It’s boiling hot and all I can hear is the buzzing of the flies, strange-sounding birds and the cicadas. I’m on the verandah of the main house at Coolabine Farmstead. Coolabine means place of koalas, though I’ve never seen one here.

The view is stunning. Rolling hills and trees as far as the eye can see. It rained last night so everything is impossibly green. The goats are sheltering from the sun and waiting for their afternoon feed.

Our shack is unrecognizable – only the roof remains. The bora ants ate all the tree trunks that used to support it so Christian’s brother has rebuilt it. Gone are the potato sack walls. My yurt is still standing, filled up with boxes of our stuff and other junk. The tattered prayer flags flutter in the wind.

Yesterday we went swimming in a big waterhole down the road and had a picnic in the rain. I’ve seen a goanna and some kangaroos but I haven’t seen a snake yet. A spider got into bed with us the other night but thankfully it wasn’t the huge spider that’s been hanging out over the door.

We cleaned the cheese-room and made some feta and halloumi which was delicious. On Christmas Day I finished a new song. Next week we’re off to Melbourne to see Christian’s sister then back here to start vocal recordings for the next album.

I hope you had a lovely Christmas wherever you are. Wishing you all very happy new year and I’ll see you in 2018.

xx

Thanks to everyone who came to my last gig of 2017 at The George Hotel in South Molton last night.  It was a great way to end a great year.  If you’re on my mailing list I’ll keep you posted on what happens next…

Waiting to go on at The George

In 10 days time I’ll be standing on a hillside overlooking the Obi Obi valley in Australia, back at our shack in the Sunshine Coast Hinterland for the first time in 4 years.  I’m so excited to be going – seeing friends, family and goats (trying not to think about the snakes).

We’ll be doing some recording for my next album in a beautiful old Queenslander with my favourite sound engineer Pix Vane-Mason. He recorded my first two albums ‘Stranger Place’ and ‘Keep Walking’ there as well as the vocals for ‘A Bit Of Blue’, and I love the place.

It’s been a wonderful year. I’m so delighted to be playing music again and it’s been so lovely meeting old fans and seeing new faces. Thank you all so much for your fantastic support of my music – I couldn’t do it without you.

As we’re away for Christmas, if you want to buy any gifts direct from us we’re here until 6 December, but you can always order my albums and books anytime from Amazon.co.uk.

I’ll be touring the UK again from February to July next year with a new show which will include some previews of the new songs on my next album. Dates are on my website.

Hope to see you at a gig before long, and in the meantime I wish you all a very happy Christmas.

xx

I had such a wonderful time touring Ireland with Duke Special.  I haven’t played there since I toured with Don McLean and Eric Bibb and it was so great to be back.  Such lovely people and lovely venues to play.  And a proper pint of Guinness!  It was a pleasure and a privilege to watch Duke from the wings and to play with him on his songs.  His latest album ‘Hallow’ is based on the poems of Michael Longley – check out his website.  Thanks to all the fans and friends who were there at the gigs, especially Mike Watts for introducing us in the first place and taking photos, and Tim Pardoe for being my merch man.  I’m looking forward to playing in Ireland again next year.

The wonderful mental health charity SANE asked me to talk on camera about my thoughts on the benefits of music for mental health, something I am very passionate about.  You can watch this short video here and find out more about my work in mental health here.

Coming back down to earth after all the excitement of being in Berlin and meeting so many lovely people, most of whom have bipolar disorder like me.  The German Society of Bipolar Disorder (DGBS) is a real community of people all riding the same rollercoaster and I was made to feel so welcome.  I was a bit daunted about meeting an entire roomful of psychiatrists at the World Congress of Psychiatry (would they let me out?) but the feedback was great.  We’ll be touring again in Germany in March next year – dates and details will be announced soon.

Now I’m looking forward to touring Ireland for the first time in nearly 10 years, doing 5 shows with Duke Special starting 25 October (check out my gigs or details).  Can’t wait…