Totnes-based singer-songwriter Charlotte Mabon will debut her long-awaited album River of Soul at The Hairy Barista on 6 December, marking the culmination of a decade-long dream and a creative journey that began in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.

Charlotte, whose music explores healing, grounding and connection, had no formal background in composition when she tentatively wrote her first song for a friend who died during childbirth. But it was a later voyage – a 21-day sailing trip across the Atlantic with her husband and two others – that transformed her into a songwriter.

“I found the kind of space and time you never find elsewhere – no distractions, just this endless landscape of sea and sky,” she recalls.

“It could be quite lonely at times,” Charlotte adds. “We would take it in turns to do night watches, that’s when you’re really left alone with your thoughts.” With the swell rising around her and, at one point, a broken sail leaving the crew at the mercy of the tides, songwriting became both a resource and a release.

Intense feelings of awe, fear, gratitude and at times boredom mingled in the quiet monotony of sea and skyline. Charlotte began writing to emotionally stay afloat and by landfall, she had discovered a voice she hadn’t known she possessed.

Back home, life intervened. Charlotte became a mother, her album pushed aside for years — until a neighbour challenged her to write one song each month. “That changed everything,” she says. Many of those pieces now form River of Soul, a collection described as reflective and emotionally stirring, weaving poetic lyrics with global instrumentation.

Charlotte admits she once struggled with imposter syndrome, particularly when asking musicians to help record the album. Yet every person she approached to participate said yes.

“Their kindness made me believe I could actually do this,” she says. Several of those collaborators will join her on stage at The Hairy Barista – a venue she hopes to honour for its unwavering support. Co-owner Ruth, who has been diagnosed with neurological Lyme disease, will receive a share of the profits to support her recovery.

Alongside her own debut, Charlotte – together with Anouska Beckwith and Ayla Schafer – spearheaded Each Life Sacred, a fundraising album created last year in response to the escalating violence in Gaza. With contributions from 22 musicians and six artisans, including Anoushka Shankar, Johnny Flynn and Robert Macfarlane, the project raised more than £30,000 for War Child.

Having met young Israelis in India who had fled conscription, Charlotte says she understood immediately what would follow the events of 7 October and felt “duty-bound” to act.

Looking ahead, Charlotte has secured £20,000 of National Lottery funding for WellSong, a Totnes-based project launching next spring that uses singing to support women’s wellbeing, particularly in rural areas. Its aim, she says, is to “give women a voice — or remind them how to use it.”

Despite playing four festivals this summer, including Glastonbury, and loving the intimacy of her gigs, Charlotte still doesn’t see herself as “a performing artist.” Yet the stage keeps calling her back. “People say they cry at my gigs – but in a good way,” she says. For her, live music is first and foremost a form of connection.

And now, after 10 years, she is finally ready to live the dream.