Dear all,

 

What a bloody marvellous weekend I’ve just had. Broadstairs has long been one of my favourite folk festivals but this was actually my first ever time there solo. I had a few gigs, all of which I thoroughly enjoyed but certainly topped by the set on the main stage on Saturday night where I nearly sold out of CD’s and generally had one of those gigs that seemed to go very well. I say that, there was one little issue. I was midway through a guitar song when a string broke which in itself was fairly annoying but I thought I had an ingenious solution. I carried on singing, got the audience to clap the beat and then Continue reading “I want food on a plate” →

Dear all,

I am thrilled to announce that I will be joining the amazing Urban Folk Quartet at the end of the year, replacing departing member Frank Moon. We’ve been rehearsing together and I can’t wait for you all to hear it! UFQ will be touring in their current lineup til then but 2014 promises to be a UFQ-tastic year for me, alongside my solo gigs. Check them out here if you don’t know them already:

http://www.theurbanfolkquartet.com/

I am so excited to be doing this, I have long been an admirer of the band and especially of Joe Broughton whom I saw with the Albion Band when I was about 12! He was in pyjamas and had a pony tail so times have changed in some respects…Anyway, it’s very very exciting and I’ll certainly be experimenting with the banjo even more than normal! Look forward to seeing you all at a UFQ gig and of course my solo tours which will continue.

Very best wishes,

Danjo

Dear all,

 

Please have a look at this video presented by actor Simon Callow about the amazing work Live Music Now does for older people. I am proud to do some work for this organisation alongside my touring and hope to for many years yet. Note it also does incredible work for other disadvantaged sections of society as well.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b037xry9/Lifeline_Live_Music_Now/

 

Thanks,

Danjo

Dear all,

 

Well it has been a rather jolly ten days since my last bloggage. First up it was off to the wonderful Northeast to play two gigs one with the genuine legend Alistair Anderson and then one on my lonesome. Unexpectedly though I ended up in Sunderland on the Friday night playing lead guitar in a cracking covers gig with my old chum Simma which was a blast as ever. The Saturday was spent in Rothbury playing with Alistair. It was just one of those wonderful gigs that I wanted to go on forever and I felt so proud to be playing with the man. He is of course a hero in those parts for all his incredible work over the years and it Continue reading “Sick – a positive word?” →

Dear all,

 

Well just the one gig since my last outing but it was quite a night. Many thanks to the people from my hometown for, as ever, providing me with so much support and loyalty. The band had a great night, despite a rather stressful day, so thanks to everyone for that. This weekend I’m in another place very close to my heart – the Northeast! My student years and couple of years afterwards were some very happy times so it’ll be great to go back. On Saturday I’m playing with the legendary Alistair Anderson in Rothbury (and a solo set as well) then on Sunday I’m playing at the Americana festival at the Sage Gateshead firstly on a boat and then in the evening at Northern Rock Foundation Hall.

 

So that’ll be fun. Now then a few things to say this week. Firstly, I like many am horrified at the prospect of the privatisation of the Post Office. It seems difficult to fathom how these poltroons still believe that privatisation of every public service works. Witness the chaos and fragmentation of our cursed train system (which by the way we subsidise at a greater cost than national rail was, as well as inflated ticket prices and the fact it’s crap). The utter rip off of energy companies. The shambles of G4S and the olympics etc. The list goes on and on…it seems especially ludicrous given royal Continue reading “Why bother with Wayne Rooney?” →

The exciting news keeps coming…I’m off to Canada! This September, I’ll be heading to the east coast of Canada to play an eight night tour with superb singer Meaghan Blanchard. The dates are up on the gigs page. Many thanks to EFDSS and Music PEI for making this possible and for selecting myself and Meaghan to collaborate. I am extremely excited! We’ll be doing a return tour over here next year too.

 

Also, the November tour with the incredible Indian musician Suhail Yusuf Khan is almost all tied up bar a few that need confirming. Confirmed dates are up and best of all here’s a preview of what you can expect: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHF0-PKa5eI

Dear all,

 

Well hot weather is finally upon us so therefore some trains have been cancelled because the tracks were too hot…dear God…but anyway it’s been a fun old time for me. First up was a holiday of all things! I went to the Isle of Barra in the Outer Hebrides with various family members for a few days and it was just wonderful. I had such a great time and felt so lucky to have so many great cousins, aunts and uncles. The place itself was beautiful as well, utterly fantastic.

 

I have to say of course – WELL DONE ANDY MURRAY! I love Wimbledon and I never thought that day would come. It was really special and I can honestly say I’ve never felt so excited and tense about sport apart from Liverpool of course. It was a wonderful victory and a great day for the country. It made everyone happy (apart from the silly anti-Scottish man who was in the pub, what a prat) and that was marvellous.

 

Since my last blog, I’ve also been in gig action with an appearance at National Forest Folk Festival. What a bloody great gig that was! A wonderful reception and lots of CD’s sold Continue reading “Put your bloody top on” →

Dear all,

 

Well I’m glad to see that since my last entry, Jagger and the Stones proved why they are amazing and only goes to the show why the old prat shouldn’t have demanded more money for the BBC showing the whole set…which was blatantly what it was about.

 

Anyway, as for me I had a rather surreal experience last night! I was playing at the Cross in Kinver and who should turn up at one of my gigs but Nick Owen, legendary presenter of Midlands Today whom I have watched for many a year. It was a rather surreal moment to say the least when he walked in but the dear old chap seemed to enjoy boogieing Continue reading “Nick Owen!” →

I am delighted to announce that I shall be embarking on a tour of New Zealand early next year. I shall be kicking off with a headline slot at Auckland Folk Festival at the end of January then it’s a two week tour of the country. Terribly exciting! Dates are on the gigs page. More exciting news to follow regarding foreign trips and new projects so keep coming back to read my ramblings!

Dear all,

I write to you from Stafford library as my computer appears to have officially said terrah..in other words it’s buggered. The blue screen of death appears every time I try and boot up so that essentially means you can keep fixing it and it’ll work for ten minutes before returning to deathly blue…

Anyway that’s not interesting…what have I been doing. Well I played Bath Banjo Festival in a quite phenomenally wet Marshfield which isn’t actually Bath. It was a fun gig and much enjoyed hearing Leon Hunt again as well as meeting a fan at my workshop in the afternoon which is always nice of course.

Then it was off to Middlewich for a folk and boat festival which was certainly a blast and best of all I got to see some amazing Canadian musicians I met back at the tail end of last year. I was even invited up to play some banjo with them which was really great and a terrific session was had long into the night with them, a fiendishly Continue reading “Yes middle lane hogging IS bloody annoying…” →