Had a busy weekend just gone preparing for a Woody Guthrie memorial concert at the Musician Venue, Leicester. On Saturday morning I decided I needed to practice and learn some new songs so that I had enough for the night. I didn’t think I needed too many though because a film was being played and there were going to be other participants, I thought.
I was practicing and enjoying what I was doing then I decided to record some of them so I could hear what they sounded like. Well, I was quite pleased with the results so I decided to make a CD of my versions of Woody songs that I would give away to the audience on the night. From that moment my whole weekend was involved with recording, mixing and manufacturing CDs with covers. I made 20 and then gave up. It’s so time consuming!
Sunday night and the concert came around. I got there early and set up and sound checked. Then I found the film was not being shown and there were no other participants! It was entirely my own show! This was when I panicked. Fortunately, my friend Jenny Carter turned up and joined me on violin. I did two sets and did a lot of talking between numbers explaining the background of the songs and also about Woody’s guitar style which was a big influence on me. The whole night went really well and I found I had enough songs. It was quite inspirational for me and reignited my love of Woody’s music and his superb lyrics. He manages to combine simplicity with profundity. A remarkable writer.
The gigs are coming in rapidly at the moment. Am playing tonight at the Leicester O2 Academy for University overseas students and have just got a gig for the Hind pub, Leicester on Saturday. Am looking forward to this. I used to play there regularly but the pub changed hands. It’s a great place to play and, hopefully, I will get more gigs out of it.
Check out one of my Woody recordings below.
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