Christchurch inspires songwriter

Gore singer pens song for destroyed city

VICKI ANDERSON

Kiwi singer-songwriter Jackie Bristow has written a song for Christchurch.

Currently living in Austin, Texas, Bristow has spent much of the past year touring the United States and opening shows for the likes of Rick Springfield, guitarist Tommy Emmanuel, Bettye Lavette and John Oates, among others, and has tour dates in Texas until early June.

Closer to home, songs from her album, Crazy Love, have featured on television shows Go Girls and Shortland Street.

Since performing in Christchurch on February 21 as part of her 13-date Coming Home tour this year, Bristow returned to the US with Christchurch on her mind.

"I am humbled just thinking about what the people of Christchurch have been through and the hugeness of the quakes,'' she said.

''New Zealand is my home and I share your loss. I am originally from Gore, but I lived in Christchurch for a few years in the 1990s.'' 

On her visit to Christchurch, Bristow said, she was shocked to realise how much of the city had been destroyed.

"I know things will never be the same, but at the same time I was blown away with how the people of Christchurch seemed so strong and how they managed to get on with their lives and deal with such devastation and trauma.''

Bristow performed at the yacht club in Lyttelton on February 21, the eve of the first anniversary of the devastating quake, and said she was struck by the stories she heard that night.

"People shared their stories with me of how they had been affected and what they have been through,'' she said.

''The terror and the human survival instinct resonated with me enough to find the words to write this song called Christchurch. I wanted to share it with my friends and the people of Christchurch.''

- © Fairfax NZ News