Saralyn“What have I got to hide? I’m a mum. I've got two kids. I’m coming into this pretty late in my life. I’m almost 38, so it’s kind of like, ‘What do I have to hide?’”
It's a pretty straightforward attitude and one that seems to fit where Saralyn is in her career. After 20 years of experience in music, six of them spent making her own music, she’s finally releasing her debut EP, Goldline.
She may have only been making her own music for just over half a decade, but music itself has been around her for much longer. Saralyn’s relationship with music predates her own songwriting career.
Growing up as one of ten children, music became a constant presence in her childhood, as she gained experience performing and being around stages. Following the birth of her first child she began to write more seriously.
Five years ago, she attended a songwriting retreat with Kasey Chambers, which provided her with the confidence to pursue songwriting further. “I think that was my turning point,” Saralyn explains. Her debut single Little River Girl followed shortly after.
That first release has since turned into a steady run of material.
While Little River Girl arrived in June 2023, it was followed by Last Goodbye later that year. She released three more singles in 2024 – White Butterfly, I Hope That You’ll Remember, and I Would Run (To Get To You) – before continuing into 2025 with Freedom Train and If Tomorrow Never Comes.
By 2026, Cowgirl Blues had reached No. 1 on the AMRAP Country Blues & Roots Regional Chart and No. 2 nationally. Looking back on her previous releases, Saralyn notes that, “you can hear the growth from where I started to now and it’s only going to continue to grow.”
Her evolving profile was also highlighted by an appearance on The Voice in August 2025, where she received praise for her performance.
This growth has now led to her anticipated debut EP, Goldline. For Saralyn, creating a body of work provided an opportunity to showcase her songwriting across a collection of songs. “I really wanted to showcase my songwriting as a songwriter,” she says. Instead of sticking to one sound, each song on the EP has its own themes and sounds, with the project taking shape over six months.
Creating an EP as an independent artist entailed greater responsibilities for Saralyn throughout the process. “It’s a labour of love, it’s a lot of creative energy,” she explains. “There’s so many more aspects to what you have to do.”
Unlike her previous singles, putting the EP together meant managing the finances, organisation and other parts of the project herself. With her own family to balance alongside music, Saralyn realised much of the process came down to timing. In spite of the challenges, she describes the process as a learning curve, saying she has “loved every part of it.”
The EP itself also changed throughout the process, with the original plan being vastly different to what listeners will hear on Goldline today. Over the six-month period she spent working on the project, new songs came together which she felt better represented her current stage as a songwriter. Jet Settin’ came to her in a dream, while Flowers & Guitars was written two weeks before entering the studio.
Saralyn ultimately replaced two other songs with them, deciding that the newer tracks were more fitting.
Of all the songs on the EP, she knew that Goldline was different. “Goldline is different in the sense of the way I was sharing the story, different in the production,” she explains. “I believe Goldline has its own sound and its own story to carry.”
At its core, Goldline was shaped by Saralyn’s teenage experiences and previous loss. She describes the song as deeper and more vulnerable than her other work, saying she wanted her “listeners to get to know me more on that level.”
There were also hopes that the song could help listeners through their own hardships. Despite the difficult experiences behind it, Saralyn turned those feelings from sadness towards hope. “In the end, Goldline is about love and getting through it with love,” she says.
The openness behind Goldline represents where Saralyn feels she is in her life. At almost 38, with a family and two children alongside her career, she says there is less reason to hide the experiences that have shaped her. “What have I got to hide?” she asks again.
By contrast, Cowgirl Blues takes a different approach to heartbreak, using humour rather than focusing on the serious side of the experience. For this, Saralyn explains she was “channelling my inner Dolly Parton” while writing the song, drawing on the recently-departed Parton’s ability to turn sadness and hope into humour.
To Saralyn, the song reflects the ability to move through difficult experiences, with friends by her side and the chance to “shake it off” and move on.
Elsewhere on the EP, Flowers & Guitars explores a quieter side of love, while Free As A Bird focuses on letting go of expectations and old versions of herself. Alongside the diverse stories throughout the EP, the songs provide Goldline with a range of themes and sounds, reflecting her intention to showcase her songwriting in different ways.
Despite the release of her debut EP, Saralyn is already looking towards the future, asserting she’s “already thinking about the next.”
Goldline, however, will continue to reach listeners through live performances and streaming. In Saralyn’s view, it represents her ongoing commitment to music and where she wants to go next.
Through such a lifestyle, she’s committed to a life between her family and music, stating “there's a bigger picture here” and asking “how can we make it our family dream?” Ultimately, Saralyn approaches her debut EP as a continuation of her career, rather than an endpoint.
Saralyn’s GOLDLINE EP is out now, with physical versions available for order now.
This piece of content has been assisted by the Australian Government through Music Australia and Creative Australia, its arts funding and advisory body
