“I feel like my feet have barely touched the floor since the album came out,” laughs Laura Silverstone, “It's been busy, it's been lovely, I feel really grateful.”

Little wonder. That crowdfunded album -Heartwood - has just been added to the list of those eligible for this year’s Scottish Album of the Year Awards. She’s completed two European tours, played the US for the first time, reached the live televised final of Spain’s Got Talent, and performed at Celtic Connections.

Her newest music is also in post-production, recorded at the legendary Lipaka Studios in Germany with sought-after producer Bob Vogston who has worked on Grammy winning collaborations and chart topping music for a decade. She has headline shows in Glasgow and Edinburgh just around the corner.

As we’re talking she’s looking through images from a photoshoot for the artwork for the next single. There’s still sand in her shoes from filming the accompanying video.

She even squeezed in a handshake with rock superstar Bruce Springsteen in Liverpool, after entertaining crowds in the fanzone. Tonight (thurs) she’ll play at Europe’s largest indoor surf resort, Lost Shore, as part of its inaugural acoustic nights.

And she is readying to perform at HebCelt Festival for the first time in only a few days - a moment she has long been looking forward to.

“I'm over the moon to be there,” she says, “I'm thrilled. Terrified, but thrilled. I want to breathe in as much of the music as I possibly can. It’s a little bit scary, but in a really exciting way. It's like that mix of anticipation, excitement and nerves.”

One of the many draws of playing HebCelt for Silverstone has been the location and the very strong gender balance the festival has. “It's going to be quite astonishing to hear so many really great, talented female singers as well. It’s going to be amazing,” she said.

“I think women have a completely different viewpoint in so many things, so many aspects of life. When women make music, it can be so different and so much closer to me. It gives you a completely different view of the same topics from a very different perspective. “So I'm really grateful to be able to see so many women.”

“I hope I get to meet NATI. We're like the same age and we live in the same area and it'd be so cool. Lulu is just an absolute legend. There's also Eddi Reader and Nina Nesbitt. I'm really excited to see Nina Nesbitt. I love her music.”

While it’s her first time at HebCelt, she has explored the island before. She lives full time in a converted van, touring for the past eight years or so as a travelling troubadour, forging her reputation as a sought-after live performer with her lap-tap, percussive guitar playing. She also documents her travels on her social media accounts, her Instagram alone currently hosting 40,000 followers. With increased exposure, bigger platforms including HebCelt and Fringe by the Sea to name a few, she is getting increasingly noticed. Promoters are getting in touch, her diary is filling up. Momentum is building.

And she credits choosing to live in Scotland with much of that, having lived first in Skye and exploring further afield. “I've always, always said that about Scotland, how it's so beautifully culturally rich whilst at the same time being so appreciative of other cultures. I think a lot of places in the world should learn from Scotland about that,” she said.

“It's a community of its own as well. There's so much going on around Gaelic language and culture. As an outsider, to just appreciate it and relate it back to my own Basque-culture, there was a mutual appreciation and fascination for each other's culture.

“In the same way that I was interested and wanting to learn more about it, the response was always to want to know more about the Basque culture and the Basque language.

“I used to live on the Isle of Skye, which is where I first converted my van. So I did a little bit of exploring while I was there. I went to Harris and Lewis and absolutely loved it. I remember driving and the weather was beautiful and I remember thinking my main worry for today is where am I going to see the best sunset? It was amazing.

“It feels like you're somewhere on the edge of the world. I do remember thinking, oh my God, it's so far away, and then thinking, actually, this is probably one of the safest places in the world. Seeing all the stuff that's going on around the world, in Europe and everywhere, I would just be like yeah, no, I'm happy here.

“I got the sense of community in a way that you only see in areas where everybody knows each other and everybody's so friendly and so welcoming. I didn't get much of a chance to do much music at the time so with HebCelt, that's what I'm there for.” As her career has grown, so has her music, with the latest recording sessions serving up three new songs. “I can tell you that there are two songs with lyrics that I'm very proud of.

There is one more instrumental because I love instrumentals. They go down so well when I play them live. And I just thought it was time I did another one of them,” she said. “We recorded them in Germany in beautiful mountains in the middle of nowhere with a fantastic producer, Bob Vogston, who has worked with some of my favourite bands and is really into the indie-folk music scene. I haven't got the final Masters yet, but what I'm hearing, I’m super-excited about. Super-excited.

“It was actually really difficult to make up my mind about what exactly I want to release next. And trust me, I had my headaches about that. But I think the indie folk kind of thing where it's acoustic and it keeps that acoustic sound, but it's got... more to it. There's more layers to it and there's more ambience. That's kind of where I am heading.

“It's always been really hard to do that completely on my own so it was very much like finding the right person that could help me achieve that sound, presenting my songs and taking it from there. It's going to be a very laid back, acoustic vibe with, I don't know, a little bit more character and more introspection to the songs than maybe Heartwood, if even possible.

“One of them is very hopeful. The other one is very like looking at the past and kind of understanding how you've moved on and being in a better place than you were before. I think these are very universal, very universal topics.

“They're very personal, but the more personal they are, the more relatable they are to other people. So I hope that a lot of people can resonate with the message in the songs.”

“It's to connect and to help people connect. So when I see the music going and becoming a part of somebody else’s life and them living through that message, that's when the mission is accomplished.”

● Laura Silverstone is performing at HebCelt from 3.15pm on Friday, 18 July, at the Isle of Harris Gin Ceilidh Tent. Tickets available at https://www.hebceltfest.com/booking