Brid

A big thank you to David Swann, Phil Friend, Martin Heaton, Robin Bunton, Martin & Penny Robertson and all the other great musicians who helped to make yesterday's Bridlington Old Town Festival such a great success. We had a fabulous little sound stage and PA and were made to feel really welcome by the organisers, town folk and visitors alike.

Please be assured I don't normally play wearing sunglasses, but yesterday was the time and the place.

A special thank you to Paula Ryan for her kind words.

Poster Boy

I’ve been a bit tardy, I know, but I’ve finally got around to having a little launch party for Pickering Place, my debut EP. It’s at The Kirk Theatre, Pickering, just outside York, on Saturday 7 September.

Joining me on the night will be the fabulous award winning songwriter, David Swann: he’ll be performing solo and with his new band Freefall. Also playing, spreading their intoxicating brand of feel good vibes, all the way from Manchester, are Frozen Gin. I’m particularly looking forward to their set as I taught the guitarist everything he knows.

And, finally, our MC for the evening, keeping the whole thing together, will be my good friend Martin Robertson. If I talk to him nicely he may even sing a song or two himself.

If you fancy it, come on down (or up) and say hello – I’d love to see you. And it’s all in aid of charity. I’ll even let you buy me a drink.

Kings & Queens

'So what's this new song all about then?' my friend Phil says as we walk down to the acoustic jam. 'Kings & Queens? Sounds like a homage to The King's Head and Queen's Arms in Leeds.' Spoken like a true Wessie.

No, I've not written a song about public houses; in Leeds, or anywhere else for that matter. But I may have breached my own code about crossing over into (*looks over shoulder*) political songwriting. I say may: it'll be on the new EP later in the year. Tell me what you think then. Bloody hell, get me with my new EP. I'm still banging the drum for Pickering Place (named after London's smallest square, since you ask). Oh, and I'll be playing it in its entirety at The Kirk Theatre with my good friends David Swann and Frozen Gin.

Kings and Queens will line their pockets

The jokers call the shots

We're fighting for our pride here

It's all that we have got

All that we have got

© John Medd 2013

Caution: Don't Play With Fireworks

Rachael FoxEvans has a brand new album out. It's her first; Playground Of Dreams has been a long time in the making: I've heard each and everyone of these songs germinate - from the drawing board to the beautifully performed and produced finished product. Ten self penned acoustic vignettes are laid out before us; drenched in harmonies and some augmented with mandolin, Rachael's voice and guitar bring these delightful songs alive in a way I'm sure even she couldn't have dreamed possible if you'd asked her twelve months ago.

This is my favourite. And a timely reminder too.

Rachael FoxEvans: Don't Play With Fireworks

I always get rebuffed

At our last songwriters circle on Monday we got to talking about Bob Dylan's Sara. It was suggested that it was the only lyric to contain the word kelp. Would that it were. Looking at this list it would appear we are living in a kelp abundant world.

Likewise Jona Lewie's 'Kitchen at Parties.' I really did think that it was the only song to mention the word rebuffed. Wrong!

Jona Lewie: You'll always find me in the kitchen at parties

Swann songs

Since moving up here I've made a lot of good friends - many of them musicians; I'm still waiting, in vain, for some of their alchemy to rub off on me; when it comes to comes to describing my musical abilities I subscribe to the Rob Brydon school of music - 'I'm not a guitarist, I'm a man who owns a guitar.'

One such friend is David Swann: one of Ryedale's most engaging troubadours and all round good egg, he held a CD launch party for his latest bunch of songs on Saturday night. Chasing The Light, is his fifth album and, probably, his finest collection yet. Playing the album from start to finish (but not necessarily in the correct running order - much to the chagrin of David Illingworth his arranger & second guitarist) in the Harbour Suite of The Bridlington Spa, was the perfect backdrop to his sublime artistry. David's music is nothing short of inspiring and touches many of life's perennial bases - life, love and death. And trunk roads! - David has written his own homegrown response to America's famous Route 66. Get your kicks on the A64.

David Swann: A64



Here's another gem from from the new album: David performed it earlier in the year (with Boo Hewerdine), again at The Spa - this video also gives you an idea of the room's breathtaking vista.