LISA Mitchell is used to being the centre of attention.
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But on Christmas Eve, the Albury singer songwriter was upstaged by an unassuming star with four legs, big ears and a tail.
Mitchell, who shot to fame as an Australian Idol contestant in 2007, had the honour of leading her family’s pet donkey Trixie down the aisle of St Matthew’s Anglican Church for a Christmas Eve service on Friday.
The 20-year-old was at ease as throngs of adoring fans, most of which were under the age of 10, opted to stroke the animal’s neck rather than ask Mitchell for an autograph.
“I’m just here for moral support for Trixie,” she said.
“Trixie is the star — I’m merely her handler.”
The event was Mitchell’s first public appearance in her home town since performing at the Albury Entertainment Centre in October last year.
Since then, Mitchell has done a lot of travelling promoting her debut album Wonder in Europe and playing to more than 18,000 fans on a tour of Australia in May.
It is the experiences she has had during these journeys that has provided Mitchell with the inspiration to write new material for an album she hopes to record in the next six months.
The former Albury Scots School student said it would be a “little bit different” to the songs she is now well-known for and for which she wrote when she was as young as 15.
“I’m sure it will be like a natural progression,” she said.
“I’d say it’s definitely evolving into new areas and you get a bit bored of doing the same thing, so I’m just kind of experimenting a lot.”
Mitchell was due to spend Christmas with her family in Albury before setting to the Peats Ridge festival on the NSW central coast.
There she will watch her boyfriend, Jordan Wilson, perform with his band Georgia Fair.
Her next major gigs are set to be held on the Heineken Live Stage at the Australian Open in January and at the Port Fairy Folk Festival in March.