The Graduate

At only 23, New Zealand-born George Jackson has made a name for himself as one of the most exciting and innovative fiddle players. His most recent accolades include the 2012 Golden Fiddle Award for “Best Fiddler”, the 2012 Australian Youth Bluegrass Scholarship and winner of the CMAA Australian Fiddle and Banjo Championships in both 2010 and 2011.

Having recently completed a Bachelor of Music in Jazz Violin at the Queensland Conservatorium, it'd seem he could take a bit of time off to enjoy some freedom and consider his options. “Well you know with music, you've got to want to keep going” Jackson explains. “It's a never-ending journey and you've got to keep exploring and pushing yourself so I haven't really been resting in that department. I spent a month over in the US last year and then since I've been back I've been pretty busy with a lot of musical projects.”

Despite his range of projects, the New Zealand-born musician says when faced with the decision to pursue either a career in jazz or bluegrass, heading overseas to the birthplace of both genres helped him get a better perspective. “I've always known that I was going to be a musician, so the real question I faced was 'what am I going to do in music?'. I've always been very passionate about folk and bluegrass music all through my studies and it was very clear to me after taking the trip to the states that that was what I wanted to pursue. It was just a real challenge and passion of mine that I wanted to get deeper into.”

Another reason behind Jackson's decision to pursue bluegrass is his love for playing with The Company and the diverse range of styles that each person offers, including the band's guitarist and Jackson's former teacher Jamie Clarke. ”He was one of my main jazz lecturers when I was at the conservatorium. He's a fantastic jazz guitarist and together we really bring a few of those jazz ideas and flavours to the band and the compositions. Nick, the mandolin player, comes from a classical background where he was performing in orchestras and so he adds that side to it. Marcus the bass player was playing in rock and heavy metal bands so it's quite a mix and we've all sort of come through it to bring those influences towards the band and bluegrass music.”

Having finally finished his studies, Jackson is free to tour - and that suits him just fine. “I really itch to get onstage. The closer we get to a show, the more I look forward to being up there. I mean I've always felt quite comfortable up onstage, I've been doing it since I was quite young and still look forward to it every time.”

It also might help that the band are enjoying some of their best live shows yet. “We did a show last night here in Brisbane and it was an absolute cracker. Lots of crazy things have been happening at our live shows recently with people getting very excited. We played in Perth a couple of months ago at the Nannup Music Festival and people were so excited they started getting naked in the crowd, which was quite outrageous.”

But despite all the craziness of their live shows, Jackson says the group is already hard at work on new songs and a second album. “We've had a lot of new musical ideas since the last album and things are starting to take a little bit of momentum towards another CD. So we got a bunch of new materials and some exciting fast-paced fiddle tunes.”

The Company will be playing the following dates:

Friday 26 to Sunday 28 April - Folkworld Fairbridge Festival, Pinjarra WA