Strumming a Christmas gift guitar at five, playing Nashville at 15, touring North America with Tommy Emmanuel at 18, young gun troubadour and Bob Dylan enthusiast Simon Bruce has finally delivered his debut album "Restless Thoughts".

So how was your US jaunt last year with Tommy Emmanuel?

"I toured with him doing acoustic shows and we went around the east and west coasts. I opened his shows and then we get out and played a few songs together at the end. He accompanied me on some of my songs. It was a really good learning experience for me. I really enjoyed it."

Tell us about the "Champagne Sessions" you did in Nashville?

"That was through Tommy and I think he was a big fan of what I was doing at the time. It was pretty mind-blowing. When I was writing songs I never really thought of anything else. It was just me and an acoustic guitar so it opened a lot of doors when we did that recording."

Nashville is almost a second home for you now?

"Somewhat. I’ve just been going there because it’s a great place. It’s not as full-on as say New York or LA. It’s almost a country town as well and there’s lots of writers and it’s still laid back ad has a big musical emphasis about it. There’s so many songwriters there and you can just feel it. Everyone has a new song and that inspires you to write. Just the songwriters nights and all that kind of stuff, just going out and observing that inspires you."

Can you feel the history there?

"I was in Nashville during September 11 so that was a pretty big shock. A lot of people in Nashville, being in the music industry, knew a lot of people in New York City because they’re music towns. So it was definitely felt in Nashville."

Is it true singers suffer respiratory problems in Nashville due to the air pollens?

"Yeah, I’ve heard about the pollen and the fact that it’s down in a valley although I don’t think I ever really had a problem with it. I don’t really get affected by that sort of stuff."

I guess most 14-year olds would be partial to Slipknot but at that age you read poetry and wrote songs?

"Yeah, all that listening to Dylan and the Beatles. I was a pretty strange cat I guess. I grew up with a lot of music and it just came naturally to me. Songwriters like Dylan opened up a whole new aspect for me. His body of work is really overwhelming, like Shakespeare, one person doing that body of work, it’s overwhelming."

Do you watch and learn from other musicians you’ve toured with … Tommy Emmanuel and John Hiatt?

"Definitely, just watching in the wings and seeing how they carry themselves and carry the songs and just sponging it all in. I learned a lot of chords from Tommy and a lot of styles of picking in Nashville. Take what you need and leave the rest I guess."

How did you find working with Casey Chambers’ brother Nash on the album?

"We just decided to get together and make a record. I’m really proud of it, really happy with it. It was all live in the studio, live to tape, the old reels, which is something I really wanted to do, to capture the moment. It was a lot of fun."

I heard it only took three days?

"This album was all live. The "Champagne Sessions" was just me and Tommy with him doing a lot of overdubs and playing drums and adding stuff later. But this time it was just live and keeping it real. A lot of my favourite records were recorded in the late 60s early 70s when a lot of it was just live and I wanted to do it like that."

You busked a lot as a teenager in Sydney and the UK. Did that spontaneous live mentality come in play when recording?

"I think if you can play on the street you can play anywhere. It’s actually a really hard thing to do, it’s harder then anything. I’d find it hard to go back on the streets now. It’s really full-on but it teaches you to really carry songs and try to be heard. When I was busking I was doing a lot of waltzes and stuff and folk songs. I started in Glebe Point Road in Sydney and that was always a good spot, a good vibe during the markets."

I read you were the youngest musician, at 17, to play Austin’s South By Southwest festival.

"The festival was amazing itself, to play to that kind of audience and in front of those people was really good. I’ve been going back to Austin and Texas ever since because they really love their songwriters and stuff and I think it’s more of a performance town than Nashville. In Austin I played an arts thing that they’d named after a Lucinda Williams song, Big Red Sun, and there’s this great record store that has a whole shelf of local artists who they really support. They have a great college radio and they really like their music. And the Tex-Mex food’s great too."

Did the whole child prodigy role impact on you in hindsight?

"I’m sort of glad that I made the full album when I did because I wasn’t really ready back then. I think it would have been premature if I had have done it a bit earlier. I might not have played to the best of my ability."

Can you run through some of your gear?

"On the album I play a J45 Gibson, a reasonably new model and I’ve been playing a lot of shows with that. It’s kind of like my baby. Haha! Just recently, I’ve also been getting into the Fender Tele, playing with the band, and that’s been really cool. It’s a 70s model, it was my dad’s, a Sunburst, really cool.

"With the Gibson, I’ve always wanted one, you know, the Beatles and Elvis used a Gibson. It’s a songwriter’s guitar and it’s just a classic. I can see mine right now actually."

I heard your first guitar was a nylon string Le Grande?

"It was a cheapo, I don’t even remember what it was called. But that was my first, I’ve still got it actually. I got it from Santa."

"Restless Thoughts" is out through Capitol.
www.simonbruce.com