I have been hosting songwriting retreats for 26 years, this year was a time of great reflection as I stood surrounded by massive talent and love. The retreats started down in Devon at Huntsham Court, a big old pile run by two lovely nutty people, they had to be to house so many lose cannons. […]
Ah the smell of the open road, this time back in Squeeze gears. Blackburn and a warm up show not to be sneezed at, across the road from many a curry house and many a strange face. I was late for the Gm jam that flavours most sound checks. It all sounded good to me. […]
I watched The Defiant Ones with Louise on the sofa this week and was moved in so many ways, its one of the best documentaries I have seen. It engaged me and scared me too. It made me think about fame and fortune and what that means to me. Yes I had the large PRS […]
House concerts are mixed and varied, this one today in Kendal was outstanding, in the living room of a farmhouse with sandwiches cakes and meringues. On a cattle farm way up a hillside was where I found myself, it was so much fun to wonder through some songs on my own for the lovely people […]
Have you ever sat in the bath pulled out the plug and watched the water drain away leaving your body as an island in the middle, no neither have I. But thats what it feels like being out on tour, I can feel the past draining away revealing the clean tired but relaxed me like […]
A marathon drive from Preston down to Cheltenham back up to Warwick On Eden and then on to Perth in Scotland, miles and miles on the new clock. The God of Audi would be proud of me. The show in Perth was totally amazing, in a barn at the back of a wonderful house on […]
The road is not less traveled in my mind, its a distance between two places the past and the present. Touring is taking shape, and its building slowly. Boo is very good company in the car and we talk for days about this that and the other, its often very funny and hard to concentrate […]
I wake up tired, I look for the light and there it is. Driving South I noticed how wide and open the sky had become, clouds hanging like cotton down upon the green hills and mountains. Some snow covered the fields as the blue of day cut a shape in the sky above. The road […]
Up the road to Cavan and a small rehearsal room in the Town Hall, a bash through some songs and off to the show down the road in Carrick. A lovely small venue by the dock, and to top all things a nice curry on the high street. A treat. It was a long drive […]
I had no idea that solo touring could be such a work out, four days standing still after a storm to get a ferry, and finally on day five its anchors away. Sadly I have missed three shows and will come back in May to recover that ground. Tonight I would have been in Cavan, […]