Charlotte Le Lievre Finds Her Way Through Loss on Grief Knows No Borders

Written by: Geoff Trio
Category: Music
Published: November 3, 2026

There are some things in life you can't outrun, no matter how far you travel or how much distance you put between yourself and the place where everything changed.

Grief is one of them. It has a way of following you, turning up in the quiet moments and reminding you that losing someone doesn't mean the relationship you had with them simply disappears. It's something Australian singer-songwriter Charlotte Le Lievre has come to understand through her own experiences, and it's at the heart of her forthcoming second album, Grief Knows No Borders.

Set for release on 12 February 2027 through Cheatin' Hearts Records, the album is a deeply personal collection of songs written in the years following the death of her mother from cancer. It's a record about loss, but also about the unexpected places life takes us when we're trying to make sense of it, and the way music can help us understand feelings that aren't always easy to put into words.

The title track, released ahead of the album, captures that journey beautifully. Built around the gentle interplay of pedal steel, mandolin and guitar, ‘Grief Knows No Borders’ unfolds like a long drive through unfamiliar country, with plenty of time to think and nowhere in particular to hide from your thoughts. There's a quietness to the opening, a sense of space that allows the words and melody to settle before the arrangement gradually begins to build.

As the song progresses, that restraint gives way to something far more powerful. A heavy electric guitar solo and trembling mandolin push the final moments into an emotional release, taking the listener from reflection to something approaching catharsis. It's a musical arrangement that mirrors the experience behind the song, where emotions can remain beneath the surface for a long time before finding their way out.

For Charlotte, the journey began when her mother passed away. At the time, she was working as a lawyer at a community legal centre, but the loss left her feeling disconnected from the life she'd been living. She made the decision to leave her job and travel, hoping that movement and new experiences might offer some relief from what she was going through.

‘After mum passed away, I quit my job as a community legal centre lawyer and went travelling’, she explains. ‘I felt completely unanchored and travelling became a coping mechanism, until the pandemic stopped me in my tracks. It was then I was forced to confront the pain of losing mum and songwriting became my means of processing it’.

It's a story that will resonate with anyone who has experienced the loss of someone close. Sometimes keeping busy, changing your surroundings or simply being somewhere else can make the days a little easier. But grief doesn't work to a timetable, and sooner or later there comes a moment when you have to sit with everything you've been carrying.

For Charlotte, that moment arrived during the pandemic, when the world suddenly became smaller and the travelling stopped. With nowhere else to go, she turned to songwriting, using music to work through the memories, emotions and unanswered questions that had followed her.

Those songs eventually became Grief Knows No Borders, an album that explores the complicated nature of losing someone you love. There's heartbreak, of course, but there's also tenderness, gratitude and the recognition that grief isn't something you simply get over. It becomes part of your life, changing shape as the years pass and as you learn to live alongside it.

What makes the project particularly interesting is the way Charlotte has chosen to tell that story musically. Rather than confining herself to one corner of country music, she's drawn from the different sounds that have long made the genre such a rich form of storytelling. Honky-tonk, Americana and bluegrass all find their way into the album, allowing the music to move through different moods and emotions.

It's an approach that feels natural for a record dealing with something as unpredictable as grief. There are days when the sadness feels overwhelming, others when memories bring a smile, and moments when life catches you by surprise with a little joy. Country music, in all its different forms, has always had room for those contradictions.

The title track was produced by Charlotte alongside Jas Bell and recorded live at Melbourne's Union Street Studio with engineer Roger Bergodaz, whose previous work includes recordings with Tex Perkins, Neil Murray and Freya Josephine Hollick.

The musicians assembled for the session bring considerable character to the recording. Luke Byrnes provides electric guitar, Jonothan Brown plays bass, Patrick Wilson is on drums, Bell contributes pedal steel and Justin Vilchez adds mandolin. Together, they create an arrangement that feels spacious and organic, allowing the song to develop without losing the intimacy of its beginnings.

There's something particularly appropriate about recording a song like this with musicians playing together. So much of roots music comes from that shared understanding between players, the ability to listen, respond and leave space when the song needs it. On ‘Grief Knows No Borders’, the instruments seem to follow the emotional movement of the story, beginning gently before building towards that final release.

The pedal steel brings a familiar country melancholy, while the mandolin adds a delicate texture that gradually becomes more urgent. When the electric guitar finally steps forward, it feels less like a conventional solo and more like an extension of everything the song has been holding back.

It's a reminder of how effective a well-considered arrangement can be. Sometimes the most powerful moments in music aren't about playing more notes or making everything louder, but knowing when to let the emotion lead.

Although Grief Knows No Borders grew out of Charlotte's own experience, the themes reach well beyond one person's story. Losing a parent, partner, friend or someone who has been part of your life leaves a space that doesn't necessarily become smaller with time. What changes is the way you carry it.

There can be comfort in discovering that other people understand those feelings, even when their circumstances are different. It's one of the reasons music has always played such an important role in helping people through difficult times. A song can put words to something you've been struggling to explain, or simply remind you that you're not the only person who has felt that way.

That sense of connection runs through the album's central idea. Grief doesn't recognise borders, distance or geography, but neither does the need for human connection. We find our way through loss in different ways, often with the help of people who understand that sometimes there isn't anything useful to say. Being there is enough.

For Charlotte, songwriting became that connection, first with her own experiences and eventually with the people who will hear the songs and recognise something of their own lives within them.

There's also a certain beauty in the fact that a period of feeling completely unanchored has led to a record with such a clear sense of purpose. What began as an attempt to escape the weight of loss has become a way of acknowledging it, giving those feelings somewhere to live beyond the private moments in which they first appeared.

With the album's February release approaching, Charlotte is taking the music on the road, performing across Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland, including appearances at the Tamworth Country Music Festival in January.

Live performance will bring another dimension to these songs. There's a particular intimacy that comes from hearing personal stories shared in a room, where the distance between performer and audience can disappear for a few minutes. And for music written during a time when so much of the world was isolated, the opportunity to connect with people face to face carries an added significance.

Grief Knows No Borders isn't a record offering easy answers to life's most difficult experiences. Nor does it suggest that time somehow erases the people we've lost. Instead, it acknowledges that grief becomes part of who we are, sitting alongside the memories, love and experiences that continue to shape our lives.

Charlotte Le Lievre has taken something deeply personal and found a way to share it through the language of country music, drawing on its traditions of storytelling, honesty and human connection.

And perhaps that's the most important thing about the title track. It's not simply about discovering that you can't outrun grief. It's about reaching a point where you no longer need to.

Sometimes the road doesn't take us away from what we're feeling. It brings us back to the things that matter.

Charlotte Le Lievre's second album, Grief Knows No Borders, will be released on 12 February 2027 through Cheatin' Hearts Records. The title track is available now.