Saturday, April 13

Heritage Hotel, Bulli

Country music often tells yarns of life on the land, so Jackie Dee reckons describing her music as simply country isn't really accurate.

"I call it coastal country," says the Helensburgh singer-songwriter.

"I'm inspired by the water, the ocean. As an artist I think it's really important to showcase my environment."

Dee had her first gig with a band at the Engadine Hotel as a 14-year-old, having grown up listening to Johnny Cash, Glenn Campbell and Credence Clearwater.

Thirty years on and she has just released her second studio album, Doors & Windows.

Starting as a keyboard player and singer in a high school band, Dee went on to perform in other bands and duos throughout the Illawarra, mostly singing covers.

It wasn't until a visit to Mexico with her husband that Dee started seriously strumming on the $50 guitar she bought there.

"I think I had the time to sit down and work out the chords," she says, laughing.

Before that "I was too stubborn, plus I'm left-handed, so people found it too difficult to teach a left-hander."

Dee says that after having children, who are now aged 15 and 17, her creativity went into overdrive.

"I had this growing collection of songs and scrapbooks," she says.

"Then I realised I had enough original material to put out an EP."

Dee's first album, Tide, was released in 2010 and included the songs A Few Wrong Turns and Tide, which received radio airplay and coverage on CMC. The next year, Dee was nominated as a finalist in the Australian Independent Artist Development People's Choice Award.

Since then, Dee has supported artists including Rick Price, Ray Beadle, Catherine Britt, Dragon and The Flood.

These days, Dee juggles work as a family relationship counsellor with weekly rehearsals with her band.

Dee tells of how she had to get to the worst place in her life before she climbed back to now be feeling at her best.

"It was a really tough time emotionally, so a lot of the songs on the album are about climbing back from a hard place," she says of the year she separated from her husband.

The couple have happily been back together for four years now and Dee says she is feeling her most confident.

"The songs [on Doors & Windows] are about dealing with adversity - to look through another window and to find new opportunities," she says.

"And as they say, one door closes, another opens."

The album was produced by Matt Fell and, like her previous two film clips, Dee has chosen to feature local areas and teens from Helensburgh and Stanwell Park.

Both of Dee's albums have been self-funded and for Doors & Windows she used a strategy growing with independent artists where they get family and friends to pre-order the album.

Naming Rick Price as one of her idols, Dee says she would love to collaborate with some Nashville musos for future projects.

"I've been really humbled by even the small amount of success I get," she says.