Wild Mountain Thyme live

Recorded live at the OBOD Summer Gathering in Glastonbury. I love playing this classic folk song. It really brings the audience together. I hope you enjoy this video.

Tales from the Road - Lightning, powercuts and encores

After being shown some of the wonderful sights in the city Cerri, Siggy and myself found ourselves under a glass shelter on Friday evening caught in the most violent thunderstorm I’ve ever seen. When we got home we heard that it knocked out the electrics in Vienna blacking out the transmission of the Turkey/Germany football game. It was awesome to be outside, the raw power of Nature constantly roaring overhead. Lightning and thunder nonstop.

The night of the concert arrived and Siggy took us to the venue. Cenario is a great little cabaret theatre, and the perfect location for an acoustic performance. When I saw inside I was so pleased, and couldn’t wait to see how many people arrived. We have a venue very similar in Brighton called the Komedia. I’ve seen Show of Hands play there and it has a great atmosphere. The seating is around tables, not the usual rows you find in most music halls. I was due to start playing at 7.45, and with about an hour to go people began to arrive, and by 7.45 when I took the stage the place had reached capacity, which really took me by surprise.

I’m used to having three instruments on stage with me. One guitar in regular tuning, a mandolin, and another guitar in DADGAD tuning. This means I don’t have to keep retuning the guitars. I’d only brought one guitar with me (my Taylor), so the two sets had been split into one set of regular tuned songs, and the second set of DADGAD tunes. I’d tried this once before and it hadn’t quite worked, but I have a lot more songs now, so I was more confident. I opened with Song of Awen, then went into Pipes of Pan and by the third song I could hear people singing along with me, and that set the scene for the rest of the evening.

I opened the second set with Hills they are Hollow, and ended it with the new live favourite, Wild Mountain Thyme - it’s a great song to sing, and everyone knows it. Two lovely encores followed - I’m sure I could have played all night! When I suggested a return concert next year the response was a very positive “Yes!” To be so far away from home, and find people who knew my songs was amazing. What a ride this is!

Tales from the Road - Tourguides, mistrels and the Black Plague

After safely landing thanks to the magical powers of Alan Hanson and Gary Lineker we were met by our friend Siggy. Siggy is the main reason I learned to play the harp. I remember being beside a campfire at an OBOD camp, stars twinkly and doing their thing, just chilling, when I heard a voice say, “Can I play my harp by your fire?” At that moment I fell in love with the instrument, and when Siggy said people could have a go at playing the harp the next day, well, I jumped at the chance!

It was 31 degrees in Vienna, so the only real choice was to head straight to a bar on the banks of the Danube for an ice-cold beer. On the way we passed a few massive video screens where the football was shown, and then we were sitting by the river, supping on some lovely Austrian llllllager.

The next day we went on a wonderful tour of the city led by Siggy, who not only is a fabulous musician, but is also a qualified Vienna tour guide! There were two highlights for me. The first was seeing the house where Strauss, Beethoven and, my personal favourite, Mozart, met together. The other was a wishing well in honour of an Austrian minstrel who used to play his music in a bar, but during one of the times of the plague nobody came to see him play, so he got completely drunk. The next morning as he lay in a stupor, he was collected with all of the other plague victims and thrown into a mass grave. Luckily (I guess!) he came around before the grave was filled in (can you imagine what that must have been like!) and he crawled out, and back to the city. Amazingly he never contracted the disease, and this gave the people of Vienna their hope back. If you look closely through the grate in the picture, you can just about see him looking up at you. I dropped him an offering asking for a blessing for my concert, and it landed straight in his bucket. What a lovely bloke

More tomorrow!

Tales from the Road - How to feel safer on a plane

Back from Austria after a fabulous time, both at the pub moot, and the concert on Saturday night - where to begin? At the beginning and end of course!

I’m not a great fan of flying. Well, it’s not the flying that’s the problem, it’s the potential plummeting that’s the issue for me. But on this past trip I found my secret safety blanket. It was the European Cup Semis and Final over the weekend in Vienna and as I was sitting on the plane ready to fly out I heard a familiar Scottish accent. I looked around and there was Alan Hanson sitting just behind me, and there a little further down the plane was Gary Lineker. Suddenly I knew that the flight would be completely safe. The plane could never crash with these two famous people on board! Could you imagine the tabloid news?!

As Cerri and I sat waiting for the plane to take off on the return flight there they were again. Alan and Gary, our Guardian Angels

More of my Vienna trip soon!

Oh Vienna!

Really looking forward to this weekend. Me and Cerri are flying off to Austria tomorrow to do a workshop on the Druid Tradition on Thursday at a Pagan moot, and then on Saturday night I’m playing a concert too, both in Vienna. All of this has been organised by an Austrian friend and the Pagan Federation International. I’ve been to Vienna once before and it’s a beautiful city. It’s going to be wonderful to be back, and it’s going to be a great experience to play there.

I’m hoping to be able to post a couple of blogs on my travels. But right now it’s early(ish) to bed for a 5am rise to catch the plane…

Tales from the Road - House Concerts South

About 9 months ago I put out an inquiry in my monthly newsletter. I’d heard about a phenomenon that was taking the USA by storm and really helping independent musicians connect with their audience. House concerts are now a growing industry so I thought I’d see if people who liked my music would be interested in having me visit their homes and holding a concert in that really intimate setting. I was delighted that people were up for it!

A couple of weeks ago I started a little house concert tour in the South of England (I’m planning to get up to the North in September) and it was great fun. I played the last date last Friday in Southend, Essex. I met some lovely people and was very touched that the hosts were willing to open their homes to me so I could play for them and their friends. I can honestly say I loved every gig, and would definitely do it again. So to everyone at Roz’s, Elizebeth’s and Jean’s and everyone else who sang along, laughed, clapped, and made me feel so welcome, thank you!

The picture was taken at my first home concert at Roz’s -  a magical night, great company, wonderful food and hospitality.

Congratulations Wayne and Coleen

How can a footballer spend £5,000,000 on their wedding? This just shows that there is enough money, it’s just in the wrong place. How can it be that someone who plays a game, and kicks a football for a living, can earn more money than a surgeon who saves lives?

I saw this on the news this morning (by accident). £50,000 on fireworks, £400,000 for Westlife, and £500,000 for some rapper called Diddy (which was always slang for tits when I was a kid).

In the mean time people are still in trouble in China after the earthquake, are still starving around the world, are still homeless here.

A total spoiled waste of money.

Don’t get me wrong, I wish them well in their married life together, but that kind of excess just sums up so much of what is lousy in this modern world.

Land, Sky and Sea chords on video

Typical isn’t it? I create a songbook with all of the chords and lyrics from my first three albums, and then, within days, release a new album. The chords from The Cauldron Born will be in volume two, but that’s a few years away, and I keep getting people asking for the chords to Land, Sky and Sea. So I’ve had a bit of fun creating a little instructional video for anyone who’d like to have a go playing this song. Enjoy!

Tales from the Road - Eat more Carrots

I’ve just got back from the Wessex Gathering, a wonderfully vibrant Pagan camp that is held near Corfe Castle, Dorset. The drive to the venue takes you through some of the most beautiful countryside in England. I didn’t play at last year’s as I’d already been booked elsewhere, so it was lovely to get back there again.

My old tent had finally given up on me after years of use so I invested in a new Lavvu Tipi which I’d thoroughly recommend. It was pitched in minutes and then I had a few hours to relax and land before I was due to play at about 8pm. The tent that hadn’t yet been pitched was the marquee where I was due to play… the marquee people had forgotten to bring the canvas, but they arrived about 6pm and began to set it up. The opening ritual gathered the people together who were welcomed by the organisers Phil and Nina, and by the end the marquee stood at the corner of the field.

I decided to open with Hills they are Hollow this time, and by the first chorus people were already singing along! It was wonderful. The gig went on and then I remembered the last time I played here - there were no lights in the marquee. Night was falling, and with it the audience (and I guess I was too) was disappearing into the darkness. My parents always told me to eat more carrots - that if I did I’d be able to see in the dark. I hated carrots. But the darkness was somehow even more magical. A few people shone their torches, and I kept playing, and the audience kept singing. With the help of those torches I played for about 90 minutes, and it was great fun.

The next day I met Kit Berry, author of the Stonewylde series of books. I love these stories and if you’ve not heard of her I thoroughly recommend them. Deeply Pagan, magical, intense, characters you love, and some you certainly don’t, very human. It was nice to be able to give her some CDs as a thank you for the enjoyment I’ve had reading her stories.

I also met a wonderful fiddle player called Tim. A natural musician, intuitive, inventive. He hadn’t heard any of my songs before, but we just jammed though and the effect of the fiddle was incredible. We played a few around the campfire on the Saturday night, and you can be sure that you’ll be hearing Tim play on my next album!

Why I Won’t Eat Grass

One of the things I love to do in early Spring is watch the newborn lambs. They seem to come into this world with such a zest for life. Everything is exciting, new, fresh, they are out and ready for action. But as time goes on I guess they see the older sheep around them, looking at the ground, just eating grass, and sure enough these once vibrant creatures join the influence of the masses that surround them.

Human children are born entirely dependent, they take years to learn to skip, jump in puddles, play. As we grow we notice that we are surrounded by adults who, like the older sheep, have taken off their puddle-splashing wellies, and now just eat grass. The fire has gone from their belly, it seems that they too have forgotten how to do anything else.

It’s a challenge not to join them. I mean, it looks so easy just to give in and conform sometimes - like the easiest thing in the world. Go on, just have a taste, once you try it you’ll love it, it’s so easy, it takes all the pain away, you don’t have to try anymore. Go on, have a taste.

Not a bloody chance!