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We’ve just posted a lyric video on YouTube for my song ‘The Borderline’ from my first album ‘Stranger Place’.  I’d had writer’s block for 6 months when I went to see my Buddhist teacher Lama Jampa Thaye in Manchester.  He told me to get up at dawn and start writing straight after doing my meditation practice.  The next day this song just fell out of my head.  It’s the most ‘Buddhist’ song I’ve ever written.  You can see the video here.

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A new lyric video for Emily’s beautiful song ‘The Borderline’, which she describes as “the most Buddhist song I’ve ever written”, has been posted on YouTube.  You can see the video here.  The song is from her first album ‘Stranger Place’, which is still available to order from Amazon or direct from Shaktu Records.

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Thanks to everyone who came to my gigs this weekend at Artrix Arts Centre and Hanger Farm Arts Centre – they were great nights.  I’m looking forward to the rest of my UK tour, playing Barnoldswick, York, Carlisle, Cardiff, Biddulph, Crail, Glasgow, Newcastle, New Milton and London.

If you have friends or family in any of these places please do spread the word – all support very welcome. Dates and ticket links can be found here.

Thanks so much for your support.

xx

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I’m reading a wonderful book by the American Buddhist nun Pema Chödrön called ‘Living Beautifully with Uncertainty and Change’.  In it she quotes Steve Jobs and I thought I’d share it with you in case you’ve never heard it before.

“After he was diagnosed with cancer, the visionary genius Steve Jobs had this to say about freedom from the eight worldly concerns:

“Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life.  Because almost everything – all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure – these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important.  Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose.  You are already naked.  There is no reason not to follow your heart.”

 

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Emily was interviewed by Paul Franks on BBC WM to promote her charity gig on Sunday 24 June at the Avoncroft Museum of Historic Buildings in Bromsgrove.  You can listen again to the interview here (scroll to 02:19:00 to hear Emily).  Ticket holders for the gig are invited to come early and picnic in the beautiful grounds of the museum.  Tickets are £15 and can be booked here.  All proceeds will go towards funding the work of this very special place, where over 30 historic buildings have been rescued and rebuilt in the grounds.  More information about the museum can be found at http://www.avoncroft.org.uk.

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One of the good things about being bipolar is the urge to make the most of the times when I’m well to get as much done as possible.  Last week I was in Purbeck on a songwriting retreat where a new song fell out of my head in a single day (you’ll hear it on my next album), I’m working on a guitar songbook, we’ve been making a new music video for my song ‘Memory’, and I’m about to publish a new book of poetry called ‘Meditation Mind’.

It’s been 6 weeks since we started touring again after I recovered from pneumonia and it’s been so lovely to see famliiar faces and meet new friends at the gigs.  We both love performing so much and I’m aware that this may be the last tour for a while so I’m making the most of it, whether we’re in a hall or someone’s sitting room.  Now we’re on a break for a couple of weeks before we start again with two consecutive nights at The Stables in Milton Keynes on 8/9 June.

Then it’s Artrix Arts Centre in Bromsgrove, the wonderful Hanger Farm Arts Centre in Southampton, followed by Barnoldswick, Helmsley, Carlisle, Cardiff and Biddulph.  Then we head up north to play Crail Festival, The Glad Café in Glasgow and The Cluny in Newcastle before finishing the tour at Forest Arts Centre in Hampshire at the end of July.  I’m also playing Royston Folk Club at the end of August and on Saturday 15 September we’re doing a one-off London show at The Slaughtered Lamb in Clerkenwell.

Before that, I’m doing a very special charity gig to raise money for the extraordinary Avoncroft Museum of Historic Buildings, an open-air museum of wonderful buildings which have been rescued and relocated to its site in Stoke Heath near Bromsgrove (www.avoncroft.org.uk).  The gig is on Sunday 24 June and the museum has invited ticket holders to come and have a picnic in its beautiful grounds before the concert.

We’ve just put together a video of clips from my gig at Chapel Arts Centre in Bath – a tour highlight.  If you’ve got friends or family you think might enjoy my songs, please do share it and spread the word about the rest of my UK tour.  Dates and booking links for all my upcoming gigs can be found here.

I hope you’ve been enjoying the sunshine and I hope all’s well in your world – thanks so much for your support.

xx

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Emily was interviewed yesterday on BBC Radio Cambridgeshire, BBC Radio Suffolk and BBC Essex ahead of her gig at Cambridge Junction this Saturday (12 May).  DJ Sue Marchant played the title track of Emily’s latest album ‘A Bit Of Blue’ and the last track, Emily’s cover of Sandy Denny’s ‘Who Knows Where The Time Goes’.  You can listen again to the interview here (scroll to 01:07:30).

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Thanks to everyone who came to my gigs at The Old Stables in Cricklade, The Acorn in Penzance and my house concert in south Devon (see the pic below).  I am so happy to be playing again and meeting so many lovely people wherever we go.  Next weekend I’m playing Ashcroft Arts Centre in Fareham – a rescheduled gig from when I was ill.  Tickets can be booked here.  If you can make it, it would be great to see you there.

Hope you’ve been enjoying the sunshine wherever you are.

xx