The cyclone’s path keeps changing. You prepare what you can, check the next update and wait. For Port Hedland singer-songwriter Courtney Rose, that uneasy stretch before Cyclone Zelia arrived became the starting point for a song.
Her new single, Zelia, is due out on 3 November 2026 through RTC Records. Co-written and recorded in Port Hedland with Matthew Dibbs, who also produced the track, it turns her first severe cyclone experience in the Pilbara into a country-rock story about an approaching force and the people left to face it.
You can pre-save Zelia here.
Waiting for Zelia
According to the release notes, the song follows the anxiety of watching the predicted track shift hour by hour before the Category 5 system hit north of Port Hedland. Courtney gives the cyclone a female presence in the writing, drawing on the uncertainty she experienced as it approached.
“I wrote Zelia as a way to process what it felt like living in Port Hedland as Cyclone Zelia approached. There’s something surreal about sitting in that uncertainty…knowing something powerful is coming, preparing for the worst and waiting to see what it will leave behind.”
Courtney Rose
That waiting is a strong place to begin a story. A cyclone warning reaches into ordinary life: plans change, preparations take over, and the next forecast suddenly matters a great deal. Courtney’s account puts the person watching those updates at the centre of the song.
She also wanted the writing to reach beyond one weather event. In her explanation of the single, Courtney connects the experience with facing a storm of your own, while acknowledging the communities affected and their resilience afterwards. The local experience gives that broader idea its grounding.
From Mutdapilly to the Pilbara
Courtney grew up in Mutdapilly, Queensland, and performed alongside her brother and sister in Unbranded. The family group released the EP Hell West & Crooked in 2024 and featured regularly on Brisbane’s 98.9FM.
Her move across Australia in 2023 opened a different chapter. Now based in Port Hedland, she has been building a solo career and performing across the Pilbara, as well as forming Red Coast Duo with her friend Mon.
Her debut solo single, Forever & A Week, was an early step in that direction. She has also continued developing her songwriting through the Write Where You Are program. With Zelia, the place she now calls home supplies the story itself.
Her musical influences run from Sara Storer to The Eagles and Chris Stapleton. On stage, acoustic guitar and stomp box underpin a repertoire of originals and country favourites, with room for both intimate finger-picked songs and more forceful country material. The release notes describe Zelia as a gritty, driving country-rock track.
Taking the songs south
The single arrives during another busy stretch: Courtney is set to support Tom Curtain on the South West WA leg of his Country Boys, Cowgirls and Horses tour, running from 30 October to 22 November, according to the supplied announcement.
For the itinerary and tickets, visit Tom Curtain’s tour page.
There’s a good reason to make room for Courtney around the campfire. She is writing from a place she knows and an experience she lived through. For a songwriter finding her feet on the other side of the country, that is a story worth sharing.
Pre-save Zelia and follow Courtney Rose
Zelia is out on 3 November 2026. Pre-save the single and follow Courtney on Facebook, Instagram and Spotify for her music and updates.
