It's a bold move, given her position. Catherine Britt is one of Australia's most successful country music exports. She's enjoyed considerable success both nationally and abroad – securing multiple ARIA nominations within Australia and releasing more than a handful of charting singles in America (including one with Elton John). She even beat out Gotye's Somebody That I Used to Know in 2011's Vanda & Young Songwriting Competition.

“Yeah, that's pretty weird,” Britt laughs. “I mean, awards are funny things, aren't they? I beat out Somebody That I Used to Know when I came second in that Vanda & Young Competition for songwriting with my song Sweet Emmy Lou – and then he goes on to get number one in twenty bloody countries! I mean, I didn't even win that competition – Kimbra's Cameo Lover did!”

So – why do it? Why, on her fifth album, would one of Australia's most successful singer-songwriters opt for something as risky as recording the entire album live? Britt has never even played rhythm guitar on her own records before Always Never Enough. Having lived in Nashville for six years and played with some of the biggest and brightest names in Australian country music; why opt for such a risky proposition?

“Well, I figured before we went in, 'If I can't bloody sing a song I wrote well enough live to put on an album, I don't deserve to be a musician',” she responds candidly. “If I can't do that, what right do I have to have my own career? I mean; that's how records used to be made. No overdubs, no post-production. You just got a band around a microphone, you went for it and hoped for the best.

“I'm so proud we did it that way and I'm so proud of how it's turned out. It's different, absolutely – but I feel I've really hit my stride. You know, I produced this album with Bill Chambers and I've never produced a record before; I play guitar on the album and I never really played an instrument on my records before. And, you know, the whole live thing. I really am very proud of it all.”

Really, Catherine Britt is simply that kind of musician. She's never been comfortable taking the easy route. She previously had a chance of country music stardom – moving to Nashville in her teens, signing with RCA Nashville, releasing hit singles in the states – but she turned away from it. Relocating back to her hometown of Newcastle, Catherine Britt took a road less travelled - country music stardom in Australia.

“I've never felt limited by Australia. I chose to come back and continue my career here because I think we have something very special here in Australia. It's very different to America,” Britt explains. “In America, country is a big deal. It's pop radio. It's the number one genre in the country. Here; I can have people my age come up to me in Newcastle and ask me if I sing 'country and western'. It's just so uncool!”

“But then, you know, I'll turn on triple j and they'll be playing Lucinda Williams and Justin Townes Earle - all the stuff that I simply adore. I just don't think we quite get it in Australia,” the songstress laughs. “It can be a struggle, at times, but I knew that and I very consciously took that on. I remember being in year six and telling my dad I was going to be the girl who made Australians realise country was cool. That there's more to it.”