But he’s not slowing down.

The rock singer has embarked on a solo tour in support of his recent EP, Dirty Ground.

The raw and intimate release places Sultan’s powerful voice in a fresh and emotionally immediate context.

His solo shows, including Newcastle’s City Hall, will be a vastly different mood from his full-blown rock tour of 2014.

“I love the band and I don’t­ ­really compare the two,” Sultan says. “I really enjoy both.”

Even though it will be just Sultan on stage with his guitar, the Dirty Ground tour will not be a totally lonesome experience.

“I’ve got The Pierce Brothers doing a lot of the supports, but as far as my crew’s concerned it’s a soundperson, maybe a roadie and a tour manager,” Sultan says.

“So it’s really small, but that can be really nice.”

Blackbird was a triumphant return for Sultan and was his first album since 2009’s Get Out While You Can.

The record is named after the Nashville studio in which it was recorded.

Blackbird brought to a close a period for Sultan full of soul-searching that saw him part ways with songwriting collaborator and guitarist Scott Wilson.

The past 12 months were Sultan’s busiest in recent memory.

“It was the hardest I had worked for a long time,” Sultan says.

“I’m not against hard work either, I don’t mind it.

“Lots of ups and lots of being tired.

“Not so many downs as such, but just soaking up the downtime when I could.

“If I had a bit of time when I could be normal and be at home and potter around, I found I enjoyed those times more [last year] than I have in the past.”

Sultan’s songs appear to him in a number of ways, often when he’s sitting down with just a guitar.

“I don’t really have a particular style or a way of going about [songwriting],” Sultan says.

“Sometimes most of the song will be written in my head and sometimes I’ll sit there with a guitar and it will come out like that.

“If the song stands up, then it stands up.

“You should be able to play it with a big band or just solo.

“If the song works, it works.”

The tracks on Dirty Ground were written around the time of those on Blackbird, but Sultan kept them separate.

“They were written at the same time as the Blackbird album, but at the time I wasn’t really earmarking any songs that would go on Blackbird,” Sultan explains.

“I was just making sure I was writing, because it had been a long time since I’d written anything.

“I’d just gotten out of a bit of a rut and I was being creative again, and I wanted to capitalise on that while I could.

“I had a lot of songs to choose from and my producer Jacquire King helped me out with picking an album out of all these songs.

“When you’ve written all the songs you’re a bit more attached to it.”

Sultan says his songwriting momentum has continued since the release of Blackbird.

“Hopefully I’ll make another record this year and do it all over again,” Sultan says.

The Dirty Ground EP features two collaborations.

The title track was written with Paul Kelly while Mountaintop was a co-write with Something For Kate frontman Paul Dempsey.

Sultan also worked with Kelly on his Merri Soul Sessions project and will appear with the legendary songwriter at Bluesfest this year.

“I consider myself very fortunate,” Sultan says of working with Kelly.

“But in every aspect of my career there’s a lot of things like that where I look at it and think ‘I’m very lucky’.

“I certainly don’t take anything for granted.

“I’ve worked very hard to sing how I sing and perform how I perform, and I really enjoy it.

“There’s a lot of really good songwriters out there and a lot of good musicians and performers, and for whatever reason it never seems to eventuate.

“It’s not always easy and it’s not always fun, but it’s always good – if that makes sense.”

Dan Sultan plays Newcastle City Hall on Tuesday, March 17.

Tickets are available from Ticketek.

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