“Dorrigo” is an original composition by George Jackson, written to honor the Dorrigo Folk & Bluegrass Festival held in Dorrigo, New South Wales — a small timber-and-tourism town in the Northern Tablelands of Australia. Jackson, born in Christchurch, New Zealand, spent roughly a decade touring and performing across Australia before relocating to Nashville in 2016; the tune carries the gratitude of a traveling musician toward a community that gave him both an audience and a musical home. It was recorded for Time and Place (2019), made in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, with collaborators including Andrew Marlin of Mandolin Orange, Brad Kolodner, and Ashlee Watkins.
After the album’s release, the tune spread rapidly through social media. The #dorrigochallenge hashtag generated over a hundred posted versions by musicians worldwide within weeks; when Jackson performed at the actual 2019 Dorrigo festival, he brought roughly twenty pickers onstage to record what he called the “100th version.” The Bluegrass Situation covered the phenomenon, noting the tune’s combination of an accessible two-part structure and a melody strong enough to carry successive improvisations without wearing out.
For a composition only a few years old, “Dorrigo” has established itself as a post-2019 festival-circuit standard — evidence that the bluegrass and old-time communities can still absorb new material quickly when the tune earns its place. Jackson now teaches at the Augusta Heritage Center in Elkins, West Virginia, and the tune circulates widely among his students and collaborators.
