Sara Storer may have written her first song in Camooweal, a truck-stop town on the Queensland border, but it was Katherine's eclectic character that inspired the majority of her early work.
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"The Territory is thick and dripping in things to write about," she said.
The multi-awarded singer songwriter is returning to the Territory after what she says feels like decades, although it has only been a couple of years.
Touring her latest album, Raindance, she will be performing at the Freedom Day Concert in Kalkarindgi, Katherine Outback Experience and Pint Club Darwin this month.
Sara relocated to the Mallee after the launch of her previous album, Love Grass, at Fannie Bay Gaol in 2013, and now resides on a rural property outside of Albury with her husband Dave and four boys.
Having soared past 40, looking back on her career she attributes her time as a teacher in Katherine and further afield out bush as the reason she kept pen to paper.
"It gave me a great understanding of how beautiful Australia is," she said.
"I wrote about life, love, anything that was funny, the amazing characters you only meet in the Top End.
"Living out bush and working with Indigenous students, meeting ringers and the lifestyle was inspiring."
It was a great place to start song writing because there was so much going on.
- Sara Storer
First a school teacher at Casuarina Primary in Katherine in 1998, the first year it opened, Sara then moved to Kalkarindji - a small township on the Buntine Highway with a tiny population - for a placement.
She spent five years teaching out bush, writing the majority of her early work, which are still staples on her tours.
She says she still writes about what goes on in Australia, and her passion for the rain, and farmers doing it tough shines in her latest album.
"The land and an empathetic understanding of hardships affecting every day rural life inspired Sara to write the title track, after viewing a family lifting community spirits by dancing and laughing on a dry riverbed," her media manager said.
"This concert will also showcase reflections about those close to her, the men in her life of all ages whether it's her precious children, her brothers who go fishing in times of drought and her beloved partner, who brings the calm to the chaos of nurturing rough and tumble children.
"Tragedy and triumphant events which have affected those around her and a tribute to the Burrumbuttock Hay Farmers, will also be brought to the stage when Raindance has its Territory debut."
Sara Storer will be playing at Katherine Outback Experience with Tom Curtain on August 24.
Tickets can be purchased here.
For more information about touring dates, head to Sara Storer's website.
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