Congratulations on your sixth album Boneshaker! You worked with a new producer, Seattle-based Ryan Hadlock, this time around. Do you think this has resulted in a change of pace?
I think a little bit, but that’s only natural when you try something new with somebody that is not from the genre of country music. He’s done some singer/songwriter stuff and some folky country stuff but he’s never done a straight country artist before so it was a bit of an experiment for him as well as me. I loved the experience and I think we both really learnt a lot from each other.

We heard you spend some time in a yurt (a kind of tent like structure used by the Nomadic people) to find inspiration for this album. What was that like?
I did! I thought it would be kind of cool and different and go rogue for a little while and do some songwriting. It’s really hard to set aside time in your everyday life when you know there’s washing to do or dishes in the sink because you feel guilty for going and writing a song. So I went to upstate New York, just outside of Woodstock, and rented this yurt for a week and literally wrote half the record there. It was amazing and so inspiring, I just smashed it out!

Take us through your songwriting process?
I don’t really write like I used to. When I was a kid I’d come home from school and write every day, it was this exciting thing and I was so into it but now as you get older and life gets in the way you kind of don’t get as much time so I tend to focus more on songwriting when I know I’ve got a record to make. I set aside a couple of days a week and just sit down with my guitar and generally something comes. It’s hard to explain because it’s always different. Sometimes it might be something you play on guitar or it might be something somebody says or something you hear or just a cool little thing you mess around with and you build a song around that. And then all of a sudden you’ve made this song out of thin air, it’s a cool feeling.

What drew you to country music?
My dad is a very musical guy so I grew up in a house that always had music playing. I’m the youngest of four and it wasn’t until I started singing that my dad noticed he finally had a kid that was into music like him. He started leaving CDs and DVDs on my bed and books on the history of folk music and autobiographies of legends like Johnny Cash, I was like his little scholar. To this day, me and my dad have that connection.

He must be pretty proud?
I hope so! He loves coming to the gigs and watching what I do so I think he is. He’s a school councilor so he has a very normal job, so does my mum, so I think they are proud of the fact that I’ve managed to make a career out of music.

Tell us about the first song you ever wrote?
Oh my god, it was terrible! I still remember it, it was called Guardian Angel, which is really random. I was raised Catholic so we went to church a fair bit so the song came from that experience.

You released your first four-track at just 14. What was it like being in the music industry at such a young age?
Well for me I didn’t know any different, it was just what you did. I didn’t realise you got real jobs, I guess I knew because my parents had one but for me it was never going to be anything else. I was always going to be a singer and I knew that. I met Bill Chambers and the rest of the Chambers family when I was about 11 and they kind of took me under their wing so I was always around music. I had started playing a lot of shows so it just made sense to me that an EP was the next step. I started writing and Bill Chambers produced it. I was really lucky to have that guidance from a young age, I’m not sure that many kids get that so I was pretty stoked.

If you could give that fresh-faced girl any advice what would it be?
It would be to take care of yourself. I am quite a sensitive person, I think all artists are, but I think I allowed myself to be a little manipulated in some situations. I wouldn’t take them back because I learnt from them and I really know who I am now and I am totally strong and secure in that. I’d say don’t be so sensitive, stand up for yourself and make good decisions that down the track you’ll be proud of.

Sir Elton John personally recommended your album Dusty Smiles and Heartbreak Cures to his industry contacts in America. That must have felt pretty amazing?
It was pretty surreal! I still look back on that and think how surreal that was. I think I was just in the right place at the right time, that’s the beauty of the music industry, every now and then this crazy thing happens and you think what? How did that happen? Elton really went out of his way to support me, he really took me under his wing and got me a record deal in America and did the duet with me, he really believed in me.

In 1999 you left our shores for the home of the Country Music Hall of Fame. What drew you to Nashville?
I wasn’t planning on going to Nashville as my career was just taking off here and I was doing some pretty extensive touring around Australia with Kasey Chambers and Chris Isaak and I was just having the best time but then I got this opportunity. I had several labels calling after Elton recommended me, they flew me over with my Dad, because I was too young to sing a contract legally! I jumped in headfirst and signed with this amazing label and I moved over there and gave it a go for six years. In the end I realised it wasn’t really my scene and I wasn’t ever going to make music that sounded like Taylor Swift or anyone like that. My label loved what I did and we both really wanted it to work but at the end of the day I don’t sing songs about trucks and things that work on the radio over there so it was kind of like forcing something that was never going to work.

What did you take from that experience?
I learnt a lot. It was like going off to college and learning everything you need to know about country music or the wider music industry, what to do and what not to do. It was brilliant, you can’t buy that sort of education. I took so much from it and met so many amazing people, I woudn’t take it back. In the end I just realised that I didn’t totally fit into the scene but it was a wonderful experience.

You’ve worked with some huge names including Kasey Chambers, Paul Kelly, Sir Elton John, Don McLean, Chris Isaac, Brooks & Dunn, Alan Jackson, Guy Clark and Keith Urban, to name a few, what have been some of the highlights?
The Elton John duet was pretty amazing! That was a huge highlight for me. But you know I’ve made so many great friends over the years and worked with so many amazing people that have all been highlights. My life has been a series of highlights and I feel very lucky that I get to do what I do. I know that I am lucky and I know that this isn’t a normal lifestyle, I’ve been blessed. I love what I do and I’ll do it for as long as they’ll let me!

You’re coming to the Gold Coast as part of Broadbeach Country Music Festival. What can audiences expect from your shows?
My favourite thing in the world is playing live. I love being on stage, telling stories and playing my songs for a live audience. And festivals are great because there is a vibe at a festival that you can’t really get at a gig, it’s exciting. I’ve played Broadbeach before and it was unreal, so I’m actually really looking forward to coming back and doing it with my band. I’ve got a four-piece band coming with me and they are just amazing guys. We’ll do lots of the old stuff and a few new ones so it will be a mixture of everything.

Do you feel there are any misconceptions about the genre of country music?
That’s a deep question! Yes and no. Sometimes I think, what people think country music is is actually spot on when it comes to some artists but I also think that the majority of people haven’t quite dug far enough into really good country music. I see country music as the legends, Johhny Cash, Hank Willimas and Loretta Lynn, the songwriters, the people that have impacted the whole music scene, in every genre – rock, pop, blues, folk. So for me it’s really about talent at the end of the day and making music that does stand the test of time and music that is credible. Music that is made for the right reasons rather than for fame or money or because you’re arrogant or you’re good looking. That’s not what I make music for, that’s for sure.

What’s next for Catherine Britt?
I’ve actually been diagnosed with breast cancer so we’re going to continue to tour as much as we can around my treatment. I’d love to still tour, it really makes me happy to be out on the road so I don’t want to cancel any dates, I don’t want this diagnoses to get in the way of my life and career so we’re just going to go on as normal hopefully for the rest of the year. I’m also getting married in October so that’s pretty exciting. There is a lot to look forward to this year, it will be a really hard year but I know that and I’m ready to kick its butt.