age and social barriers.”

Sara Tindley will play at Parramatta on November 12, Camperdown November 18 and Melbourne November 20. Visit www.saratindley.com