Source : PERTHNOW NEWS
Driving to school on a rural highway from her family’s sheep farm, Melanie Dyer and her mum would sing along to Dolly Parton, Patsy Cline and The Carpenters.
She and her sisters would put on shows at their Mount Russell home, near Inverell in northern NSW, and rope in their dad, tying a bow in his beard to get him stage-ready.
These are the little moments that helped Dyer fulfil her big dreams of life off the farm.
“Mum had a beautiful voice … and would always sing in the car on the way to school and I would naturally take the harmony,” Dyer told AAP.
“It definitely shapes you; maybe I wouldn’t have picked up music without my mum.”
Dyer’s third studio album Daisies From Dirt, out on Friday, is tinged with nostalgia, touching on her parents’ decision to sell up as the fourth and final generation on the property.
While succession planning might not seem likely inspiration for a country pop song, Take It From Me brings heart to a sometimes tricky process that affects many farming families.
“Thank you for setting me free,” Dyer sings.
The 32-year-old was planning a new life for herself in Nashville while her family sold the property.
“It was such a shock, we never thought Dad would retire from farming … we thought he would work and die on that land,” Dyer said.
“As the youngest daughter, it’s also this big relief because I’ve always had this dream of getting outside the fences, travelling the world and sharing my music.
“The relief comes from a place of love.”
The song If She Only Knew is something of a love letter to her 12-year-old self, a girl who sat on the porch, played guitar and daydreamed.
Dyer sings that she cannot save her younger self’s heart from breaking.
That is something she has navigated in recent years, after a major record label broke ties with her as the COVID-19 pandemic hit.
The shock split followed her 2019 smash single Memphis T-shirt, which topped the Australian country charts and was picked up by commercial radio.
“I felt like I’d been building to that point for over 10 years and finally was about to get bigger festival slots, be able to tour … and it was all taken away,” Dyer said.
“That really hit me hard.”
But with the thick skin of an Inverell girl, Dyer dusted herself off.
Now signed to ABC Music, she lives in the US country capital, performing at SXSW in Texas and CMA Fest in Nashville earlier in 2026.
As the pop-soaked title track on her album goes, she’s gotten good at making daisies from dirt.
An east coast tour will bring her back to her beloved hometown for a performance at the Sapphire City Festival on October 24.
“It’s always a beautiful feeling if you can make your hometown proud,” she said.
