Adelaide Cabaret Festival audiences this year quickly fell in love with Jess Hitchcock, who appeared across many performances. Her spell-binding voice and wonderful story-telling skills mesmerised audiences.
Jess will be returning to Adelaide this September as part of the Adelaide Guitar Festival, appearing in Blak Country on Friday 13 September.
Jess spoke to Glam Adelaide about Blak Country, her career and what drew her to follow her heart into such a successful career so far in the performing arts industry.
“I have always had a love for music and I studied music from a very young age. I was a classical pianist for a long time when I was little, but when I left high school I actually gave music a bit of a break. I went to uni and I have a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology, and I wanted to go off into the world and do that. But music kept calling me back, so when I was 23 I decided to give it a solid crack and if I was where I wanted to be when I turned 30 I figured I’d keep going and if not I’d go back to anthropology. I’m 33 now and I’m loving it. So I think music is really where it’s at for me.”
At this year’s Adelaide Cabaret Festival, Jess showcased what a vocal chameleon she is, jumping between shows and genres of music with ease.
“I absolutely love working across genres. I think each genre comes with its own challenges and its own fun. As somebody who wasn’t really trained in singing, I think my voice sort of filters into each genre in the way that I just think about storytelling. I think probably my favourite genre at the moment would be country and singing those sorts of stories. It has always been my favourite just because of the way that those songs are able to be so raw in your storytelling and I really love that.”
Over the past few years, Jess has written and released several albums. We asked her where she draws her inspiration from when composing.
“It depends what I’m composing. The first genre of singing I was introduced to when I was about 17 was jazz. I really loved all of the jazz standards and all of their little recitative parts that come before the part of the song everyone recognises. It’s actually a shame these recitative parts are not performed as much. For instance, before Somewhere Over a Rainbow, there’s a whole extra verse that leads us into that song. I also have a really strong affinity to country music, and I take my inspiration from writing from parts of truth – everyone loves a good metaphor. I’m probably not the brightest, sharpest tool in the shed when it comes to being able to create such incredible poetry like that, so I just speak from truth and just get things across plain and simple.”
Jess shared with us that it can be nerve-wracking to perform a new piece she has written, more than performing in an opera or cabaret show.
“It does feel like there’s a bit more pressure. All of my songwriting comes from a little piece of truth about me. You’re revealing yourself to the audience in that way. Songs aren’t word for word your entire life of course, but there’s definitely elements that are nerve wracking when you reveal something about yourself to an audience through song.”
On Friday 13 September Jess will be appearing in Blak Country. Blak Country is a celebration of the resonance First Nations people have found in country music, nurturing generations to tell strong stories about life, land and love. Curated by Barkindji songwoman Nancy Bates, Blak Country gathers powerful First Nations voices from across generations, backed by a full band and imagery of the land which breathes life into the songs.
Jess shared her involvement in this performance.
“I will be playing a couple of my original songs, and obviously country music. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have had an affinity with country music for years and years. So I’m going to be singing some original country music. Two songs are from albums that I’ve released, and I’m going to sing a new one as well. It’s a Guitar Festival and country music is often written on a guitar. Yes. My experience with guitar has been limited – I taught myself how to play it because it was easier than transporting a piano around the country trying to write songs. So I taught myself guitar to have that ease. The country songs that I’m going to sing are mostly about the nostalgia of going back home. I feel like I write quite a bit about that because I don’t live where I grew up anymore. I’m always missing being by the coastline.”
Blak Country – Adelaide Guitar Festival
8pm — Friday 13th September
Dunstan Playhouse, Adelaide Festival Centre
https://guitar.adelaidefestivalcentre.com.au/whats-on/blak-country
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