Back home in the South for the summer, new gigs and songs are already on the agenda for country music artist Jackie Bristow.
The former Gore woman, who now splits her time between New Zealand and Nashville in the United States, has had plenty going on here this summer.
‘‘I’ve been doing a bunch of shows with Barry Saunders [of The Warratahs].
‘‘We just played the Wairarapa Country Music Festival and . . .Timaru Soundshell, the new year’s celebration.
‘‘We’re playing in Picton — we’re playing a festival there.’’
She also had shows coming up in Wanaka and Queenstown.
Despite her busy schedule, she had found time to catch up with family and old friends, even creating new music together.
‘‘It’s really productive, because I’ve had these beautiful shows and I’ve also been doing some recording with my sister Katrina.’’
She and Katrina grew up singing together as the Bristow Sisters in Gore.
‘‘Because I was home . . . Katrina and I started singing together again.
‘‘So we’ve written a song and we’ve recorded it.
‘‘We’ve got to get it mastered and we’re going to release it early next year.’’
She had also recorded a new single with Saunders and last Monday wrote songs with childhood friend, Louise Moulin.
‘‘We went to St Mary’s [school] together in Gore.
‘‘We’ve kept in touch as lifelong friends and she’s a writer . . .so when we get together, she does the lyrics and I do the music.’’
She caught up with another friend, Elles Bailey, last week.
‘‘[She is] from the UK [and is] like the No 1 Americana artist over there.
‘‘She’s just here on holiday and we met in Nashville.’’
The two wrote a song together and even organised a pop-up show with her sister in Wanaka on Saturday.
This was on top of developing a songwriting programme for young people, which she started when Covid-19 first hit.
‘‘There’s a SongCatcher compilation which is actually the kids between 7 and 13 years old, where I’ve written all the songs and produced all the tracks, but they’re singing all the lead vocals and they’re gonna be released under their own name.’’
Young people had some amazing, fresh ideas, she said.
While Nashville may be the hub of country music, coming back home had fuelled new creative energy.
‘‘The thing I love about collaboration is the other artists inspire you.’’
