Got a pistol for a mouth my old mama gave me that
Building my own road out of gravel and some wine
If I have to fall it won't be in your line"
New Zealand-born Virginia Claire "Gin" Wigmore (born 6 June 1986) wrote her first song at age 14. Two years later (after her father's death), she put her music career on hold and moved to Argentina to become a teacher. Upon returning home, she honored her dad with the song "Hallelujah," which won the 2004 International Songwriting Competition - the first time an unsigned talent had won. The song would later appear on her 2008 debut EP (coincidentally titled Extended Play). A year later, her debut album Holy Smoke arrived and parked several hits in the New Zealand music charts. For her 2011 release Gravel and Wine, Wigmore beefed up her sound with heavy doses of rock, blues, and even jump swing. (The album got an official US release in April 2013.)
Her third album, Blood to Bone, was released in the US on August 28, 2015, a few months after coming out in her native New Zealand. Fourth album Ivory was released on April 2018, sharing its name with Wigmore's son, born seven months earlier.
You've probably heard Wigmore without even realizing it; her songs have wound up in TV shows (Teen Wolf, Weeds, Grey's Anatomy) and commercials for Lowes
, Johnnie Walker and Heineken. She's almost as well-known for her unconventional looks (ornate tattoos, heavy eyeliner) as for her growly, Macy Gray-like voice.
"Tropes and Wine":
- Blues Rock: Gravel and Wine leans heavily towards this. Her earlier releases were more in the Pop category.
- Even Bad Women Love Their Mamas: "Black Sheep," of course.
- Exploitation Film: The video for "Black Sheep" comes off like one, and some websites have described it as having a "noirish grindhouse look."
- Femme Fatale: "Kill of the Night" is sung by one of those.
- The Flapper/The Roaring '20s: As per the page image, from her music video for "Man Like That." Her enthusiastic Charleston certainly qualifies as a Happy Dance.
- Lyrical Dissonance: "Man Like That" is a peppy, up-beat tune with incredibly bitter lyrics about a cheating husband.
- Lyrics/Video Mismatch: "New Rush" is a song about how Gin's new lover (her eventual husband) revitalized her life. The music video has her escaping pursuit from an arrow-shooting man.
- Never Trust a Commercial: "Man Like That" is a bitter (albeit up-tempo) song about a cheating husband, addressed to the woman with whom he's currently sleeping. When used in the Heineken commercial linked above, the context is more of a swooning, literal, "Look how awesome this guy is" approach.
- Rhyming with Itself: This "Black Sheep" couplet:"Paint me in a corner but my color comes back
Once you go black you never go back." - The Shrink: In the "Black Sheep" video. Basically a type 2 with Hypnotic Eyes.
- Soprano and Gravel: Gin's voice is a rare example of both mixed together. Detractors dismiss it as Harsh Vocals.
- Stocking Filler: Wigmore wore this◊ to the 2010 Vodafone Music Awards in New Zealand. It didn't prevent her from winning "Breakthrough Artist of the Year." (Might have even helped...)
