What strikes you immediately about the music of Georgia Potter is its versatility. Folk, soul, roots, reggae; they're all genres that flow through her small but highly impressive body of work.

“Well,” Georgia begins, momentarily stumped. “Forever really, I guess! I've played with a few different bands through the years but I guess I started to take it seriously when I was finishing high school and choosing what I wanted to do with my tertiary education. It was about that time that I really decided that this is want I wanted to do with my life.”

Choosing an audio production degree therefore wasn't a side step, but just the acquirement of another skill to improve her craft.
“I've always been a writer, first and foremost, whether it be poetry or anything, really, and I've always been on the stage as well - I come from quite a theatrical background. I just saw the audio production as a tool to get my backside out there.”

Georgia is talking on the eve of the release of her self-titled debut mini-album and she's very happy with the final product.
“Yes! I mean, there are always a million little things which you think you might change but in the end you've just got to allow yourself to say, 'This is it! This is how it is in this point in time,' and then just get it out there. It was long overdue.”

Of course, having to record it in the midst of her degree slowed things down. However this gave Georgia the chance to put to work her newly learned skills, and indeed the Queensland Conservatorium's recording facilities, to good use. “It was a big challenge, especially doing it in conjunction with my degree because I had assessment deadlines on this music as well,” she explains. “I was having to get tracks ready for assessment and come back to them afterwards to really fine tune them they way I wanted to. There weren't too many creative restrictions with my degree; just the time deadlines that made it tricky.”

On the performance front, Georgia managed to play a few sneaky sets at the Woodford Folk Festival over the New Year break. From all accounts, the shows were quite a hit. “They were amazing,” Georgia confirms with delight. “They really were fantastic. The festival just has this amazing vibe with everyone coming up to you afterwards wanting to get involved and keep in contact. You just can't put a price on that sort of reception.”

Now Georgia is gearing up for the launch of her mini-album with gigs at The Troubadour and The Soundlounge, in Currumbin, both venues she is well familiar with. “Yeah, I know them and that's really the reason I picked them. I guess you could say they've been my haunts. They're where I play the most and like to play the most. I am, however, doing a bit of a run through the Sunshine Coast and Northern New South Wales after those dates, just to do something different and play places that I've never played before”.

The album launch shows should be a real treat too, with Georgia wheeling out the full band for the two dates. “Yep, full band,” she chimes. “There will be six of us on stage altogether including violin, backing vocals, keyboards, lead guitar and things like that. I try not to keep things to samey, gig to gig. I try not to plan it too much.”

And looking forward to the rest of 2009 Georgia will be keeping very busy. “First up, I'd like to take a bit of a break, but I'm working on some new music with another producer and a couple of other musicians that is incredibly different from my current stuff. So I'm having fun mucking around with that at the moment and just figuring out whether I'm going to release it as 'Georgia Potter' or if it's going to be a new project.”

Either way, judging by the quality of Georgia's debut and her live performances it's sure to be something special.

Georgia Potter launches her debut mini-album at The Troubadour January 25 and the Soundlounge January 30