Community spirit is the theme that weaves its way through most of the songs on the sixth studio album, recorded entirely in Nashville.

“There’s a song called Unsung on the record and I’ve tried to write it three or four times,” Collins said.

“I’ve always wanted to write about emergency services people who go to work everyday and face all kinds of problems that on any given day would scare the absolute hell out of you and me.”

The record is the first where Collins has handed over the reigns, allowing talented producer Luke Wooten to take control.

The outcome is an album that goes to a level Collins doesn’t believe he could have achieved on his own.

“The whole time I kind of felt like the dumb kid at the back of the class – there were things just going way over my head,” he said.

“It was a completely new process for me, my past two records I’ve produced myself and I felt like this time I needed a new direction.

“I definitely sang harder on this album, by the time we finished the last song my voice was completely shot.”

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And, he’s headed back to Tamworth Country Music Festival in 2019, bringing with him his new music on January 19 at Moonshiners Honky Tonk Bar.

“The last four or five years I’ve found a new love for the festival, I’ve been going there since I was 11 years old,” he said.

“There was a period where I felt a little burned out by it, but in 2012 it really started to feel energised again. “People started to love it again instead of bitchin’ [sic] about it and that’s why I feel positive.”

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