So it's a kick in the guts to not be able to show it off to the world and play it for people.

Thankfully, with coronavirus restrictions easing, touring circuits are starting up again, and in Victoria, that means more shows in regional towns as musicians try to catch up on a year's worth of lost revenue.

But for Emma Donovan, acclaimed soul singer and current frontwoman with Melbourne's The Putbacks, getting out and playing live means so much more.

They'll play Volta on Friday, showing off their new album Crossover, which was finally released in November last year on superb Melbourne soul label Hopestreet.

Speaking from Sydney, Donovan said she hadn't actually seen the rest of the band in months, after spending the pandemic in New South Wales.

"I just can't wait to get past that border again - my god, I'll probably cry when I drive past, knowing I'm in Victoria again," she joked.

"Victoria, it's my home - before I had my kids, and my daughter's four now, I lived in Melbourne and made those relationships with the Putbacks, seven years with them.

"I'm from up this way, from Sydney, but they're my musical family, the Putbacks."

She'll be raring to go, she added, having spent the repeated lockdowns swapping musical ideas online with the band.

"There are so many ideas being chucked around right now, we could easily go straight to the studio," she said.

"There were a lot of ideas we're sending each other, I'm still sending ideas, so when I'm back in Melbourne, we've got a whole bunch of new stuff to start on.

"I can't wait, I've been wanting to relocate for such a long time."

Donovan is one of Australia's finest singers - an Indigenous trailblazer who's collaborated with Paul Kelly, among others.

In fact, her last show in Ballarat was with Kelly, she said.

The new album, a nocturnal but energetic showcase for Donovan's powerful vocals and the exceptionally tight Putbacks, was being mixed and mastered when the pandemic struck.

"It was already tracked and all the vocals were done, but when the pandemic hit, we decided to take our time on the mixing," Donovan explained.

IN THE NEWS

"We were thinking a bit more about the artwork, that came after the album was done.

"Originally, we were going to release something and have a big launch and a live gig to celebrate it, but I couldn't think about that because of everything that was happening - so we'd been holding onto Crossover for nearly a year, and we were just thinking, well, let's get it out.

"We weren't thinking about touring, we were just happy for people to listen to it."

Emma Donovan and The Putbacks play Volta in Ballarat on February 5, tickets are on sale through Eventbrite.

WHAT HAS EMMA DONOVAN BEEN LISTENING TO?

"I watched the Nina Simone documentary, so I've been diving into Nina, I feel a little late on that scene but it's really good."

"Paul Kelly's last album, I just can't get over that album, it's just another genius album from Paul Kelly, Life is Fine."

"I've started listening to the Makarrata Project from Midnight Oil, they're just anthems."

"Lianne La Havas, I love that album, it's bittersweet."

Have you signed up to The Courier's variety of news emails? You can register below and make sure you are up to date with everything that's happening in Ballarat.