From the sheep farms of regional Australia to the fields of Glastonbury, Fanny Lumsden has built a career on her own terms, taking country music to places far beyond its traditional boundaries. The ARIA Award-winning singer-songwriter has spent years honing her craft on the grassroots circuit, earning a reputation for songs that marry heartfelt storytelling with wit, warmth and a healthy disregard for convention. New album Traditions finds her reflecting on the family, values and expectations that shaped her, while working out which ones deserve to stay and which are better left behind.

“I usually don’t really know what songs are about until I’ve written them and stood back a little,” Lumsden admits when discussing the album’s title track, which explores the tension between personal ambition and the traditions of her upbringing. It’s an approach that seems particularly fitting for someone whose life encompasses an extraordinary number of roles. Musician, farmer, mother, filmmaker and volunteer firefighter are just some of the hats she wears, although her understanding of what it means to have it all has shifted over time. “I think my definition of what ‘it all’ has definitely changed. I don’t think I had ever defined it, but I knew it was VAST, whereas now I think I’ve chosen a much more specific wish list. Additionally, what I’ve realised about that lovely idea is that the operative word is ‘do’, which is very different to ‘have’.”

That reassessment extends to the customs she wants to preserve and those she’s happy to kick into touch. Family mealtimes remain sacred, with everyone gathering around the table and treating every meal as an occasion. Other expectations, particularly those built around traditional gender roles, have been firmly rejected. “The one I have already gotten rid of evolves around assumed gender roles, eg me changing my name to my husband’s (I kept my name) and me staying at home with the kids and giving up my career. Chucked them to the curb.”

For Lumsden, questioning tradition isn't about rejecting her roots, but understanding which parts of them still have value. Growing up on a sheep farm gave her a strong sense of belonging, but it also taught her that inherited ideas shouldn't be accepted without scrutiny. “I think for me first and foremost making sure I question a tradition’s validity based on its compassion, there is no need to cling onto something from your forefathers or mothers if it’s steeped in sexism, homophobia or racism.”

It’s a message delivered with characteristic humour in the video for Traditions, filmed on her family farm. There’s plenty of genuine nostalgia in the imagery, but also a playful willingness to disrupt the familiar. One particularly memorable moment involves baking a cake before attacking it with a chainsaw, bringing together two very different family legacies. “My grandma loved to bake and I’m pretty terrible at it, so me baking a cake and then cutting it up with a chainsaw was pretty funny (my dad also loved cutting wood, I think it’s his fave activity!).” The scenes involving shearing sheep and sorting wool were equally close to home, reflecting the annual jobs that were part of growing up on a working farm. “Pretty much every single shot was exactly this – my family’s farming traditions colliding with the fun of making the video.”

https://youtu.be/qt27Lgmj248

That willingness to embrace the unexpected also informed the recording of Traditions. Working with her band, The Daddies, Lumsden recorded the entire album live, capturing each track in a single take. Even her bandmates hadn't heard the songs beforehand, allowing their instincts to shape the arrangements rather than relying on rehearsed parts. It was a process that demanded trust, but one that ultimately opened up new creative possibilities.

“This was such a beautiful experience with my band,” she says. “I find that’s usually where creativity sits. I found that creatively there is so much to be found in a group project hahah, where everyone is sitting on their edge of their comfort zone. I found that I should have a lot more faith in my own performance and that making songs isn’t that complicated when you wholeheartedly trust those you are making it with.”

Producer Steven Schram helped guide the process, encouraging Lumsden to reconsider what creative control really meant. Initially, the idea of making music collectively in real time felt daunting, raising concerns that she might lose the ability to shape the finished product. Instead, the immediacy of hearing the songs take form allowed her to make decisions as the music unfolded. “I think what I perceived as creative control. I thought creating at the same time as other people I would lose access over how I wanted things to come out, but what I found was the opposite.” Letting go also meant confronting her own insecurities around delivery and perfection, something she found liberating.

Across the record, songs such as Difficult Woman and Mother’s Eyes turn their attention to identity, family and the expectations placed on women. For Lumsden, the experience of writing the album has brought a renewed sense of confidence, alongside a more forgiving understanding of the person she is becoming. “I think I feel more sure footed than I ever have. I feel like you don’t need to grip so tightly onto perceived ideas, that ageing (as cliche as this is) is really a gift, and expectations (your own or others) are useless if they don’t support and approach change with kindness.”

That confidence has been hard-earned. Her journey from playing country halls across rural Australia to appearing at Glastonbury and major UK festivals has never followed the industry's conventional route. Yet she sees a direct connection between her farming background and the resilience required to build a music career independently. “Absolutely, which sounds counter intuitive actually, but I think the traditions I’ve grown up with built me a foundation of stability and resilience that allowed me to focus on my ambition.”

There are obvious parallels between the two worlds, she suggests, even if the risks look different. “Farming is a pretty wild vocation, especially in Australia as there are no subsidies or anything like that and our weather is pretty unreliable. I always love to compare it to the music industry as in farming you gamble on the weather but in music you gamble on people’s opinions.”

Ultimately, Lumsden hopes Traditions encourages listeners to take another look at the things they may have dismissed or unquestioningly accepted in their own lives. Rather than abandoning the past altogether, she suggests there is value in examining it, keeping what feels meaningful and reshaping the rest to suit who we are now. “When you tease it apart and find the parts that apply to you in your life, alter it to fit it can be really amazing.”

And if something doesn't fit? Lumsden has an answer that feels perfectly in keeping with an album about doing things differently. “Also if the shoe doesn’t fit, don’t get blisters, go bare feet.”


Traditions is out on October 30.