Glasgow country songstress Martha Healy has always loved Nashville - now she’s going to take the ultimate step by moving there.

Martha plays the Rum Shack on Thursday night to launch her new EP, To Be Free.

Her next recordings, however might come from the home of country music as she’s leaving her job in Scotland and home in Shawlands to move with her husband to the USA for a few months and have a proper crack at making music a full-time job.

“I’ll be nervous about it until I’m actually there, because I’m leaving a lot of family and friends here, as well as a lot of security,” she says.

“But it’s something I’ve wanted to do since I first went to Nashville back in 2012, and luckily my husband wants to come with me. I think my mum and dad have been waiting for this for a long time, they’ve been expecting me to go off to Nashville at some point.

“It’s quite nice actually, because my little brother just became a dad, so with the new grandchild they probably won’t notice I’m gone! All my friends and people at my work have been really supportive and telling me to do it before I get too old.”

Martha has previously made music in America, recording an EP while holidaying in Memphis and then a full album on a previous trip to Nashville, where she worked alongside producer pal David Spicher. This time will be different, however, as she’s aiming to just take some time to write when out there and see what happens.

“There’s oodles of country music coming out of every bar there, and although country is thankfully making a resurgence in the UK it’s good to have a change of scenery too,” she adds.

“When you’re a writer it’s good to go and get fresh ideas and fresh inspiration.”

Ironically, her decision to move comes just after she releases an EP recorded on home soil for the first time. To Be Free features two of Martha’s original tunes, along with covers of Patsy Cline classic Walkin’ After Midnight and I Saw The Light by country great Hank Williams.

“The EP’s been an interim project, because I was getting a bit bored of hearing the old songs and wanted to keep me and the band on the go between album one and two,” explains Martha.

“We wanted to do something that was quite unabridged and live, so we went into La Chunky Studios in Glasgow and hired it for the weekend.

“I’m a massive Patsy fan, and she’s such an icon that it’s always difficult to put your own slant on things. Vocally we’re quite different, though, because she had a much deeper voice than I do, so it’s much more my take than just copying hers.”

Martha also reckons the EP is important to her for another reason. The singer believes that she now has a much better understanding of who she is as a person, and that has been a big boost to her writing and to her life.

“For a while I was always unsure about things,” she says.

“It’s taken me to my thirties to know what I want to say in my music and also know what I am as a person. It sounds really cheesy but I think that’s true of most people, that it takes until then to know what you really want from your life.”

Also helping in that regard was a recent songwriting workshop in Edinburgh, where she performed alongside Grammy nominated singer Gretchen Peters.

“It was the first time she’s done a workshop in the UK,” explains Martha.

“So it was two full days and she talked about her songs, tricks to combat writers block and lots of character development. It was quite intensive and quite a moving experience, because you were with 15 other people you’d never met before, and you were having to play your songs in front of everyone.

“You can be in a vulnerable state playing songs, but it was fantastic, and quite life-changing because of it.”

That means that Martha should be full of confidence when she takes the stage on Thursday night, for her final Glasgow gig before her move abroad.

“I’m a Southsider so I thought I’d keep it local and get a party atmosphere going on. I’ve also got Martin Jones playing on the night and it should be a good show.”

Martha Healy, the Rum Shack, Thursday, £5, 7.30pm