What happened to February? I thought i was supposed to be doing a massive tour with Steve Knightley of Show of Hands fame? Oh yes now i remember, that did happen, just inordinately fast! I genuinly can't believe it's all over. Before we embarked on tour it appeared to be a massive list of gigs that would take a lifetime to plough through. Well actually i don't think Steve would agree with me there, that's his normal life! But a new experience for me none the less. I was also quite unsure how the pair of us were going to work together, musically and personality-wise. Despite the Devon connection we're rather chalk & cheese. The first warm-up gig in Beer, East Devon was rather tentative to say the least. My cd sales were a good clue! But on the second warm up gig at Otterton Mill something clicked and we kinda figured out who we were in relation to each other and how we could use that to make a fun gig for all involved. And not bigging ourselves up but it generally got better every night. Yes we had a few nights that weren't as good as some and needed dissecting but on the whole it ran like clockwork and many a good night was had. I even managed to get the chords right on Steve's new song 'Now You Know'. It was a great learning experience (Steve is the conssumate professional) and a great boost for my new cd plus i got to meet a whole new audience of Show of Hands type fans and introduce them to the world of Squeeze! My mum said to me about halfway through the tour; "i expect you'll be glad to get home?" and i said; "no way! i'm having a great time, i don't want this to end!" As the Waterson:Carthy Christmas tour was sadly cancelled due to Norma's ill health, by February i had really itchy feet and was dying to get back on the road again. There's nothing (well not much) i love more!

So now it's March and David Rotheray and the joys of Hull are beckoning once again. Obviously i am very excited about this tour as well. We've got Eleanor McEvoy with us the whole tour this time which is great news as her cheeky humour was very much missed last Autumn. Plus Dave has released a new digital single 'The Puffin and the Squirrel' featuring Bella Hardy and myself on romantic lead vocals! All good clean fun. But back to my new cd: WildGoose says it's released on March 16th, Amazon etc says otherwise! They reckon the 21st for some reason but whatever. I've been alerted to a few little internet reviews already. All very positive although there was one from an independant reviewer who didn't know that Widecombe Fair was a Devonshire song! You can imagine how much that tickled me. But on a more serious note; i don't think people who are that ill informed should be writing reviews of traditional song! They also suggested i should be singing more, serious, rakish, boyish type of songs...   did they not hear Mawkin:Causley?! I've done my time, now it's cheesy Devonshire fun time!