JC solo

Just being silly! I don't really believe that 2012 is going to be the year the earth comes to an end, in fact i think it's barely beginning! I know that a lot of friends and family around me have a lot of exciting new stuff on their horizons and my life is no exception. Music wise i am most excited about my new collaborations; I'm forming a duo with "Cornish Legend" Richard Trethewey which is already proving to be very exciting with our mutual love of Westcountry music and song.

After recieving my copy of the new Woodbine & Ivy Band cd (which is amazing) it's really interesting to contemplate ones voice in relation to others. It's taken me a long time to get used my voice and also to get to love it. Especially during my teenage years and early 20's i completely hated my voice just as i hated my body and everything else at that time in typical teenage fashion! The hardest point was when i was in my local church choir and my voice began to break.

...a gig with Jackie Oates in the Bedford! Hasn't it come around quickly this year? No it hasn't, that's a stupid phrase and we all know it! It comes around about as quickly as Christmas; ie never soon enough. So what's been happening? Well i took part in a residency earlier this month in Cecil Sharp House with the Askew Sisters and some classical musicians working on and putting together a collection of mediaeval music and song from various parts of Europe which we performed at the end of the week.

Happy May Day everyone! How did you celebrate? I woke up in a hotel in Bristol after having a rather smahing night of DJ-ing at the newly revived Bristol Folk Festival with Mr Moray. Slap my wrists, sorry for being pants last month. I am soooo going to make up for it this month i promise. But what a month April was. It began at the end of the 'Life of Birds' tour with the Dumnonia launch gig at Fingle Bridge on Dartmoor.

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.

Hello everyone, happy February! Where's the snow? Looks like Mother Nature used it all up last year! To be fair she has been teasing us with intense cold and subtle flutterings but no proper snow, hmmm i guess we'll just have to enjoy the memory! (or not).

So it's officially 2011 now, despite the fact that most people haveve spent a large amount of December talking as if it was 2011 already! You know the way i mean; for example the Whimple Wassail which takes place every Jan 17th, in November people were referring to it as "last years" wassail when they meant 'this years' ie the one that happened in Jan 2010. Call me pedantic but i am in the right and they are just plain wrong and very confusing!!!

Yet more excitement my chilly friends; my aincient first album 'Fruits of the Earth' which for many years was out of print is now available once more but this time in a new format; as a digital download via iTunes! So this is for all of you who have been lovingly pestering me about making it available again, now it is hooray! I know it's not as good as the physical CD but that's your own fault for not buying it the first time round! All the sleeve notes are available to veiw on the WildGoose Records website.

What a fun, busy old month this is. All over the show i've been and i must say i'm loving it. (Not in a large burger-chain kinda way i might add). I've checked off two of the three recording sessions for the new album. Guitar wizard Jeff Gillett was flawless as always and i had a lovely couple of days rehearsing at his house in Stroud and he took me for some lovely walks around Rodborough Common looking down on the Five Valleys. Then the other weekend we had Mark, Jason & Rob of the Dartmoor Pixie Band + mouthorganista Mike Bond come up to WildGoose to record their contributions.

I went see Sheryl Crow live at the Manchester Apollo on Tuesday night. She was a big influence on me during my teenage years whilst i was at college, my friend Ruth and i used to cover several of her songs when we performed at our local open mike! I feel Sheryl kinda lost her way of late, when she was going through her 'Soak Up the Sun' phase of writing dumb pop songs that were pure drivvel in comparison to the sharp and edgy material of her first three records. I think her recent material (going through a motown phase) is coming back into alignment with who she really is.