Country star at home in Carterton

BANJO QUEEN: Renowned country musician Jenny Blackadder at her new home in Carterton.

New Zealand's very own Banjo Queen has made herself at home in Wairarapa.

Jenny Blackadder is something of icon in the Kiwi country music scene -- having won music awards both at home and abroad, played for thousands in the United States and received a Queen's Service Medal.

Last year she settled in Carterton, taking a liking to Wairarapa after playing at the 2014 Clareville Country Music Festival.

From her new base, Blackadder hopes to embark on a musical tour of the North Island, something she hasn't done for "many years".

"We did shows from Bluff to Kaitaia, and stopped in all the little towns," she said, reminiscing.

"We'd set ourselves up in the theatres, usually, and we'd get big audiences.

"We didn't have Super 12 on TV in those days, so people went out more. I'd love to see some of those places again."

Blackadder was born and raised in Christchurch, and has been involved in music from a young age, first learning the ukulele at age seven.

She discovered the banjo in her twenties, seeing a banjo player at a concert.

"I loved its chunky sound and thought, 'I have to get one of those.'

"I found an old one in a junk shop and got my Dad, who was quite the handyman, to do it up for me."

Her big break as a country musician came in 1980, when she won the award for Top Instrumentalist at the Golden Guitar Awards in Gore.

She began recording albums on the worldwide RCA label -- the same label used by Elvis Presley.

This was followed by a win at the Tamworth Country Music Festival in New South Wales and a tour of Australia.

Blackadder came to further prominence by playing on several television shows, including the iconic Telethon fundraiser series.

"Shows like Telethon helped get New Zealand artists exposed," she said.

"I was one of the lucky ones -- it's a lot harder nowadays."

Blackadder was then invited to perform in the US, where she appeared at Grand Ole Opry, played alongside the vice president of Warner Brothers Records and Roy Orbison's band, and was inducted into America's Old Time Country Music Hall of Fame.

One of her favourite moments was playing at a banjo convention where she was the only four-string player in sight.

"Everyone else had a five-string and people asked me, 'how can you play on that banjo?'

"I got up and played and all these people came rolling up, asking if I could teach them."

She eventually returned to Christchurch but relocated to the North Island following the Canterbury earthquakes.

She decided on Carterton to be near her son, a songwriter based in Wellington.

Also a marriage celebrant, Blackadder hopes to conduct more weddings in Wairarapa, particularly those of a quirkier nature -- having already presided over pagan and Alice in Wonderland-themed weddings, ceremonies inside a helicopter, and weddings on board cruise ships.

She is shortly to appear in a woman's magazine as the New Zealand celebrant with the most alternative weddings to her name.