We eavesdropped on two of the biggest voices in Aussie music ahead of their Wanderer Festival 2025 sets.
In this Artist on Artist chat, Missy Higgins and Emma Donovan get real about everything from songwriting and motherhood to carving out space in a tough industry.
Missy breaks down the song that “kills her every time”and how winning Triple J Unearthed launched her music career and changed everything. Emma opens up about singing in traditional languages and the sweet, messy reality of her kids’ reactions to her music.
It’s genuine, honest, and exactly the kind of convo only artists who’ve lived it can have.
With a killer lineup featuring Saint Motel (USA), Boy & Bear, Jacob Banks (UK), Petit Biscuit (FR), Hockey Dad, Jimi The Kween, Bec Sandridge, and many more, Wanderer Festival is shaping up to be absolutely unmissable.
EMMA: Is there one song by another artist you wish you’d written? Or maybe a big song that’s always felt deeply personal to you?
MISSY: The first one that comes to mind is ‘I Can’t Make You Love Me’, written by Mike Reid and Allen Shamblin and made famous by Bonnie Raitt.
I don’t know why but it kills me every time, this song. It’s such a simple premise, but the lyrics draw me into such a clear visual of a bedroom, and two people whose hearts can’t quite reach each other.
It’s devastating. I’m a sucker for good lyrics and Bonnie Raitt’s voice just pierces my soul.
Everyone’s felt that thing at least once in their life, like they can’t make someone be in love with them as hard as they try, and it’s the letting go of that idea that’s the most heart-breaking.
So yeah, it’s specific and nuanced in description but totally universal at the same time, as all the best songs are.
EMMA: Was there a particular moment or turning point in your life when you knew you were going to be a singer-songwriter? Any story that stands out?
MISSY: I reckon the turning point was when I won Triple J Unearthed in high school.
It was for a song ‘All For Believing’ that I had written when I was 15. Before that, I knew I loved writing songs, but I didn’t realise anybody would like them, or that I could make a career out of it.
I just always thought it would be a side hustle. At that point I just loved singing jazz covers so I assumed I’d be doing that forever and writing my songs just for myself.
My brother was the one who was the song-writer. I remember saying to him one day “how do you do it? It seems crazy that you just made a song up in your brain!” And he said “missy it’s not that hard just sit down at the piano, play some chords and give it a go” so I did, and he was right! It just worked.
EMMA: What new projects or collaborations are you dreaming up for 2025 and 2026?
MISSY: To be honest I don’t have much in the pipeline, but that’s how I usually roll. I very rarely make plans.
There’s a possibility of some musical theatre, and perhaps a duet album, but these are all bubbling away as hypotheticals right now until I feel the energy propel me in that direction.
I had such a massive year of touring last year that I think it’d be nice to spend some weekends in town with my kiddos.
Their dad and my parents help out a lot when I have to go away, but it’s pretty nice to spend that downtime with them.
Especially when I think about how long I have until they’re teenagers and no longer wanna hang out with me. Gotta make the most of it!
EMMA: What have been some of the hardest challenges you’ve faced as a mother working in the music industry?
MISSY: I’ve been really lucky in that I’ve had a lot of support. I honestly couldn’t have done it without my parents, they’ve stepped up in the most incredible way to help me maintain a career while being a single mum.
It’s hard taking your kids on the road, the travel and the late nights is a lot for them, and it’s hard to have your focus torn between work and parenting.
When I have brought them with me for the occasional show though it’s been so cute and fun. Their favourite thing by far is eating all the goodies backstage!
I think the hardest thing has just been being away from them. But it definitely makes me a better parent being able to work and fulfil that creative side of myself on the weekends, then come back and be able to fully focus on being mum during the week.
EMMA: What changes would you like to see from venues, festivals, or the broader music industry to better support artists who are also parents?
MISSY: It’s a good question, I don’t really know as I’ve never had any problem with it. I think if there’s a problem it’s more a cultural perception than anything.
The more people who bring their kids on tour with them, or just to work things in general, the more it will become the norm and the workplace will be set up to facilitate them.
And I think it’s helpful for the employers or Festival hosts to encourage that, as new parents often feel self-conscious or worried about it.
For me, I always encouraged the women in my band to bring their babies and kids on tour, and offer to pay for a nanny/minder whenever they need.
So the more festival hosts or employers who actively reach out and make that offer, the more artists will feel comfortable in the fact that they can integrate their family life with their touring life.
MISSY: You started singing with your Uncle’s band at age 7, which blows my mind as that’s my daughter’s age and she’s so young! Do you remember what it felt like singing into a microphone for the first time?
EMMA: I actually can’t remember the first time singing into a mic cause I was so little, but I have a video of me singing and my mum’s holding me up to the microphone with my grandfather, playing the guitar and it was at a family wedding reception.
Later on I do remember Mum taking me to Tamworth country music festival and that’s where I sing into the mic I was a really shy kid so the feeling for me to let go was what I knew feeling that little bit of confidence for a while as a shy kid.
MISSY: Your musical roots are Country music, your grandparents founding a country music band that you later joined. What do you think it was about Country music that resonated so strongly with you and your family?
EMMA: I think country music has an easy way of storytelling and also telling any story whether it’s in hard times and mostly songs that connect us to country to the land to this earth is all story telling and connections.
There’s a lot of indigenous families that I’ve connected through country both my grandparents came from the mission era in the late 1900s so it was easy for them to navigate songs through country and Gospel styles.
MISSY: As a woman in her 40s (like myself) do you think it is easier or harder to get your music played on radio these days or do you think it has nothing to do with age and gender?
EMMA: I think given my age today I’m a lot more aware of where and who listens to my music. I think growing up and being younger, I didn’t really take note but music these days does not have any age or gender.
I find big comfort when I go to my gigs and I can see different genders and different ages. I think most of my targets are women and men, my age, but like I said it’s nice when I see some young fellows that get into my songs and messages.
MISSY: How does it feel when you perform in your traditional languages (Gumbaynggirr and Noongar) compared to singing in English?
EMMA:Oh, I probably love sharing music in my languages the most, and that’s only because when I was young, there were grandparents around who spoke and sang fluent songs. In some parts of my community, we’ve had to revive our language again, so it’s a real honour for me to continue helping write and translate tunes in our Aboriginal languages — because I learn alongside my children.
One of my biggest goals is to make sure that my kids learn their grandparents and great grandparents’ language and feel confident in speaking and singing it.
Music is the best tool for that and I get to do it with community members and family. I also love that the wider community outside Aboriginal and Taurus Rhode Island in the communities stand beside these languages and there’s a love for it and respect for it teaching more about our beautiful culture.
MISSY:What do your kids think of your music? My daughter is a new fan (thank god because she used to hate me singing!) but my son likes to say “Mum, it’s just not my kind of thing sorry”. And it breaks my bloody heart!
EMMA: Ha ha ha, that’s so funny. I bet they’re your number one fans and they always will be. That’s so cute — when I used to sing for my daughter’s daycare, she would literally cover my mouth and hold the ukulele so no one could hear a sound. But the older my little one gets, the prouder she is. I’ve taught her the chord of C on the ukulele — it’s one finger — and she plays that one chord over and over again. I can see the proudness in her eyes when she makes up songs. I know my daughters love my music, and I know when they are proud sharing it because they share my full name, Emma Donovan, instead of “MUMMY,” and it’s cute.
