DIGGING deep into her roots has given a Greenock musician the inspiration she needed for her new album.

Singer-songwriter Yvonne Lyon released her 10th studio album, Growing Wild, on Friday.

Yvonne says the record - which features collaborations with musicians including Eddi Reader, Beth Nielsen Chapman and Boo Hewerdine - is the end product of years of tuning into what she loves.

She said: "I've been doing this for 20 years and I got to a place in my life where I thought 'what am I doing?

"I was having a lot of performance anxiety so I stopped and asked myself 'why don't I enjoy this any more? why is it so hard?'

"I went on a bit of a journey and this album is the culmination of that."

Growing up in Quarrier's Village, Yvonne used to spend hours sitting at the piano and making up tunes - and that's what she has now returned to.

As one of Scotland's most prolific singer-songwriters, she has formed friendships with musicians all over the world and chose to bring a few of them in for the album.

Yvonne added: "I've just been sitting playing and getting back to what I love.

"I've formed so many friendships and relationships over the years and I'm reaping the benefits of that now.

"I wanted to pull all of these people in."

Yvonne completed the writing and recording of Growing Wild just before lockdown hit.

A lot of the work had to be done online due to coronavirus restrictions and she admits she had to find new ways of doing things.

With all gigs shelved due to the virus, she was excited to get involved in playing live on social media for a creative project.

During lockdown, Yvonne was involved in the Secret Sessions - a series of gigs played live on Facebook which formed the Musician Support Pledge.

People bought tickets to watch gigs and the performer then pledged that money to another artist.

Yvonne said: "It was about supporting people within the music community and was a really positive, creative thing to do.

"I love connecting with people through music and I really miss that.

"Gigs have been totally wiped out."

Yvonne has a masters degree in songwriting and performance from the University of the West of Scotland and is also a Burnsong International Songwriting Competition winner.

She has spent time in Nashville and regularly receives airplay on BBC Radio Scotland.

Although the writing process for some of the songs on Growing Wild began years ago, Yvonne is sure that the whole album will resonate with people in terms of what's going on in the world today.

She added: "The pandemic has forced us to think about what's important.

"We need to keep doing things that feed our soul and spirit and that connect us with ourselves and who we are.

"We have to do more of the things that bring us joy."

Growing Wild is available now on all digital platforms and CDs can be pre-ordered at www.yvonnelyonmusic.com