Dear all,

 

It’s been a big old Urban Folk Quartet tour and we’ve had a great time with a colourful mix of rural village halls and some more city-based outings. So to report:

My own solo tour finished off with two London folk clubs, both of which were highly enjoyable as well as a rare duo outing with my mandolin playing chum Nic Zuppardi in his hometown of Norwich. This was also jolly good prior to a day of feeling nothing short of horrific as the lurgy struck. Driving home from Norwich to Stafford with the most intense headache I’ve ever known, a shivering fever and phenomenal amounts of snot was not so fun. Really.

As for the UFQ tour, it also began in style with a cracking gig in Yorkshire in Brantingham. A great crowd and a great promoter meant a packed house and much fun was had. Hitchin Folk Club was next with a larger packed house so we had an absolute ball and many thanks to the Pages for their typically vocal support. Newbury was next with a very vocal and dancey crowd before one of the very finest village hall gigs EVER. I bloody live village halls. The audience are so often full of enthusiasm and we are so welcomed and fed and watered. It was a brilliant night, a real highlight so thanks to Oxenhall.

Some folks travelled far and wide to get to our gig in Farnham at the Maltings which was greatly appreciated but then it was back to rural touring with no fewer than four village Continue reading “Dense people” →

Dear all,

A bit of a plug-filled blog this time round. I have tours, oh such tours, I have such tours and tours and…er…gigs.

I’m at the tail end of a mini solo tour which ends with:

25/09 – Uxbridge Folk Club, London
28/09 – Walthamstow Folk Club, London
30/09 – Bicycle Shop, Norwich (featuring Nic Zuppardi)

Then it’s UFQ autumn tour time:

September 27^th TRITON INN, Brantingham, East Yorkshire

October 5^th Hitchin Folk Club

October 9^th Arlington Arts Centre, Newbury

Oct 11th Oxenhall Parish Hall, Gloucestershire

October 12^th Farnham Maltings, Surrey

October 15^th Kirk Langley Village Hall, Derbyshire

October 16^th Taddington Village Institute, Derbyshire

October 17th Denstone Village Hall, Staffordshire

October 18^th Fillongley Village Hall, Coventry

October 24^th Huntingdon Hall, Worcester

October 27^th Colchester Folk Club

October 31^st Edge Hill Arts Centre, Ormskirk

November 1^st MAC, Birmingham

November 7th Brockweir Mackenzie Hall, Chepstow

November 8th May Hill Village Hall, Gloucestershire

Then a very special tour with Canadian singer Meaghan Blanchard:

12 Nov 2014 07:30 pm	with Meaghan Blanchard	Gatehouse Theatre, Stafford
13 Nov 2014 07:30 pm	with Meaghan Blanchard	Cecil Sharp House, London
14 Nov 2014 07:30 pm	with Meaghan Blanchard	Spring Bank Arts Centre, New Mills, Derbyshire
15 Nov 2014	with Meaghan Blanchard	AFO Conference (not public), Nottingham
16 Nov 2014 07:30 pm	with Meaghan Blanchard	Old Launderette, Durham
17 Nov 2014 08:00 pm	with Meaghan Blanchard	House Concert, Edinburgh (email for details)
18 Nov 2014 07:30 pm	with Meaghan Blanchard	Kitchen Garden Cafe, Birmingham
21 Nov 2014 07:30 pm	with Meaghan Blanchard	Maverick Events at the White Horse, Easton

Wow the fonts in the blog have gone crazy! But anyway that’s the giggage coming up and very excited I am too. So a little report on things that have been happening…After a great time in the studio recording my new solo album it was back to giggery with two food-themed gigs – Sturminster Cheese Festival with UFQ and then a solo slot at the Great British Food Festival. Both were rather good and I ate well. Then a couple of solo shows at St Neot’s Folk Club and at Shakespeare’s in Sheffield. A lovely audience for both gigs and I thoroughly enjoyed myself.

Then from the Sheffield gig I drove to Liverpool to catch a 3am ferry to Ireland. Silly boy. Anyway after an eight hour ferry ride of not sleeping I headed to Navan to play the Spirit of Folk festival which by all accounts was an absolute belter. The reception great and I enjoyed some cracking music from a variety of bands but special mention must go to In Their Thousands with whom I had some great craic and one of my all time favourite bands Kila who as ever were just stunning. Then it was off to Galway, a magical city with music on every corner quite literally. I have never come across anywhere so enveloped by music and my gig at Monroe’s was ever a blast. Finally, the wonder that is Ballymore Acoustic Gigs with its incredibly attentive audience and first rate pints of Guinness! Great to meet Buddy Mondlock and Mike Lindauer who shared the bill and were great company and of course outstanding musicians.

Then back I came on the ferry which was mind numblingly tedious until the last few hours when my beloved Liverpool team appeared on the telly and played well into extra time and a record length of penalty shootout which kept me much entertained and rather tense! I spend a lot of time ranting on this blog but I feel the need to redress the balance here. I overheard a couple of young German girls chatting to a typically gregarious scouse couple and after a bit of chat the Germans asked if the scousers knew anywhere to park for free in Liverpool so they wouldn’t pay exorbitant charges whilst staying wherever they were staying. The reaction of the scouse couple – use our drive! You can even come in and have a cuppa if you like. Use our drive while you’re here as much as you need.

That, people, is why I bloody love Liverpool.

Dear all,

I am very excited to tell you that a new album is on the way soon. It’s been a while since my last outing The Same But Different so I’m writing to you from Northampton where I’ve been in the studio for the last couple of days with producer Mark Hutchinson. The new stuff’s sounding great and you can expect something a bit more like my gigs this time – it’s fairly stripped down. Some live favourites and some new surprises are on there and I am a little excited! It’s all going very well so I shall keep you posted.

So after a fairly crazy August, September is not much quieter! The last weekend in August saw two festivals with the Urban Folk Quartet at Burnham on Sea and Fylde folk festivals. We had a good time and Continue reading “Album time!” →

Longlands was the second extended care home residency in myself and Nic’s Live Music Now career. At ten concerts, it was longer than our previous one in Surbiton and there were moments during the early weeks where Nic and I wondered whether we could maintain effectiveness as performers there over such an extended period. Our feeling now that it is finished is emphatically that far from our effectiveness diminishing, it was continuing to increase week on week and we don’t feel at all that it had simply ‘run its course’. As with Surbiton, we felt a real emotion upon leaving Longlands for the last time, as did some residents and activity co-ordinator Angie. We’ve felt its absence since it finished and feel that had we continued to visit every week it would have continued to have a hugely positive impact and perhaps thrown up more surprises!

The early sessions, while full of rewards, were also challenging at times. After our Surbiton residency we had an idea of the way that we would approach this one. Previously an emphasis on jazz repertoire had worked very well, with an attentiveness and openness to requests of pieces from residents, so prior to our arrival at Longlands we had this Continue reading “Longlands” →

Dear all,

I’m afraid it’s a sad blog from me today but I hope one that also pays tribute to two people who had quite an impact on me.

I sadly lost a schoolfriend two weeks ago, Shel Frost. Shel died at just 27 of cervical cancer, a very cruel and painful experience. Yet I think of Shel and smile in spite of her untimely passing as she was a remarkable person and someone whose attitude to life could be a lesson to us all. I was struck at the montage of photos showed at her funeral just how that smile was always there from the word go! She really did light up a room and injected a real sense of feel-good into people’s days. Even during her illness, I never once heard her complain about her lot and she of all people had the right to. She continued to be more interested in what everyone else was doing and did whatever she felt she was still capabale of doing rather than focussing on what she couldn’t do. Continue reading “A passing of two remarkable souls” →

Dear all,

Work-wise it’s been a wonderful couple of weeks. After the alarming chaos of Boomtown came a festival that I have a very soft spot for…BROADSTAIRS! It’s always wonderful and this time it was doubly exciting as I got a solo gig in the day and then a 90 minute set with UFQ in the evening. Both were well received and I was reminded just how much I bloody love this festival. Thanks to all of you who came out to see me/us and thanks to Kim for being the usual wonderful organiser she is and for buying little Sabela (Joe and Paloma’s baby, I didn’t forget to tell you something VERY big…) a present!

Just when I thought it couldn’t get any better, along came Green Man festival. Wow! Seriously, just wow! The audience went crazy for us and we had such a ball. I was promised it was the mother of all festivals and I’m inclined to agree! I thought any gig after that would seem a comedown but Folkeast on the Sunday was bloody marvellous as well with a well received set and lovely people and a real musical discovery – the Sam Kelly trio. Great stuff.

Two more festivals followed the weekend just gone but prior to that a lovely wee gig at Housman’s in Church Stretton took place, in front of family members which is always lovely of course. A great night was had and hopefully another will follow too! Also, one of the very best pre-gig meals I’ve had!

So, those festivals. First up was Shambala. Now this is one of the very greatest festivals you will ever see and possibly one could say one of the more surreal ones too! To look out from a stage and see an awful lot of people dressed in some of the most ludicrous get ups I have ever set my eyes on is a rather odd experience. As you may know from previous blogs, I’m not much of a lad for fancy dress. In fact I find it one of the most tedious institutions known to man and generally my reaction in a pub for instance when a group walk in in fancy dress is to think ‘I don’t want to talk to these people’ or possibly, if they really are acting like tossers I think ‘they’re tossers’. But…at such a fun and happy festival it was impossible not to admire the costumes on show.

And then came Towersey…one of my very favourite festivals. Best of all my old friend Jenny was over from Hong Kong and it was great to see her for the first time in too long. As for the gigs, well both solo and UFQ were really really fantastic. Great audience, great festival and for one day good weather. Marvellous.

I have some profound things to say about my recent Live Music Now series in an Oxford care home and the loss of a friend but I don’t feel this is a blog to do it – I’d like to give both their own blogs so will do shortly.

So, a rant for you. For the first time the other day I received a letter in the post from the police – a speeding ticket. Now, my initial reaction was of mild disbelief given that, and I really mean this, outside of the occasional 75mph flourish on the motorway I really do not speed. I read on and discovered it was a variable speed limit sign on a motorway. Apparently, the limit given was 40 and I was doing 47. A fair cop you might say. A limit was given and I exceeded it. I rather felt that everyone exceeds the limits at those points and that I’d never heard of anyone getting caught. So feeling fairly cheesed off with this, I was on the road again yesterday and of course in light of this ticket I now immediately go to whatever limit is given on these things. But I was reminded just how ruddy ridiculous they are and why I must have sped. Just what exactly is the need for everyone to drive at 40mph, a flashing sign saying ‘obstruction’ and my journey taking twice the length it needs to when the only ‘obstruction’ is a broken down car in a layby further left than the hard shoulder? How is that an ‘obstruction’ when it’s not even in the bloody road? And why do we need a 50mph limit on an overhead sign when the outside lane is empty? Could it possibly be to catch out safe drivers and collect some fines to invest in a thoroughly crap transport network? Yes that could be it.

Dear all,

August is a busy busy month this year and it is already proved rather memorable. I ended July with a couple of pub outings in Croydon at the Oval Tavern and in Chelmarsh for a thoroughly brilliant night at the Bulls Head, always a good music venue but this really was a great night. The start of August saw a gig four miles from my folks house in Penrith so they got to see the fully fledged Urban Folk Quartet with the lovely Paloma Trigas back on board after maternity leave. We played Kendal Calling and it was quite a gig with lots of very energetic people jumping around going completely balmy. I say that, I mean at the music obviously not just all having breakdowns all at once. It was a great way to kick off the festival season with the proper line-up and the atmosphere was electric.

The next day saw a trip east for a rare wedding gig on Teeside to play a ceilidh for my old housemate Mark. Congratulations to himself and Victoria, it was rather lovely. Thanks to Rachel Cross and Sam Partridge with whom I played they were both wonderful as ever. Check both out, tremendous players. We then went back to Newcastle and drank a lot. A lot. I also saw people I like which is good before heading home late at night, which by the way is infinitely preferable to travelling Continue reading “A system?” →

Dear all,

I write to you from sunny, possibly too sunny, Kent where I stayed last night with some family which was absolutely lovely. It followed a busy week playing Live Music Now gigs in Oxford and Hitchin and rehearsing with Urban Folk Quartet again on Wednesday ahead of a packed festival season in August. Really excited to be playing with them again, it’s going to be a blast. Also got the chance on Wednesday night to catch up with Gordie MacKeeman and the Rhythm Boys, a truly mesmerising band from the east coast of Canada who have become good friends of mine and I stayed on to watch a typically memorable gig.

Meanwhile last week, I played the Middle of Nowhere festival, a lovely gig in Newbury, a cracking little festival in Kinver, did some Live Music Now stuff and had a birthday. Oh and there was the small matter of playing at Wembley Arena. Now I went into this quite a bit in my last outing so won’t bother here but the Wembley experience was absolutely fantastic. Quite a venue to play in of course and the crowning moment was one of the kids from the school catching sight of himself on the big screen and smiling like I’ve hardly seen anyone smile before before breaking into a dance which drew a huge round of applause from the audience. Thanks to the kids who made the whole project so worthwhile and fun and thanks also to the other Live Music Now musicians and school staff for making it so much better.

As for the other gigs I did well they were all rather good. I almost died of heat overload at all three of them but they were all great with lovely audiences. The Middle of Nowhere is a longtime favourite, my first festival ever in fact way back when I was 17. TEN YEARS AGO that is now. This one was great anyway and involved a great crowd, quite a few of whom I knew. The Broombusters played a blinding set later on as well.

Right then, I’ve been persauded possibly against my better judgement to blog about dithering. My housemates who are the finest group of people one could ever hope to live with are familiar with my ranting about people dithering. Therefore a blog was requested on the subject. People dithering makes life so frustrating doesn’t it? Perhaps the best example is at shops, particularly supermarkets. The remarkable inability of people to get the hell out of the way when making decisions on what they’re going to get never ceases to amaze me. Or having conversations in the middle of the aisle with trolleys side by side? I’m very much an in-and-out…no that sounds wrong. I’m very much a get on with it type shopper. I head in and get the stuff and get out. But even if you are a ditherer for heaven’s sake dither somewhere else and have your money ready at tills. Another example is driving. People have the most remarkable ability to stop for no reason and dither. I’m not a speedster by any means but one does just like to get a bit of a move on occasionally and it’s rather hard when some dozy tool inexplicably dithers. Basically in conclusion, one likes to get on with things. And the trouble is that people dither.

Dear all,

I’ve some fabulously moving Live Music Now stories for you this week, but I’ve a fair number of gigs to report on so let’s start with those. Also, I guess calling it this week given this is my first blog for a few week probably sounds a bit weird but there you go…

That was unneccessary. So, gigs. First up, a visit to an old favourite The Haberdashers in Knighton. Rather than the usual room I’ve always played here, as it was…er…warm and a big turnout was expected the gig was moved to an outdoor marquee. Well the big turnout happened…yes my hands were bloody cold as were some of the audience but not to worry I still did a nice long set and had a cracking night so thanks very much to everyone who came out. Special thanks to Andrea and Paul who were as ever wonderful hosts.

The next day also saw a local gig as I played as part of a tribute concert to the late Hywel Evans. Hywel was a cracking fiddler and guitarist who sadly died last year. I first met him when I started gigging aged 16 in Joxers and he was very supportive and told me if I wanted, I’d be a professional musician. I then met him frequently at various Continue reading “The function of a door” →

Dear all,

Well it has been a mightily busy time since my last blog and I have enjoyed it very much. So to catch up, first up came a gig in Church Stretton in Shropshire at Housmans which was very fun indeed and best of all my grandparents were among those present which was really lovely. Thanks to all those who turned out, especially those who travelled quite a distance which is always greatly appreciated. Earlier in the day I had been in London to continue work on a fabulous Live Music Now project at a school in Brent which involves different LMN acts working at different schools and eventually bringing them all together to perform a disco version of Beethoven at Wembley Arena. Kind of fun. More on this shortly…

Next up was the start of another LMN project…well sort of. Nic and I paid a visit to a care home in Oxford where we will be performing a series of concerts but this was more of a preliminary meeting. Again more on this one shortly…

A couple of nights performing out came next, first up a much welcomed return of a fine Stafford folky open mic type thing called Sit n Listen. I closed the evening after listening to some great stuff from many others and I think a good night was had by all. This used to be a staple of the Stafford folk calendar and it’s great to have it back as a Continue reading “A baby walked…” →