Thursday 25 April 2013

Recent stuff




It was a treat to be invited along to The Nursery Tavern in Coventry on the 10th of April. Having not been there before I was very happy to find a very traditional pub filled with interesting curios like cigarette cards in display cases all over the walls.

The monthly music night is organised and hosted by a lady called Elaine who puts together a very fine evening. The event takes places in an intimate space the back of the pub with a lovely audience crammed in; some sitting on wooden chairs, others standing at the back or peeking through from the adjacent room.  Elaine explained that usually she would have one singer songwriter appearing amongst a line that could include a 40 piece choir, Harp players and full bands. On this occasional I was playing alongside three other singer songwriters. Jay Leighton, whose vocals and strongly melodic songs reminded me of Fran Healey and Ron Sexsmith (a very very good thing) Jess Morgan who impressed everyone with her finely crafted folk songs and Dan Wilde whose exceptional story telling songs featured subjects as diverse as job interviews, parking tickets and life lessons from drunken strangers in pubs.

It was cool to meet these guys and chat with them a bit before and after the gig. The audience was very nice indeed and Dan, Jess and Jay play all over the UK and you should go and see them when they play near you.

The next night I was performing at the lovely Spark Café in Lichfield. The audience, whilst fairly small in number, where particularly lovely and I really enjoyed playing. Thanks to the team there and Steve Walters for his opening set. I hope to go back sometime in the summer.

I’ve recently caught up with Matty Pinfield and Mick Jeynes to practice for our set at The Crossroads Blues Club on the 9th of May which will be my first gig with the band for 12 months. We will be playing some new songs in what will obviously be a pretty Blues heavy set.

I’m booking new gigs all the time at the moment, so look out for new dates coming soon...

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