IN A crown of hair the colour of fairy floss, Max Jackson is hard to miss.
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A Coonamble export and the protege of Gina Jeffreys, Jackson has just released her first single, Saturday.
"The inspiration is really simple, as a young person who works hard you look forward to the weekend," she said.
"It's a song that was written six years ago and it's stuck around so we decided it had to be the first single."
Jackson and Jeffreys formed an unlikely friendship in 2009, when Jackson entered a singing competition on a Central Coast radio station. The only reason she entered was because Jeffreys and her producer husband Rod McCormack were the judges.
"From that moment we hit it off and so many things have come from that," she said.
Honestly it just came out of me feeling it strongly in the moment and wanting to be real on social media.
- Max Jackson
"I feel like they are my family from another life, the coolest thing is that we've written my stuff together but we also wrote Gina's first single Cash which went to number one."
Jackson's sound is a positive blend of country and pop, she plans to release her first album Life of the Party, recorded in Nashville, in 2020.
Always the perfectionist, Jackson brought the album back to a Central Coast studio to rework it with Jeffreys and McCormack.
"I wanted to make sure that every lyric on there was straight from my heart," Jackson said.
"If I wasn't saying exactly what I meant and what people would hear from me, we had to change it.
"I figured out a lot of who am I through that process both as a person and an artist."
That perfectionism can tip over into social anxiety for Jackson, who spoke openly about it on social media earlier this year.
Only since the stigma around mental health has started to slip away has she felt comfortable talking about it.
"I've always been someone who just wants to do my best and impress people, I think it stems from putting pressure on myself," she said.
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"Though when I get on stage where I don't feel it at all, when I immerse myself in the moment of what I love.
"Honestly it just came out of me feeling it strongly in the moment and wanting to be real on social media."
Jackson is opening for Jeffreys on her Beautiful Tangle Tour, and will perform at Tamworth Country Music Festival on January 22.
Madeline Link
Madeline Link is a journalist at the Newcastle Herald, with a focus on Lake Macquarie City Council. To keep up with my stories, follow my Twitter @madeline_link, for tips email madeline.link@newcastleherald.com.au.
Madeline Link is a journalist at the Newcastle Herald, with a focus on Lake Macquarie City Council. To keep up with my stories, follow my Twitter @madeline_link, for tips email madeline.link@newcastleherald.com.au.
