Bridget Pross’s Diary
After just a few moments in the company of Melbourne-based singer/songwriter, Bridget Pross, it becomes clear that she is a woman who fearlessly wears her heart on her sleeve. Some pessimists warn that it’s dangerous to display emotions out in the open as it leaves you exposed and vulnerable. Bridget reckons these people worry too much. “If you hurt me, it just don’t even hurt me,” she proclaims in a lyric from an upcoming single.
One marvels at how an isolated teenager from the remote town of Westerway in Tasmania has arrived at the age of 25 and in the possession of such self-assured exuberance. With one album already released and a second currently being recorded, I meet with Pross just as she is busy packing her bags for Sydney, having just won an APRA-sponsored trip to attend music discussions and workshops at Song Summit 2010 . “Everything is happening at once,” Pross grins. “I’ve had this massive spurt of creativity and I’m waking up with songs in my head. It’s so good, it’s just happening, my music is happening.” For the envious among us, the truth is that Pross’s road was not always paved with yellow bricks. It’s just that she learnt how to put on a brave face and get on with it.
From a young age Pross knew that her destiny lay beyond the restrictive confines of Tasmania. Life at home continuously presented difficult challenges: at the age of four Pross and her two year old sister went to live with their mother’s new partner, whom had 6 children from a previous relationship. Though the household atmosphere was always lively and high-spirited – Pross’s new dad, who loved to sing, referred to himself as American folk hero Davy Crockett – Pross struggled to find her place within the new family and never felt completely accepted. Read the rest of Bridget Pross's Diary»