EVER since moving to Cessnock 11 years ago singer-songwriter Anna Weatherup's life has been immersed in her passions for music and wine.
The Voice season two contestant is a regular performer in Hunter wine country and she's even known to be found working among the vines at Pokolbin's Usher Tinkler Wines with pruning shears in hand.
Weatherup is preparing for a series of events that combine her love of wine and music intimately.
On September 10 Weatherup is headlining the inaugural "micro festival" Songbirds & Semillon at the Bimbadgen-owned Emma's Cottage in Lovedale.
The all-female all-Hunter Valley line-up also features acclaimed Newcastle songstress Amy Vee, 2022 Tamworth Country Music Festival star-maker Max Jackson and emerging teenage singer-songwriters Piper Butcher and Chloe Gill.
"I'm so glad someone is doing it, supporting local original acts and tying that into the wine," Weatherup said.
"It's great that someone as big as Bimbadgen is supporting local acts, too. Obviously they have amazing and bigger national and international acts coming through, but this is a great way for the community to support some of the really talented local artists in our midst as well."
Weatherup will use Songbirds & Semillion as an opportunity to build anticipation for her forthcoming live version of her studio album Crossing The Sea.
The album was released in March and showcased Weatherup's combination of '70s Americana and '90s rock-pop with rich and elaborate production.
But due to the limitations of performing the music live, Weatherup opted to strip the songs back to their essence at a late-night recording inside Usher Tinkler's 1905 church.
"Having gone on tour with Amy Vee, I re-fell in love with the songs just in their stripped-back form," she said.
"I wanted to do something different as well. People have been requesting vinyl, so I thought I'd turn the studio album into something raw and stripped back, reminiscent of all the albums I grew up listening to in the '90s that were all pretty raw."
The live recording features renditions of Weatherup solo and with support from Vee (guitar, backing vocals), Ben Evans (keys), Ben Pittman (bass) and her husband Tim Burcham (drums).
Weatherup said Usher Tinkler's church added another element.
"It's over 100 years old and having that beautiful spiritual element to it, and it's a beautiful space, really added a cool vibe to the recording," she said.
Crossing The Sea Live will be released on vinyl and on streaming on November 11 and will be launched at Usher Tinker Wines on November 30.
"Wine-making and music-making is quite similar, so it's wonderful to collaborate," she said.
