She has recorded a debut album, Here We Go, paid for by working a harvest season driving tractors on a Western Australian cropping farm, and has started work on her second album.
Now the 22-year-old faces a decision that could define her career for the next three years.
Should she negotiate a recording deal with Sydney music industry leader Robert Rigby, of Ambition Entertainment, or remain independent and mine New Zealand's emerging country-rock genre for all it is worth?
Direen came to Rigby's notice earlier this year, after placing third in the TV3 Good Morning "Find a Star Competition". Rigby was one of the judges.
She is keen to remain independent but plans to meet Rigby when he next visits New Zealand in February.
"I am ready to move up to that level but there's a lot of things to weigh up ... We'll probably discuss goals and plans and things like that. But being offered this was hugely exciting for me. I didn't expect it to come as easily or as quickly. I thought I had a whole lot more work in front of me. So it is hugely refreshing and encouraging," Direen said.
She has done her industry apprenticeship, entering competitions such as the secondary school Smokefreerockquest and Gold Guitar Awards, and performing in pubs, at weddings and on the rodeo circuit.
Now she is starting to land bigger gigs.
In November, she was a regional guest artist at the Otago Daily Times Big Night In concert at Forsyth Barr Stadium and tomorrow night, New Year's Eve, she will star in her first major ticketed country rock concert at the Lake Wanaka Centre, which holds about 600 people. Tickets for the New Year's Eve Big Country Kick-up and Countdown are selling well.
"I have been going down my own path. A lot of country singers start at the age of 3. At Gold Guitar, there's lots of 5-year-olds singing away and I didn't start until later. I was almost 19. I haven't been going for that long," Direen said.
She recalls being about the only pupil at Mt Aspiring College who liked country music. The Dixie Chicks were her favourites back then, along with Shania Twain.
Her face brightens as she rattles off other artists she enjoys .
"On the radio you can hear Taylor Swift, Lady Antebellum. They are all country. The Dixie Chicks a couple of years on, I still love their stuff but it is quite traditional.
"And I am still loving my all-time idol, Shania Twain. She was one the first artists in country rock ... I would love to aim for a similar sound. Then there's Carrie Underwood, Miranda Lambert, The Pistol Annies, Jasmine Rae - she's Australia's fastest rising star".
The secret to Rae's country-rock success, Direen believes, was a record label deal. If she was to take the same path, she felt she would have to move to Australia.
Her caution stems from a desire "to get country music going in New Zealand" and create her own opportunities here.
She notes New Zealand's country rock-pop artists such as The Heartleys (Gore duo Kayla Mahon and Taylor Cairns, who have also worked with Corbett) and Kaylee Bell (Waimate singer-songwriter) have travelled back and forward to Australia to further their careers.
"I've got to trust that this [going to Australia] is going to be the right way to go ... but I also want to honour gig commitments in New Zealand," she said.
She could seek flexibility within a contract to do this, but she is aware she is a small fish in a big pond. The Lincoln University graduate is adamant "music is for me" and cannot see a need to fall back on her agriculture degree for a long time.
Music is providing her with a living and she is saving money.
She has sold just under 1000 copies of Here We Go through her website and at gigs, which she says is at the top end of sales for an independent artist, and has also secured distribution deals with JB Hi-Fi and Marbecks stores.
One of the reasons she entered this year's Good Morning competition was the first prize, a contract with New Zealand music industry guru Gray Bartlett. Wanaka singer Becky Murray reportedly paid him $45,000 to launch her career.
However, Direen has decided not to independently contract his services because of the cost.
"I feel I can do it myself. It may be a bit quicker with someone like Gray. But it is a lot of money and it might be better spent on marketing. For me, part of it is the satisfaction of doing it for myself. I've just finished reading Richard Branson's autobiography and he says if something is worth doing, do it yourself. I totally believe in that," she said.
She moved home to Wanaka from Rakaia recently because it is handier to her summer gigs and to film her first music video for Coming to Town, a song about country kids heading out for a night in the city.
"All the farm kids go to town to get an education. It is exactly like it sounds. It is madness. O-week [Orientation Week] is chaotic . . .Country people know how to party. That's what this song's about. I've had friends ringing up telling stories about going into town, like they've hardly ever worn a dress before or they forgot to wear their high heels. I had one friend who got on the bus to head into town one night and she ended up with her red band gumboots on with her dress.
"It's not harmful. It's fun. You don't see city chicks do things like that," she said.
She's also continuing to work on her second album.
Her first, released in April, was written straight from university "when I had tunnel vision and just wanted to record an album".
The next would be more personal, "how I see the world and how I want to see the world . . . but still with that party fun vibe.
"It has only been a year since I recorded the album but I feel I've grown up a lot in that year and I can put a lot more truth into my songs," she said.
Moving home also brings her closer to her parents, Jo and Derek, who own a Wanaka building company, and her 21-year-old sister Lisa, a Dunedin chef.
She describes her family as her No 1 fans.
"Dad's pretty easy going. He just goes with the flow. If I ask for his advice, he will give me his honest opinion and I will trust it. Mum is definitely my biggest fan.
"I just put a video on YouTube the other day. At the end of the week, it had about 100 views and I think about 60 of them were by my mum. Mum is also the first to give me an honest opinion on my wardrobe choices and songs," she said.
Her engineer boyfriend, Tim Mee, a former rodeo circuit bull-rider, is based in Wanaka but is often away working in Australia's oil and gas industry.
"I was the wedding singer at his sister's wedding. He was in the groom's party and had a cowboy hat on and I couldn't resist. He winked at me. He has blond hair and blue eyes and is absolutely gorgeous," she said, laughing.
