Who is Jackie Marshall?
I’m a songwriter and a singer bent on lifting the veil.
Who inspires you and why?
My partner composer Robert Davidson inspires me. He is a prolific and deeply curious writer of music and bowerbird of musical and historical information. He has experienced major trauma yet maintains an optimistic and magnanimous attitude towards life and all people. He inspires me to look for the good in situations and has been hugely supportive of my journey as an artist in recent years. Robert believes in beauty over fashion, and authenticity above all else. We share a mantra. And he teaches me bird names and I teach him plant names. We have a mutually beneficial symbiotic relationship.
What would you do to make a difference in the world?
I like to think I make a difference in the world by showing up authentically and unapologetically. It gives others permission to do the same. Being true to self is golden. Oh, it’s wonderful to be able to make grand gestures such as Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard donating his multi-billion-dollar company to fight climate change; but I think it’s equally good to smile at a stranger in the street… you might change the shape of their day and that day may change the trajectory of their life for the better. Small gestures can be incredibly powerful.
Favourite holiday destination and why?
I’m incredibly fortunate to have a community of close creative friends in Ljubljana. It’s one of the great joys of my life to be able to spend occasional summers with them on various islands in Dalmatia.
When friends come to town, what attraction would you take them to, and why?
Maiwar, the Brisbane River, is the place to be. Nothing beats getting on a CityCat and cruising up and down her reaches. The smell of the mangroves; the bat and ibis colonies, water dragon kingdoms along Kangaroo point, the variety of architecture and greenspaces and the adventures to be had when disembarking whether you’re headed for Southbank or Howard Smith wharves for a glass of wine and a classy bite to eat while taking in the city views or perhaps jumping ship at UQ or North Quay and wandering around expansive and carefully manicured gardens packing a home-made sanger and a bottle of water. Don’t forget your hat, sunglasses and sunscreen people!
What are you currently reading?
I’m one of those annoying people with a tower of half-read and utterly precocious books beside the bed. As I glance to my left I see, James Heneage’s The Shortest History of Greece, Haruki Murakami’s Kafka on the Shore, and Terrence McKenna’s Food of the Gods. Admittedly however I did just manage to finish reading an excellent bit of fairy floss in Sophie Irwin’s A Lady’s Guide to Fortune-Hunting – which I picked up out of a street library! Street libraries are the BEST.
What are you currently listening to?
I just did another deep dive on John Prine and his cohort; including folks like Blaze Foley who wrote the brilliant song Clay Pigeons. I also just made a new playlist… My November tour will be my first since the pandemic and I wanted to listen to a playlist full of my friends with whom I hope to catch up as Cutler and I make our way down the east coast on our November tour. We’re blessed in this country to have artists such as Lucie Thorne, Sarah Carroll and Melanie Horsnell and more. Keep an eye out for Robin Martin of the New Graces; her solo work is pretty special.
Happiness is?
Dissolution of the ego. Dance on.
What does the future hold for you?
Post-pandemic things are starting to look pretty darn rosy for me, I feel so fortunate. I’m about to go on tour with one of my closest friends, Sam Cutler, with singles You Know What I Mean? and Chop Wood Carry Water being released very soon. I have a new album You’re Not Too Much And You Are Enough coming out in the new year of which I’m immensely proud, and, incredibly, a feature film premiering at the Brisbane International Film Festival, Three Chords And The Truth, for which I wrote and performed the music and in which I play one of two lead roles. Next February, Robert and I are heading to Europe for a number of creative endeavours; I’ll be catching up with Slovene director Barbara Stupica to work on a concept for an inspirational children’s opera, and to shoot a special film clip featuring Croatian diva, blogger and Multiple Sclerosis voyager Andja Maric. Nothing beats being creatively busy – long may it continue.
Jackie’s new single You Know What I Mean is out now. Jackie can also be seen in the new Australian feature film, Three Chords and the Truth, which will have its premiere at the Brisbane International Film Festival in early November, before hitting the road with Sam Cutler throughout November and December. For more information, visit: www.jackiemarshall.bandzoogle.com for details.
Image: Jackie Marshall – photo by Stephen Booth