Jackie Bristow is a cool kittie in a Corvette in “Blue Moon Rising”

Jackie Bristow is rocking the blues in a 1969 Corvette Stingray convertible, bombing through the New Zealand countryside.

Actually, both the Stingray and the countryside are part of a splendid animated music video of Jackie’s song “Blue Moon Rising” by Elizabeth R. Phillips of Liz Moon Animation in Houston Texas.  Given social distancing and #stayathome, a video with the band and video crew and live shots of Jackie on stage were not in the cards, so Elizabeth and Jackie went one better.  It also helped bridge the distance between Jackie in New Zealand and Elizabeth in Texas. Jackie composed and performs a rocking blues number that sticks to brain while Elizabeth created a world of blues hounds and cool cats to make it come alive visually.

Driven by a bass and drum beat that syncs with your pulse, the song takes flight with Mark Punch’s gut-pulling guitar riffs and Jackie’s pierce your heart voice pouring “we gonna rock all night long” into your skull where it just keeps on going.  Whatever she sings, there is no stopping Jackie and “Blue Moon Rising” is truly unstoppable.

Which is why Elizabeth Philips video is exactly on the money.   Transforming Jackie and her band and fans into colorful cool kitties and howling blues hounds that take you into a fanciful world of hip blues it lets your imagination and the music do the rest.  Combining colorful impressionistic watercolor pastel frames with animated characters, lives shots of Jackie’s concerts, and of course, the blue corvette, tells the story of the song and of the world it comes from – a world you can jump into for 4 minutes and leave #stayathome behind.

I first encountered Jackie Bristow a decade ago and have been addicted ever since.  I saw her at the now gone Witzend in Venice CA, and fell in love with her eyes, her smile, and most of all her voice and her music.    That is where I first heard her song, “Freedom” and understood just how inspiring country blues can be. Year after year, her hits kept rolling – “Crazy Love”, “Aotearoa”, “Rebel in My Soul”, “Without You”, “Shot of Gold”, “Whistle Blowin’”and more.  With each song I was more and more impressed how this New Zealand woman with the mile-wide smile could be one of the best Americana singer/songwriters out there.  “Blue Moon Rising” is another hit in her body of work, and the video superbly captures the tone of the song and mischievousness of the Kiwi girl with the big smile and the unstoppable music….with or without a Corvette.

Patrick O’Heffernan