Sandi Thom: Moving on from one hit

The song, a ode to longing to be born a few decades earlier when "record shops were still on top, and vinyl was all that they stocked", topped charts in seven places, including Australia, but the Scotland-born singer-songwriter's sudden rise to fame failed to extend to further chart success.

After being dropped by her label Sony Music, 31-year-old Thom is now releasing her music independently and has full control of her career with a clear vision of the sounds she wants to create.

Her new album, Flesh and Blood, reveals Thom's powerful voice and depth of talent.

She not only sings and writes her own songs but also plays guitar, piano and harmonica - an instrument she picked up a decade ago after wanting to do "something completely different".

Those familiar with Thom's No. 1 hit will probably be surprised to discover that she is, at her core, a gutsy blues-rock artist who impressed Rich Robinson of The Black Crowes enough to convince him to produce her fourth album, which includes covers of the Lead Belly classic In The Pines and a duet with Buffy Sainte-Marie on her politically charged The Big Ones Get Away.

"Usually when people hear where I am now, most of the time they'll say to me 'God, I didn't realise that you had all this catalogue and that's the way you sounded'," Thom explains.

She doesn't resent the association with having one major hit, but embraces it.

"I feel kind of privileged that I have this association with something that's so big and that it's better to be known for something than nothing at all," she says.

"It's kind of a happy medium where I enjoy playing to people who don't know anything more and I like to be able to show them what I can do but at the same time it's great to have that accolade to your name. It's not a bad thing at all."

She recorded the album in Nashville with Robinson, who pushed her to the limit.

"I am a big fan of the band [The Black Crowes] and a big fan of their sound. I think that what I wanted was someone new and someone fresh and someone who I'd never been associated with before.

"He had the ability to take me somewhere performance-wise where I maybe didn't have the confidence to do that myself.

"When we went into the session in the studio in Nashville, he would deliberately make things difficult to sing - take the keys up higher - so that everything was a struggle."

Her love of harmony-based rock and blues began at 14 when she sang lead in a covers band in her home town of Banff, Aberdeenshire, with a bunch of "40- and 50-year-old guys" who introduced her to the music of bands such as Fleetwood Mac and The Eagles.

"I was very young but it was a real life-changing experience. I learnt a lot.

"I listened to the singers and I listened to the sound, I listened to the harmonies and the songwriting and the musicianship, and that really was what built the foundation for the way I write and sing now."

Since the release of Flesh and Blood, Thom has worked hard as she builds a name for herself as an independent artist.

In October, she had the thrill of playing at the Royal Albert Hall alongside Brian May, John Paul Jones and Alice Cooper as a part of the annual Sunflower Jam's Super Jam.

She performs dates across Australia in April/May (her first tour Down Under) before embarking on a tour of the US. She has lived in the US for the past three years based in Malibu with boyfriend, fellow musician Joe Bonamassa.

"I'm enjoying being independent but I won't ever say that it's not hard. It's a slog and it's a struggle. My thing with this album is I really realise now I've gone on a really interesting journey from being this mainstream pop act with a big single to then really being at an age where I discovered what I wanted to do musically."

Although she sometimes performs with a band, Thom will be in solo mode at her Australia dates.

"I play 12-string guitar - it's something my father inspired me to do. I stomp the floor, you know; there's a lot of emotion and passion in the set.

"I really think in order to reconnect with the people in Australia from where I was and where I am now, it needs to be up close and personal and that's why it's just me.

"I'll play the songs, you can judge it yourself, it's just me. It's just a singer and a guitar and it's raw. If you go away from that gig thinking 'Man, she's actually pretty good' then great. I've done my job'."

Sandi Thom performs at Lizotte’s Newcastle on May 1. Bookings online at lizottes.com.au.