Dear all,

Well I’m going to begin this entry by raising a glass to my wonderful little car which today passed its MOT with flying colours. Given the onslaught of outrageous mileage, a driver who is rubbish and knows nothing about what goes on under the bonnet and a couple of bumps it’s had (one not my fault, one most definitely my fault) I think it’s done really rather well. As you may be able to gather I’m just a little bit happy/relieved it passed its MOT. The tour could have been fun without it…

So what’s been happening then. Well Nic and I had a fun week up in Cumbria playing care homes (see previous blog for why we were doing this…). Grange is a quirky little place and this is where we were based and some good times were had. The response in some of the homes was very moving indeed and I’m very proud to make a difference to the folks in Continue reading “Silly doors” →

Dear all,
I write to you from sunny (no really, well it was earlier it’s dark now) Cumbria where I’m based til Thursday with my mandolin playing chum Nic Zuppardi. We’re playing a series of care home concerts courtesy of Live Music Now (www.livemusicnow.org.uk) and had the first couple today after a rather unpleasantly early journey up the M6. They were both lovely and seemed to make a real difference to them and us, what music should be really. It follows on from a pretty hectic couple of weeks kicking off with a gig back in Newcastle, my second home where I spent six happy years in the not so distant (although becoming slightly scarily distant) past. The Cluny is a great venue and it was a great gig with some welcome familiar faces. Thanks to Ian Courtney for the gig and the accommodation. We had a rather surreal journey to said accommodation when a dreaded red light appeared on my car dashboard saying the car was beginning to overheat! It turned out to be nothing major and was fixed by the AA guy the next day but given we were four miles from the house and it was stupid o’clock in the morning we decided to make the journey stopping every half mile to Continue reading “I was working I swear!” →

Dear all,

The ‘Incidents and Accidents’ tour starts in less than one month! To celebrate, you can see a video of the opening track from the new album: Time To Stay. Plus there’s some sound clips from the album on this site too. Let me know what you think!

http://youtu.be/iz6nsbAS2Ks

A reminder of the tour dates:

01/03 – Twickfolk, London
http://www.wegottickets.com/event/302154

04/03 – Dorking Folk Club
http://dorkingfolkclub.org.uk/

05/03 – Unicorn Continue reading “Videos and previews” →

Dear all,

Well it’s been an unusually travel-free start to the year as January often is. I’ve spent much more time spent on a computer than on a stage, not exactly the way I like it but needs must! Nevertheless, as the title might have revealed I have been back on trains over the last few days which as always provided me with rather more to blog about than car journeys do. Read on for more… Thanks to all of you for your responses on facebook, email and this website about the new album and tour. I am very excited! See previous blog for details.

Anyway, before I do I should say that I’ve just come back from London where I spent three days doing Live Music Now work which is something I enjoy very much. Those of you unfamiliar Continue reading “Surreal travels” →

Dear all,

I’m very excited to announce that Incidents and Accidents is to be released on March 16th! There will also be a big tour to support it so it’s all rather exciting. The full press release and tour list is Continue reading “Incidents and Accidents to be released March 16th” →

Dear all,

A blog tomorrow has big news but in the meantime…here’s my annual round up of the year. It was a rather remarkable one for me it’s fair to say with more new countries played, the first year of action with the UFQ and my busiest year to date. It wasn’t always the easiest year from a personal point of view as I sadly lost some great people and had other difficult stuff going on but it’s impossible to look at the year with anything other than a smiley face and I had some serious fun on my travels!

Top of the list on the solo side would have to be the trip to New Zealand. What started as a casual whim of emailing a few gig venues there because one of my very best schoolfriends is living out there suddenly became a reality and I ended up with a headline festival gig, a two and a half week tour, a breakfast TV appearance and thanks to the Mussel Inn being swamped by an audience and experiencing table dancing (not that sort). That and meeting some of the most amazing people and seeing the most beautiful country made January and February months to seriously Continue reading “How was 2014?” →

Dear all,

I can’t quite believe I’m about to say this but I have ONE gig left this year. The review of the year will of course follow but it must wait til my live year has officially finished. By that I obviously mean my year of gigging not my year of being alive…although that will also have finished. Anyway, I have just returned from Norway which was an absolutely wonderful place though fairly chilly at this time of year as one might expect and by god it’s expensive. However, it was a very pretty place with lots of lovely people and two rather marvellous gigs. A special thank you to Mark and Gillian for making the Bergen gig possible and to the gang at Bluegrass at Buckley’s for a fantastic gig there too. In Bergen, I played to a front row of viking looking heavy metal fans Continue reading “The travel curse has lifted!” →

Dear all,

A few weeks on since my last blog and more twittery to tell you about and umpteen gigs to boot. First up was the conclusion of the Urban Folk Quartet gigging for the year as we played a couple of Gloucestershire villages – Brockweir and May Hill. Both were cracking fun as these rural gigs tend to be. What a joy it’s been this year to finally gig with the quartet. There’s loads more to come and it’s exceeded what were already lofty expectations.

After this came the arrival of the wonderful Miss Meaghan Blanchard from PEI, Canada as we embarked on the UK half of our collaboration after a successful trip round the Canadian east coast last year. First up was a gig at the House Of Commons. After all, where else would you start a tour. We shared the bill with a cracking Canadian musician called Tim Chaisson, a fine fiddler and singer who has also been participating in a UK exchange thingy with the extraordinary Kizzy Crawford, a sickeningly young and talented Welsh singer/guitarist. A real star in the making. Also present was Cerys Continue reading “Dan’s moments of twittery…part 2” →

Dear all,

We’re in November. How is that even possible? Anyway, I write to you after a cracking UFQ gig in Birmingham last night at the MAC. The band was formed and is 3/4 based in Birmingham too so it was something of a hometown gig and the crowd gave us a great night. This followed a damn good night up in Ormskirk as well at Edge Hill Arts Centre. Prior to that we had a great turnout at Huntingdon Hall in Worcester which was also much fun and a, yes dash it, another wonderful gig at Colchester Arts Centre. The tour has really been a joy and we’ve been thrilled to play to full houses. I should also add the Noodle Bar in Colchester – just wow. In between Worcester and Colchester we headed to Bedford and played a rare band wedding gig for Tom’s sister Continue reading “Dan’s moments of twittery” →

Dear all,

 

It’s been a big old Urban Folk Quartet tour and we’ve had a great time with a colourful mix of rural village halls and some more city-based outings. So to report:

My own solo tour finished off with two London folk clubs, both of which were highly enjoyable as well as a rare duo outing with my mandolin playing chum Nic Zuppardi in his hometown of Norwich. This was also jolly good prior to a day of feeling nothing short of horrific as the lurgy struck. Driving home from Norwich to Stafford with the most intense headache I’ve ever known, a shivering fever and phenomenal amounts of snot was not so fun. Really.

As for the UFQ tour, it also began in style with a cracking gig in Yorkshire in Brantingham. A great crowd and a great promoter meant a packed house and much fun was had. Hitchin Folk Club was next with a larger packed house so we had an absolute ball and many thanks to the Pages for their typically vocal support. Newbury was next with a very vocal and dancey crowd before one of the very finest village hall gigs EVER. I bloody live village halls. The audience are so often full of enthusiasm and we are so welcomed and fed and watered. It was a brilliant night, a real highlight so thanks to Oxenhall.

Some folks travelled far and wide to get to our gig in Farnham at the Maltings which was greatly appreciated but then it was back to rural touring with no fewer than four village Continue reading “Dense people” →