She's been labelled an 'underrated national treasure' but South Coast musician Jodi Phillis is only doing what comes naturally to her.
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Phillis is Highland FM's Home-grown Artist of the Month for August and is a multi-ARIA nominated songwriter and award winning musician.
After getting her start in the 1990s with alternative rock outfit The Clouds, Phillis has since gone on to release five solo albums with a sixth, titled 'We Need to be Free', out soon.
For Phillis, the decision to pursue a career in music was in many ways out of her hands.
"I don't know, it was just in me [the music]," she told Highland FM's Adam Stokeld.
"I grew up in a musical and 'showbiz-y' family so I was surrounded by thousands of good records, jazz, classical, really good pop that my dad was obsessed with.
"My mother was also a singer so how could I not be a musician?"
Despite being around music for a lifetime, she still doesn't know quite what to expect when she begins the creative process.
"I don't know what kind of album I'm writing until I've written a whole bunch of songs and then they tell me what direction I'm going in," she explained.
"I went through a breakup of a 20-year relationship...so a couple of songs are from that. The theme 'we need to be free' kind of made sense really.
"This world has gone so nuts, we've lost of sense of freedom and spontaneity."
While she knew she was talented from an early age, the creative process is one that Phillis has never become complacent about.
"Everyone is born with a talent for something and I recognised early on that mine was musical," she said.
"My parents really nurtured that. I think it takes a really strong nerve and sense of determination to follow that path because it's really hard.
"Art is always brand new, it's creation so no one can show you how to do that."
