Jackie Bristow in Taihape and Whanganui on her way to Bluff

Jackie Bristow will be performing at the Taihape Musicians Club tonight and at Lucky Bar + Kitchen tomorrow.

She started in Whangarei and she'll finish in Bluff, but tonight Nashville-based country singer Jackie Bristow will be in Taihape.

Bristow will follow that up with a performance at Lucky Bar + Kitchen in Whanganui tomorrow night.

The New Zealand-born singer who specialises in blues, Americana and country music has been living abroad for about 15 years now.

"It's always hard going back and leaving my family," she said.

"Sometimes I get overcome with emotion and I think 'oh my god, I didn't even know I was homesick'."

A Gore native, Bristow had a stint living in Australia but since then she's spent the majority of her time in Los Angeles, Austin and now Nashville.

"It's kind of a booming, fast-growing town. It's got a pool of talent and community, it's a nice music community," she said of Nashville.

"It's inspiring going out and just seeing new music and such great players."

Despite being in the mecca of country music in Nashville, Bristow felt there was a lot she was missing in New Zealand.

"Especially recently with America, just with things changing and the guns and shootings... part of me would like to move back to New Zealand.

"Last night in Auckland we had a great show but then we went out to this bar and everyone was dancing ... it was just really nice. There's a buzz happening in New Zealand, I feel."

She said she was really looking forward to being in Taihape and Whanganui and possibly meeting some of the local musicians.

Her gig tomorrow at Lucky was organised by local music lover and musician, Murray Aitken.

Christine Mackintosh, who runs the Taihape Musicians Club, was behind getting Bristow to perform in Taihape.

She'll be there from 7pm tonight and at Lucky Bar + Kitchen tomorrow at 7.30pm.

Bristow was supposed to be doing the tour with her guitar player, Mark Punch, but he had to step aside after he broke his ribs in an accident.

The Bluff Oyster Festival and Air New Zealand combined forces to help get Bristow here and she will be one of the main performers at the festival on Saturday, May 26