Gunnedah roots inspire Sophee’s dream

DYLAN SMITH

A childhood spent on a farm in Gunnedah, surrounded by animals, family and country music, helped shape the artistic ambitions of singer-songwriter Sophee Jean, who is preparing to take a major step towards realising a lifelong dream.

The Newcastle-based musician will release her debut single, B&W, on 13 November, marking the beginning of what she hopes will be a long career sharing her music and stories with audiences.

For Sophee, the release represents the culmination of years of writing, performing and developing her distinctive musical style, which blends piano-led pop with cinematic, orchestral and theatrical influences.

But despite her growing musical ambitions, she has never forgotten the regional community where her journey began.

“I had the most beautiful childhood growing up in Gunnedah,” Sophee said.

“We lived on a farm, and some of my earliest and fondest memories are of raising our baby goats. During the colder months, we’d actually bring them inside and keep them in our living room overnight to protect them from the cold.”

With her grandparents living next door on the property, Sophee said her childhood was defined by family, animals and the close-knit nature of country living.

“There was something so comforting about having family so close and being part of a community where everybody seemed to know one another,” she said.

“I have such an affection for Gunnedah and the simplicity of life there.

“I think you can move away from a place, but there are parts of it that never really leave you. Gunnedah will always feel like home to me.”

Music was a prominent part of Sophee’s childhood, with her parents nurturing her interest and her grandfather playing a particularly significant role.

“He’d quite often sing his sentences rather than speak them,” she said.

He introduced her to artists including Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash, while a recent gift of a Shirley Bassey record provided a full-circle moment, with the legendary singer now among Sophee’s greatest musical inspirations.

Although she did not begin playing an instrument until she was about 13, she said she always knew singing would be part of her future.

“I had an unwavering belief in myself, even as a little girl. I thought I was a wonderful singer long before anybody else necessarily agreed,” Sophee said.

Country music was her first musical love, with Kasey Chambers’ music among her earliest influences and her first concert experience.

Sophee said growing up in a community with a strong appreciation for country music helped develop her approach to songwriting, particularly its emphasis on storytelling and honesty.

While her musical direction has since evolved towards a more theatrical and cinematic sound, those early influences remain evident in her lyrics.

Her musical journey has also taken her to Nashville, where she fulfilled a long-held ambition to visit the home of country music and work alongside accomplished musicians.

Travelling with her mother on their first overseas trip, Sophee visited the Johnny Cash and Patsy Cline museums, the Country Music Hall of Fame and Nashville’s famous Broadway entertainment precinct.

The professional experience was equally significant, providing an opportunity to work with musicians including a former bandleader for Kacey Musgraves.

It was also her first experience recording in a professional studio with session musicians, helping her develop confidence in her own creative judgement.

“I learned that being surrounded by incredibly accomplished people doesn’t mean you have to belittle your own creative judgement,” she said.

“In fact, I think it makes it even more important to understand what you want to say and how you want your music to sound.”

Those experiences have helped shape B&W, a song exploring the difference between how people remember relationships and experiences and what actually happened.

Sophee said the song had its origins in a title she had written down years earlier, before finding its direction while listening to the song If by Bread.

The resulting track explores the moment rose-coloured glasses come off and an idealised version of reality loses its colour.

“I had the title B&W written down for years before I ever knew what the song would be about,” she said.

“The song became something of an antithesis to La Vie en rose. Rather than seeing life through rose-coloured glasses, it’s about the moment those glasses come off, and the world you thought you knew loses its colour.”

Recorded with Gareth Hudson at his Hazy Cosmic Jive studio, Sophee said the finished track remained remarkably close to her original vision.

She recorded the piano herself, while Hudson added strings to give the song the orchestral weight and grandeur she had envisaged.

The release will be celebrated with a performance at The Underground in Newcastle on 15 November.

For Sophee, however, the single is about much more than one song.

“I’ve wanted to be a singer for as long as I’ve been old enough to understand what having a dream means,” she said.

“To finally be able to share my own music feels like the beginning of everything I’ve been working towards.”

With ambitions to release more songs, perform around the world and continue developing her music, Sophee hopes B&W will be the first introduction to a much larger body of work.

And while she dreams of taking her music around the world, she has not ruled out returning to her country roots one day.

“Truthfully, I still dream of returning to that kind of life one day. I have these enormous ambitions for my music, and I want it to take me around the world but I love the idea that after I’ve chased all my dreams, I might find myself back on a farm, living in a little country town.”