After touring as the opening act for Tommy Emmanuel, Jackie Bristow has returned to New Zealand, releasing her fourth studio album Shot of Gold, and hitting the road for a fourteen date tour. For the dates go and check out Jackie's Facebook page.
Shot Of Gold is an album created from Bristow’s own real life stories and experiences. She lived in Austin, Texas when she created this album, and the roots of country music and southern blues are evident throughout.
The stand out song for me on this album is its name sake Shot of Gold. This song really resonated with me. It is a beautiful constructed song with a heartfelt melody and hooks that draw you in. It is a song that paints a vivid picture for its listeners.
Fallen Youth was another of my favourites. The lyrics are borrowed from a poem by an unnamed ANZAC WW1 solider, found in the public library of Bristow’s hometown of Gore. She wrote this in remembrance of the 100 year reunion of Gallipoli. It is a striking and emotional tribute to the ‘Fallen Youth’.
This isn’t an album I would usually find myself listening to, but I am so glad I did. This album is full of emotion and demands that you listen to it in all its rawness and vulnerability. Bristow has created a collection of songs that a tribute to the human feelings, be it about struggle, healing, love, loss or joy.
After signing a production deal with Sydney based label Craving Records, Jackie Bristow set about to record her album Crazy Love with mixer/engineer Helik Hadar (Rufus Wainwright, Madelein Peyroux, Joni Mitchell) and producer/engineer Mark Howard (Tom Waits, Lucinda Williams, Marianne Faithfull, Sheryl Crow). With an incredible lineup of musicians including Australia's finest guitarist Mark Punch (Renee Geyer) along with international luminaries Larry Klein (Joni Mitchell), Larry Goldings (James Taylor), Tim Pierce (Rod Stewart, Tom Petty), Jay Bellarose (Aimee Mann), Zak Rae (Alanis Morissette) and more, the result has been a tour de force of stunning new material and a fresh new sound.
Jackie Bristow recently secured the support for legendary producer/guitarist/ composer Daniel Lanois on his recent Australian tour of April 2006. The run of shows took place in Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney.
Relocating from New Zealand to Sydney, Australia in 1995, Jackie worked tirelessly for five years, writing songs, recording demos and performing across the city, all the while developing her own voice. A break came when her demo reached Michael Gudinski Management, resulting in a publishing deal with Mushroom Music and a recording contract with Gudinskis Liberation Records.