The Last Of The Human Troubadours

Image Credit: William Turner 'Slave Ship' (with permission MFA Boston)

The Last Of The Human Troubadours is the fifth and latest album of songs from Jackie Marshall, featuring long-time collaborator Chris Pickering, and new friends, the inimitable Black Square Quartet, performing exquisite arrangements of said songs by renowned composer Robert Davidson.

The title (and also opening) track of the album delivers a coda-like first-person lament on the fate of the imagined ‘last’ organically formed traveling song artist, in the implied face of a fast-moving artificially intelligent takeover of the arts in all its multifarious parts, in equation with the inevitability of the dowsed sentient spirit springing up anew on the planet at some point in the distant future long after life in its present form has been forgotten.

The album and accompanying concert series features songs written by Marshall exploring various aspects of ‘how to get on with things’ in good spirits and maddening times (Nobody Tell The Birds, Chop Wood Carry Water, The Next Right Thing), a song dedicated to Aunty Delmae Barton on owning and expressing one’s sovereign voice (I Am Heard), an obscure Joni Mitchell cover (Nathan La Franeer), an Irish/Scottish traditional (The Parting Glass), a co-write with Greg Cathcart about disconnected friend (Cool, Calm, Connected), a treatise on being-versus-doing (Crickets For Claudia), a poem by Slovene legend Uroš Zupan set to music (A Prayer), and finally, the oldest surviving written musical composition in the Western canon, the 2000 year old Seikilos Epitaph, with its simple lyric “While you live, shine, hold no grief at all… Life exists only for a short while, and time demands its due”.

The pairing of Black Square Quartet with Jackie Marshall is a meeting of soulful virtuosity delivered with intention, supporting an unapologetically rugged truth and tunefulness, resulting in a life-affirming creation even greater than the sum of its parts.

Jackie Marshall is many things: an inveterate creative, multi-artform explorer, and “that rare thing: an Aussie original” (Weekend Australian). But she might describe herself as many other things too: mother, mystic, restless spirit, moon-gazer, forest-lover, survivor, spontaneous adventurist, heart-centred anarchist, and eternal optimist. With her unrestrained spirit and immense talents, this Wiradjuri-born Magandjin-based artist shines as an acclaimed singer, musician, songwriter, poet, illustrator and actor.

Chris Pickering is a songwriter, composer, academic and musician based in Naarm/Melbourne, Australia. He was born and raised on Githabul Country in south-east Queensland, and learned to play guitar, drums, bass, and piano alongside writing songs and playing in bands. From 2009-2013 he moved to Nashville and Memphis, Tennessee, USA, where he wrote songs on Music Row and performed and toured as an independent artist. He has released four full-length albums of original material, and composed many works that bridge the worlds of popular and art music.

Formed in 2018, the beautifully haunting Black Square Quartet takes its name from Kasimir Malevich’s influential minimalist painting. The quartet is known for championing new and Australian works, having premiered music by Thomas Green, Cathy Likhuta, Brenda Gifford and others, and collaborating with artists such as Trichotomy, Sarah Curro and Steve Newcomb.

Tour Dates 2026

Coolum Civic Centre

Saturday 11 July | Time: 7pm | Location: 2-4 Park St, Coolum Beach | Tickets: events.humanitix.com

Maleny Community Centre

Sunday 12 July | Time: 4pm | Location: 23 Maple St, Maleny | Tickets: events.humanitix.com

Redland Performing Arts Centre

Friday 24 July | Time: 7pm | Location: 2/16 Middle St, Cleveland | Tickets: TBA

Majestic Theatre

Saturday 25 July | Time: 7pm | Location: 3 Factory St, Pomona | Tickets: TBA

Eudlo Hall

Sunday 26 July | Time: 4pm | Location: 19 Rosebed St, Eudlo | Tickets: events.humanitix.com

This project is supported by the Queensland Government through Arts Queensland. Supported by the Regional Arts Development Fund - a partnership between Queensland Government, through Arts Queensland, and Sunshine Coast Council to support local arts and culture in regional Queensland.