I am delighted to report that the release of ‘The Same But Different’ is very nearly upon us – the 3^rd September is when it comes out everywhere although it is already available direct from me at gigs and will continue to be so! Anyway, I’ve had a fair few emails asking what’s going to be on it so without further ado here is my preview of what’s going to be on it:

 

Jigs (Lost At Sea/No More Clues/Page One)

 

What actually made me want to take up the banjo in the first place Continue reading “The Same But Different Preview” →

Dear all,

 

Well I’ve just returned from two fantastic festivals with Walsh and Pound. Solfest on Friday was wonderful because Solfest generally is. I love it, it was the best solo gig of last year arguably and so far my favourite Walsh and Pound one of this year. The audience were clearly remarkably p**sed or otherwise intoxicated but that made them so lovely and loud and enthusiastic and Will and I had an absolute ball. It also meant I was able to see my parents in Penrith which is always wonderful.

 

Next up, we played Towersey yesterday which was just brilliant as ever. I’m a big fan of this festival and it doesn’t disappoint. It was wonderful to finally see the great Donal Lunny Continue reading “Trains are about to get better…” →

Dear all,

 

Just thought you might care to view my recent excursions on the M5. It’s not the best place to rehearse to be honest but the lorry drivers’ faces made for great viewing and their horn beeping was so original…

 

Anyway hats off to the AA they did a cracking job as ever. This weekend Walsh and Pound play Towersey and Solfest so very much looking forward to that and I’m off to my folks tomorrow for the night as well so that’ll be lovely.

 

George Galloway is a colossal twerp. ‘It’s not rape to start having sex with a sleeping woman if she consented the night before’. Yes George it is. And you’re a pillock.

 

That is all.

Dear all,

Well a great night was had by myself and Christi Andropolis last night with a cracking gig at the Ritz Acoustic Club, Burnham on Sea. Christi was on fire and blew the crowd away with her ‘shouldn’t come out of someone who’s only 5 feet tall’ voice. Thanks to everyone who came out and looking forward to folkfest now as well!

Now perhaps you’d like to hear about the journey down…while on the M5 I suddenly felt the car rumble and vibrate and generally not sound or feel too good so said to Christi ‘I think we’ll pull over at the next service if that’s ok’. Then I looked to my right and the passenger in the car was signalling furiously that my tyre was rather Continue reading “The Walsh travel curse” →

Dear all,

This is a brief note to say that as of the end of the year, my duo Walsh and Pound will be no more. This has already been revealed on the duo website www.walshandpound.co.uk and also on mine and the duo’s facebook pages so here completes the set I guess. Many comments have flooded in on facebook and I am genuinely extremely flattered that we seemed to mean something to some. However, all good things must come to an end and both of us feel it’s reached the end of the road and it’s best to jump before things go downhill. Obviously I have this very exciting new solo album and band to push so fear not, you’ll see much more of me! I’m sorry…

Dear all,

 

Apologies for the delayed bloggage in terms of a regular catch up blog although I hoped you enjoyed my musical snobbery article. Thanks for the comments and emails, I occasionally unleash a bit of a journalistic blog I should do it more often as there’s few things more satisfying than expressing one’s opinions particularly against irritating people.

 

Anyway, what the ruddy hell am I on about? The rest of my Northeast visit was absolutely fantastic. I enjoyed returning to the Newcastle tune session scene Continue reading “Cannock should not take an hour from Stafford” →

Musical snobbery is one of the most prevalent things I have encountered and one of the most phenomenally irritating. I have to say what always surprises me given how much I loathed the classical snobbery experienced in music at school, is that actually the greatest snob percentage I’ve found is amongst jazzers. I was in a university jazz orchestra and I have to say much though I enjoyed the gigs and the music, I was frankly stunned by the utterly dismissive nature of them towards anything that wasn’t classical or jazz. They particularly had it in for folk which clearly they were just plain Continue reading “The dangers of musical snobbery” →

Dear all,

 

Firstly as you’ve probably noticed the video on my homepage has returned as a result of the wonderful news that Simmo’s youtube page has been reinstated after the difficulty explained in my previous blog. This guy’s archive of folk videos is nothing short of phenomenal and has been a wonderful promotion for so many of us so I just want to take this opportunity to thank Pete for everything he does.

 

Secondly and again on the subject of videos, there is a new video to be found on the ‘albums’ page which is a brand new preview of forthcoming release ‘The Same But Different’. Continue reading “Stadia full?” →

Dear all,

 

Well it’s been eventful since my last entry. The new youtube video is uploading as we speak so hopefully should be with us very shortly. A little note – apologies for the current disappearance of the youtube video on my homepage. There’s been a right to-do over the guy’s youtube channel and it’s been taken down but the people who accidentally got it taken down are trying to sort it out so hopefully it will return very soon.

 

So what’s been happening then? Continue reading “Darren and Kylie” →

Dear all,

Well as you can see the website has been overhauled and looks brand spanking new! Added to which, scarily, you can now comment on these blogs so the public can see. Good lord…I welcome comments it would be great to hear from you (although don’t let it turn into youtube style world war 3 – see previous blog)

Continue reading “New Website!” →