Born and raised in Brisbane, Australia, Lee Coulter discovered his musical passion at Tahoe.

And yet he's pursuing his music career in San Diego County -- Encinitas, to be exact.

Given the circuitous nature of his journey to the local acoustic music scene, it will be little surprise to most readers that it all begins with a girl.

After graduating high school in Brisbane, on Australia's east coast, Coulter found himself living on his country's north coast, in a new town.

"I worked at a radio station," he said by phone last week. "A girl from Lake Tahoe lived in the apartment below. I didn't have any friends up there. She was working on her thesis."

By and by, they fell in love -- except that then she finished her thesis, got her degree and found herself without a student visa. After what Coulter described as a "dramatic airport scene" when she had to leave Australia, they corresponded from afar for nine months.

"We decided I was going to come over for three months and check things out, see how things were up in Tahoe."

He didn't quite make it back home.

"Before the three months were up, we got married!"

But his now-wife, Sharisse, has done more than lure him to the States; at the time they met, Coulter was pursuing a career in music production -- not performance.

"I started out thinking I was going to be a producer. I thought that's where it was for me. I liked the songwriting, the recording, working with other artists."

Coulter said he'd lacked the confidence to perform his own songs in Australia, even though he was already busy writing.

"I never found a scene for me in Australia -- mostly, I suppose, because I hadn't found my style. When I found my style, I realized I had something. And it was my supportive wife who said I should get out and play myself, once I got here. That's when I started picking up the guitar more, and singing the vocals myself more."

It was in Tahoe that he began playing at coffee shops and other acoustic venues. Within just a couple of years, though, Coulter and his wife decided to move to San Diego County to further his music career -- roughly two years ago, he said.

"I came down to San Diego because it was the biggest scene close to L.A., but it wasn't L.A. I didn't want to be spending much time in L.A. in terms of living quarters. I'm from Australia, and it moves a bit slower than L.A. San Diego is closer to that pace."

Growing up, Coulter said he and his older brother would fool around on his mom's old Yamaha acoustic guitar.

"When she was a kid, she was in a band with her sisters. The four of them would play '60s British rock. She'd play around the house every now and then."

When their dad brought home a copy of a Simon & Garfunkel album about 18 years ago, both Coulter and his brother suddenly got serious about music, he said.

"It was part brainwashing and part us kids just liking the melodies," he said of the attraction of that particular album.

While he has self-released albums, which are (as this is being written) available on iTunes, Coulter said he's tempted to delete them and start over with his next CD -- to make that his first "real" album.

"I've gotten better as a producer," he said of no longer liking his previous efforts. "It's that eternal struggle of being a perfectionist."

Coulter is looking at different ways to get his music out to a larger public.

"I am going to approach labels to see what they have to say, to see if they're interested at all. If not, I'm not worried. I think where that used to be the be-all and end-all, that's not necessary these days."

Lee Coulter, with Michael Tiernan

When: 8 p.m. Sept. 17

Where: En Fuego, 1342 Camino del Mar, Del Mar

Admission: Free

Info: (858) 792-6551

Web: myspace.com/leecoulter