New Zealand-born, Nashville-based singer-songwriter Jackie Bristow's new album Outsider came out to critical acclaim earlier this month, with IndiePulse Music Magazine rating it as a contender for album of the year.
Jackie Bristow Photo: Supplied
Delving inside Americana's country soul, Bristow's fifth album was recorded in her adopted home of Nashville and features an all-star cast of soul and Americana musicians.
It's her tribute to the music of the American South.
Bristow has played with artists such as Bonnie Rait, Boz Scaggs, Chris Isaac, Tommy Emmanuel, Art Garfunkel, The Steve Miller Band and John Raitt.
Her songs have also been used in films and television shows such as Go Girls, Home and Away, Outrageous Fortune and Shortland Street.
Bristow's about to set out on a nationwide New Zealand tour to promote the new album, with opening gig is at The Boathouse in Nelson on Friday night.
She said she is excited to be able to go back on the road with a tour.
"I played a show last week and it was the first one I'd played in a long time and I had that you know that real adrenaline and the buzz after the show, the excitement of playing.
"So in some ways the break has brought back that extra sparkle to performing again."
Bristow said the album's name Outsider comes from the fact that is originally from Gore and since she left home at 17 she has had to break into different scenes in bigger places.
"So you know moving from Gore to Invercargill, Invercargill to Queenstown to Christchurch to Sydney to Los Angeles to Austin Texas and then to Nashville - you're always on the fringe and you gotta break into the scene."
Bristow said she has made some life long friends through the music business.
She said travelling in America and playing house concerts gave her a look into a completely different lifestyle.
"Just the sweetest people that welcome you into their homes and their lives and you get this look into a whole other life that I don't have, and those people are my friends."
Bristow said she is excited to be returning to the US for their summer to play some shows and to catch up with those people.
She said she will stay in the US for a few months before returning to New Zealand for the summer here, and then return again to the US next year.
Bristow said there are a number of things which attract her to the United States including the history of music and the music industry there.
"And I love the understanding of, people are just like 'oh you're a songwriter' and they just get it, they just get it, it's not such a foreign thing there, it's quite a big part of society."
Bristow said when she had been living in America for about 15 years she almost started to take it for granted and did not always take the opportunities to see international class shows which were on.
"But then since I've been back here which has been amazing in another way but I am kinda itching to get back ... I have missed that sort of lifestyle."
Americana is for people whose music does not fit into one genre, Bristow said, and her music contains aspects of blues, folk and pop.
"Americana seems to be a blend of like lots of genres coming together, like people that don't just fit in the country box or the pop box or just the blues - they have a little bit of everything."
Bristow said they are promoting the single 'Livin' For Love' off the Outsider album to radio in the United States.
"Like choosing to live for the music, or choosing to live for the art, just living for all the things that make you happy ... just living for the art really and the love of it."
