Alongside a dusty highway on Australia's East Coast walks a girl, alone but far from lonely. A rich tapestry of memory shields her from the elements, encapsulating her in a swathe of warmth, giving her strength and the blueprint of her future. Moving forward with a confident stride she hums the songs her mother used to play when she was a child; the strains of Shania Twain, Trisha Yearwood and Faith Hill find voice as they as the pass from the globe of her memory to her lips. Pleasant recollections of singing along with the hairbrush and dancing around the family'sTamworth home turn her lips turn into a crescent smile as she looks into the distance admiring the rising sun hailing a new day and endless possibilities.

Such is the latest chapter in the life of Stephanie Brownlee. Barely out of high school, this up-and-coming talent promises to be an important new voice in Australian music. Taking equal influence from her country laced roots growing up inTamworth as well as her insatiable passion for music from a range of genres, Brownlee's talent is only outweighed by her fervent determination and will to succeed. With her debut album 'Keep It Real' due for release in early 2010, Brownlee is at the cusp of seeing her years of toiling away at developing her voice and songwriting nous comes to fruition.

It was around the age of 10 when her family relocated to theSunshineCoast fromTamworth, it was a move that was to set in motion Stephanie's nascent journey towards music. "My friends at school were singers and they told me they were taking lessons and they loved them; so I decided to get singing lessons as well," she explains, "A few weeks later mum took me to audition for their singing coach. I ended up studying with him for two years and I had a really good relationship with him; he really supported and believed in me, was always an inspiration and made me want to work even harder to reach my goals."

With a supportive family and inspirational singing teacher in her corner, Stephanie was taking the next steps in her budding singing career, "I decided to become more serious about singing so I started entering competitions around Queensland and New South Wales," intones Stephanie. It was a move that saw the young songstress garner her first recognition from the wider music community; taking out first place in the junior section of the 2006 Maton Talent Search at Gympie Muster at the tender age of 14 as well as going on to score five awards in the 2007 Martin Fallon Cavalier Homes Junior Country Festival and making the final cut in the Aristocrat Entertainer of the Year Awards at Tamworth's Country Music Festival to name but a few of the accolades thrown Stephanie's way.

Coming to country music at a time when most equated the genre with utes and pubs with no beer, Stephanie's musical affinities were at first something she held close to her chest. "I never really spoke about my love for country at school; people knew I sang but I was never open about singing country music - especially when I first moved to theSunshineCoast. But as I got older I was competing in singing competitions and they got to know that I was a country singer. At first they thought it was weird for a teen to be singing country because of the perception that a lot of people had about it but obviously now with artists like Taylor Swift on the charts it opens people's minds to the music."

Not content to rest on her past successes, Stephanie is continually looking to build upon her already impressive skill set. This will saw her develop her chops as a guitarist; at first picking up the instrument as an accompaniment and later as a tool towards expressing her musical voice. "I have to be in the mood to write a song," explains Stephanie, "I find it so much easier writing heartbreak and sad songs than to write happy songs!" she laughs before getting back to the serious business of her craft, "I usually just sit in my room and start playing guitar then I come up with the melody and start putting lyrics to it - I hum first until I get the tune and then I put lyrics towards that."

Raw and brutally honest, Stephanie's lyrics present the performer as an open book, a condition that speaks to Stephanie's own strength and lack of emotional inhibition. "I am the type of person who always says what they feel," she extols, "I don't really hold back because I am very opinionated," she ponders for a moment before adding, "Although I would never want to hurt anyone's feelings in a song. I am a pretty honest person and I am not scared to say what I mean; whatever happens in my songs will just be what I am feeling at the time." Honesty, determination and strength have not only been the backbone of Stephanie's upward journey to now, but will no doubt continue to inform her future musical directions.

Recently returning back to Australian shores fromNashville'sOcean Way studios where she recorded the bulk of her debut album with some of the best musicians in the business, the resulting long player has some key contributions from some of popular music's most esteemed songwriters. With tracks co-written by Brooke McClymont, Jessi Alexander, Tom Shapiro and even Miley Cyrus in the mix, 'Keep It Real' is a sure sign of great things in Stephanie's creative future.

Having such luminaries show their support for her work is a prospect that Stephanie finds both beguiling and humbling. "I have been so fortunate to get such great songs that finding a favourite is such a hard decision! I find a new favourite every time I listen to them. We spent a year looking for songs before deciding what would be on the album; we didn't want anything that was just OK we wanted all of them to be amazing." For Stephanie, seeking easy to relate to songs was of the utmost importance. "It is important to always relate to your audience. All the songs on the album are up-tempo and fun, young. In terms of performing live If you can't feel a song then you can't present it as well as a song you are really into; how you feel about it really comes across in your music."

Aside from adding the finishing touches to her debut album, 2009 also saw Stephanie embark on her first tour opening up proceedings for vaulted local country successes, The McClymonts. "Touring with the McClymonts was so much fun," says Stephanie of the tour, "I have been getting a lot of experience and getting great support from the crowds. I am really happy and blessed that I got to be on the tour." Taking her music to such a wide audience for the first time was an eye-opening experience for the young performer, engendering her to her craft's innate power. "The support I have been getting from young people has been amazing - I don't want to sound corny - but it has been great to see how happy music makes people. The audience were getting into the music and dancing; I hope I can keep making it even better for them and that I can keep making more albums for them."

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