A creative body and mind has helped Kenny Feather become a prolific a singer-songwriter with strong contacts to the local music scene.

In his formative years, Kenny followed an unconventional path away from the peace and quiet of rural life. He grew up in Townsville, and gave away the piano at four to go into ballet. Kenny’s aunt was a dance teacher, and he reckons turning to ballet proved a smart choice.

Moving to Melbourne to attend the Australian Ballet School in the late-80s and early-90s, Kenny says it was working within ballet that gave him access to great musical talent and inspired his music.

“It’s kind of like an invisible thread,” he said. “You can jump in the air (while dancing), but you have to land on the note. You need to leave the floor at one point, and land at the right time.”

Kenny lived with concert pianists and worked with music maker Jeremy Alsop, one of Australia’s best bass guitarists.

“In the corner, you usually have these people, quiet generally, who are just amazing piano players,” he said of ballet. “Eventually, you start performing with bigger companies and you start to work with very interesting musicians and start to enter the land of soundscape.”

In 1994, Melbourne had an incredible number of independent record labels in the world, and Kenny's own was among them. Christine Anu even borrowed a two-inch tape machine from Kenny to make an album, he recalls.

Kenny would also play bass and write songs, and recalls playing in “just about every pub in Melbourne. I got to play in that field of working musicians,” he said.

He then moved to Sydney for a decade or so, working professionally as a dancer in Sydney, with the Australian Opera.

A career in the circus also “opened up” to him through life in Sydney and, while fire-twirling was his main gig, he would also choreograph and edit music.

“As a bassist, I had the great pleasure of touring Europe with Alan Dargin, famous didgeridoo player, and playing with Mark Aikens as well,” Kenny said.

But fifteen years ago, life took a different turn.

Sydney was simply starting to become too intense. Kenny and his partner Charmaine moved to Mandurama, living on around 200 acres and running alpacas. Kenny is also now a talented weaver, making baby wraps with alpaca fleeces as well as music.

The decision to go bush was also influenced by Kenny’s love of tai chi and peace.

“It’s a wonderful world out here,” he said of the Central West. “People will look after you.”

Kenny made an independent CD in 2011, which Charmaine and other family members also played on. He sold more than 650 copies of that album at just one gig.

Playing acoustic, electric and bass guitar, as well as piano and a little bit of cello, Kenny says he enjoys dabbling with almost any instrument.

He says he writes music that aims to “move the consciousness” of the listener, and he is a keen student of etymology and rhetoric.

“Lyrically, I’m more than happy to trip over the same syllable or word,” he said. “In its repetition, there is a whole other thing that happens. I think the body understands more than the mind, which is part of the sorcery of words.”

Among the musicians who have inspired him, Kenny lists Tim Buckley, who had a beautiful sentiment that he could put out behind the microphone, Kenny said.

Syntax Error is another band that impresses him, along with Australian rock band The Church, American country and western singer Gillian Welch, and The Dirty Dozen Brass Band — a big-band ensemble that played behind a lot of 60s and 70s music.

Two years ago, Kenny teamed up with drummer Mark Welch and bassist Craig Mills to form the Kenny Feather Band, who are active on the local music scene and regular performers at The Victoria Hotel in Orange, a venue he says is special for its support of original live music.

A prolific songwriter, Kenny has penned more than 200 songs in the past 18 months. He once got up at 4am and wrote an entire album in a day.

So every time the band sees him, they are getting a new album, he jokes.

Kenny Feather recently released a new song ‘Humble Pie’ which you can find at soundcloud.com/kennyfeather