Sitting on the front porch of her rustic farmhouse, surrounded by fig and olive trees, Shenai Johnston reflects on the impact music has had on her life.
The 32-year-old grew up singing in paddocks on her family farm near Ongerup, 400 kilometres south-east of Perth, and writing songs in the surrounding bushland.
Johnston spent much of her childhood putting on shows and was well-known around her close-knit town for her powerful voice.
Her mum was always her biggest fan.
“Every parent thinks their child is the best singer in the world, but she thought I was just so talented and she gave me every opportunity,” she says.
“She was driving me around the countryside to competitions; she just wanted me to be heard.”
But when Johnston was only 19, she lost her greatest supporter.
“That was devastating and there was a lot of trauma there, it chokes me up still,” she says.
“Losing her was so hard — the grief — I stopped singing.”
In the aftermath of losing her mum, Johnston sang at a few weddings but says she wasn’t “giving it everything” like she knew her mum would have wanted.
It wasn’t until years later, when her youngest son Hugo turned three and she moved to a small farm in Boyup Brook with her family, that she decided to get back into music.
“I [was listening to] Luke Combs, Carly Pearce, Morgan Wallen … I just wanted to listen to country music 24/7, I started picking up my guitar, I started playing more,” she says.
“I just knew in my gut that I wasn’t doing this because I want to, I’m doing this because I have to. I have to tell my story, I have to be honest, I have to empower people through music.”
Healing through country music
Johnston and her husband, David, always knew they wanted to raise their boys in the country, but the move from Perth to Boyup Brook has come with challenges.
Their sons Harry, 6, and Patrick, 4, are both on a waiting list to be diagnosed with autism.
“It’s been hard not having family [close by] … but we do feel really fortunate that we’ve got some really good friends and … the whole community has embraced us so much,” Johnston said.
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While Johnston always wanted a big family, like many experiencing motherhood for the first time, she felt like she had completely lost her identity when she became a mum.
“I think that one of the hardest things to accept for mums is that, you never get that person back … and you have to come to terms with the new you,” she says.
“But once you grieve [the old you] and accept it, and you kind of lean into it, it can be really beautiful and empowering like discovering this whole new version of yourself and allowing this person to grow.
“I’ve always been a singer, but I’m coming into my own with country music … and, in a way, I feel like I’m building a new identity.”
When Johnston finds time for herself, she takes her guitar outside, like she did as a child, and writes songs to help her process trauma and life’s challenges.
“Some of the best songs that I’ve written recently have been going out to Eulin Crossing, which is a beautiful river out in the bush, out on the middle of nowhere,” she says.
Johnston wants to use her voice and honest songwriting style to expand the country music scene in Western Australia.
She has a plan to make that happen and thinks being from WA will give her an edge.
Aussie bush to world’s country music hub
This week, Johnston is swapping WA’s outback scenery for the country music capital of the world, travelling 18,000 kilometres with her dad to independently record her first EP in Nashville.
She hopes the experience will help her feel closer to her mum.
“Recording my music is really going to help me with my healing journey because I am doing it for myself first and foremost,” she says.
“But in a way, I was so supported by my mother and my family with my music … I feel like I’m continuing with something that I know she was so proud of.
“I think she would be so, so happy to know that I’m doing this … it’s almost like I can hear her fist-pumping that I’m doing this and I think that is going to help me to heal.”
Johnston is drawn to the honesty of country music lyrics and covers a lot of themes in her songs from heartbreak, to being in awe of her sons’ resilience, to living on the land.
She wants her music to show women they’re not alone.
“I want to empower young girls and mums out there, the sky’s the limit, you can be a mum and you can have an incredible career as well,” she says.
“That’s one of the biggest things for me, why I’m [recording this EP], because … you need to live your truth and be who you actually are, otherwise you’re never going to be happy and therefore your children are never going to be happy.
“We all have our challenges, we all have things that we go through, and music is medicine.”