The singer-songwriter grew up in Belfast and the sound of the bombs exploding in the city's centre was his lullaby at night.

"It got to the point where noone would bat an eyelid,'' he recalls. "It became a part of your life. I would talk to the soldiers on the barricades. It was the most surreal experience.''

Phil, who migrated to Australia with his parents, said settling into school here at 10 years old was difficult. "I grew up in a staunch Protestant family.''

Now Phil, with his wife and three children, calls the Blue Mountains home. It took almost 20 years before his music career kicked off, thanks to a bet with some friends over dinner.

"They could see I wasn't happy [teaching], so they went into the study and typed up this mock contract as a bit of a laugh. It said, 'we challenge you to write five songs in five days and record them and we'll give you the five days to do it.' No responsibility on their part.''

Davidson says he worked tirelessly to have the songs recorded and by the fifth day, he handed the CD to his friends, who were amazed.

This also contributed to his latest record, Edge Of It All, which chronicles experiences in his life thus far.

"When I began to write this album I knew consciously it was going to have a universal theme. There was something about this album that was a little bit unusual to me. I was hitting a lot of raw nerves with myself and with other people.''

It's a lifetime away from playing at biker shows in Lithgow and at strip shows, but Phil already feels like he's made it.

"I feel like a rockstar,'' he says, laughing. "In a country kind of acoustic folksy sort of way.''

Edge Of It All is out now through ABC/Universal.