5th February 2012

As a few people have expressed interest, I'm pleased to divulge that the tablature/notation to "Backwoods" is now available! It comes in the form of a 22-page PDF booklet covering all six instrumentals with a short introduction (as well as individual Guitar Pro files). If you'd like a copy then head over to the music page and use the paypal purchase link, after which you'll receive the files via an email from me.

I recently decided to put together a few videos/recordings of my friend Rich on the Uilleann pipes, as we've been practicing together over the last few weeks. I also made a New Year's resolution to actually keep my website up to date with the latest meanderings. 2012 is going to be a year filled with new ventures - with regular performing, in various shapes and forms, at the forefront.

I'll also be putting a lot of time into my second album, "Three Ravens", which will be an album of mainly traditional music. Hence the website banner! I'm hoping to have it done sometime before the summer.

A belated Happy New Year, all! Keep an eye on this page for gigs and updates on "Three Ravens".

The album is done at last! Most of all the self-producing malarkey has been a blast, although a few moments of frustration presented themselves here and there along the way. It seems that every time I want to make a slight change to my website I have to re-learn all the technical information I had so gleefully forgotten. But it’s all up and running now and “Backwoods” has already had a few reviews and mentions, which really made my week.

For those of you who might have been interested in guitar techniques on “Backwoods” - most of the songs were composed in DADEBE tuning, whilst “Apples In Winter” is in good old DADGAD. “Asphalt” is in open G with the lowest string dropped to C and “Sam’s Brewery” is in open C. I put medium gauge strings on the guitar and wear acrylic nails these days (the amount of times I’ve been given looks of mild disgust and been told to cut them.. but fair enough, I do look a bit like Dracula).

After I’ve spent a good few weeks trying to spread the word and reach people that are fond of my guitar endeavours, I look forward to getting on with the next album. The plan is to explore and interpret a greater number of traditional songs this time round – I’ve also started to get more and more interested in Baroque music and John Renbourns fascinating arrangements. A big thank you to those of you who have bought the album, spread the word, given criticism and praise thus far. I’m very grateful to all of you! Looking forward to getting stuck into the wooden box again.