Bristow on country journey
From Golden Guitar beginnings to having Bonnie Raitt watching from side of stage, Jackie Bristow’s musical journey has clocked up some magic miles already.
Having made a living performing in cities and venues etched in country folklore, the Gore native has also opened for luminaries including Boz Scaggs, Foreigner, Chris Isaak and the Steve Miller Band.
The Nashville-based New Zealand singer-songwriter is home for her 16-date Blue Moon Rising summer tour which includes Nelson, Golden Bay and Wairau Valley.
Performing new material along with favourites from albums like Shot of Gold and Freedom, the two-month solo tour will also play to audiences from Barrytown to Taihape and Auckland before finishing in Arrowtown on March 7.
Bristow began singing with her sister Katrina in their Gore school church choir, which soon led to performing country standards at the Gold Guitar Awards and touring the South Island in outfits made by their grandmother.
‘‘Growing up we absorbed a lot of country, folk and roots music and we just loved songs, so that was a huge grounding in our life and a pretty special time – there was so much talent around back then and there still is.’’
The Bristow Sisters will reunite this summer as Katrina joins Jackie for a number of tour dates, including Nelson.
Since moving Stateside in 2005, Bristow has taken her own songs to Los Angeles and Austin before heading to Tennessee in 2017.
Immersion in Americana has refined her musical style, she says.
But just as she has yet to lose the rolled Rs of her Southland accent, Bristow’s Kiwi roots will always form a key part of her sound.
‘‘I don’t think one place is better than the other, but [the US] is where the industry and the big stage is and I’ve been able to meet and play with a lot of incredible people.’’
Bristow lives in Madison, in northeast Nashville and just the roll of a hubcap from where Johnny Cash and June Carter-Cash used to live.
‘‘As kids we’d sing on the country music circuit around New Zealand and at that stage I was singing covers of the old American classics mostly out of Nashville or Texas and now I’m over here. It’s kind of crazy.’’
While Nashville was ‘‘a whole new learning curve’’, Bristow has found support and inspiration from the pool of songwriters and musicians within a city full of opportunity and history.
She has been working with long-time guitarist and producer Mark Punch on a set of new songs while appearing at iconic Music City venues like 3rd and Lindsley, the Basement and the Local.
Recent European tours had also boosted her international profile.
In February Jackie will release the first single, Blue Moon Rising, from her fifth album, due for release later in the year.
Inspired by New Zealand artist Ivan Clarke of Lonely Dog fame, the track is a departure for Bristow featuring some Memphis horns and ‘‘sort of a bluesy feel’’.
Bristow said some of her new songs were soul-influenced. While also drawing inspiration from Memphis and Muscle Shoals, her forthcoming album promised to be a combination of her Tennessee and Californian influences.
Jackie Bristow’s Blue Moon Rising Tour comes to The Boathouse, Nelson, on February 14, Dharma Bums Club, Wairau Valley, on February 15 and The Mussel Inn, Onekaka, on February 19. Tickets are available through www. eventfinda.co.nz.