Biog

Biography

My recent musical history goes back to June 1999 when I got up and played at the Why Worry Club at the Nursery pub in Heaton Norris, not far from where I live. It was the first time I’d played in public for more than 15 years, but it introduced me to the Manchester acoustic music scene and since then I have played several hundred gigs at more than 70 venues across Greater Manchester and the north west of England – and a few further afield.

There’s a list of everywhere I’ve played on the Venues page of this web site, along with some thoughts on each of them.

My return to performing also encouraged me to focus on writing some new songs and by the end of 2000 I had enough to start recording a CD at Shipwreck Studios in Glossop. The CD, Perfect Stranger, was released at the beginning of 2001. I now have more than enough songs for a second CD, but I’ve not found anywhere to record it since Shipwreck closed down.

Of the 70 or so gigs a year that I play, most are open mic nights, but I do play longer sets occasionally. These have included support sets for John Renbourn and Dick Gaughan at The Witchwood in Ashton-under-Lyne and guest spots at the Iguana Bar in Chorlton, the M19 Bar in Levenshulme, Fuel in Withington and the Moon and Sixpence in Glossop. A highlight of 2008 was playing three sets at the Ambleside Folk Festival.

Before my current musical reinvention, my last serious bout of playing music was in California back in 1980, where I took part in a performance workshop and played several gigs during an extended stay.

Earlier than that I had got my introduction to performing in folk clubs around south Manchester, playing songs by the likes of Paul Simon, Ralph McTell and Magna Carta in the days before I started writing my own.

The great thing about performing on the acoustic songwiters’ scene the way I have been doing over the past few years, has been the chance to meet so many great musicians and songwriters and to be able to count many of them as friends. It’s a privilege to be able to perform alongside people with so much musical talent.