Sara Berki on songs, storytelling and her new EP Outrun

If Sydney-area country music artist Sara Berki had only released her EP In the Neon earlier in the year, played her first headline tour – which was a two-set affair – as well as major festivals, and the NRLW Grand Final, as well as two Golden Guitar nominations (for New Talent and Female Artist of the Year) that would be a year in which she could put her feet up by now and have earnt a rest. Instead, she has just released another EP, Outrun, which is moving and memorable, offering a different musical treatment to In the Neon although still very much complementary to it. When we spoke about the EP, I wanted to ask about individual songs, as they cannot be taken as a group. The single, ‘Porch Light’, which was released first, has quite a story behind it, as Berki tells me in this interview. ‘Happy House’ needed a separate conversation – you will understand why when you watch or listen to the interview – and the title track felt like an origin story, so it was great to discover the context for it. The last two tracks, ‘Lily of the Valley’ and ‘Heaven & Hell’, see Berki in storyteller mode.  Berki wrote four of the tracks alone – which is how she has mostly worked – and ‘Lily of the Valley’ with Nashville songwriters Brand Hood and Billy Montana. Since her first single she’s always demonstrated that she’s an exceptional songwriter; this EP is her taking those skills and adding (even more) courage as she shows us more of herself, telling more of her story.  Although I’ve interviewed Berki several times, there’s always more to discover, and so it was in this conversation too. Listen to Outrun on Apple Music Listen to Outrun on Spotify For more Sunburnt Country Music: Instagram Facebook  YouTube website  Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.