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I’m so excited to be touring next year with Sue Lord, a wonderful violinist and viola player and a very dear friend of mine.

As the first violinist of the Red Carousel string quartet, Sue has played and recorded with artists such as Peter Gabriel, Newton Faulkner, The Unthanks, The Bookshop Band, This Is The Kit, Jim Moray and The Heavy. The quartet focusses on original compositions and recording projects.

Sue regularly tours in the UK, Germany and northern Europe as part of the Daisy Chapman duo. She also plays with several function quartets and is a proud member of St Paul’s Sinfonia (London). Last year she went on tour to Germany with the band Rivers Of England as their newest violinist.  She is also a member of the fantastic Terracoda Collective.

Like the hospital tours I’ve done in the past, Sue has recently started playing in care homes and in community spaces around Wiltshire, sharing her love of music and delighting residents and staff alike.

You can get an idea of my songs with solo violin here… and check my gigs page for our dates next year.

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Thanks to everyone who came to my concert at Heddington Village Hall last night – Jody and I had such a great time.  Thanks to Carolyn and Chris for organising it and their friends from the village for helping out on the night.

If you would like me to come and perform in your local village hall, all you need to do is book the venue and spread the word in your community – we’ll supply the PA and the music.  Just get in touch with me to find out more.  Next year, in addition to solo gigs, I will also be touring with the wonderful violinist and viola player Sue Lord.  You can hear some of the songs here.

In the meantime, Jody and I are really looking forward to performing at the renowned Green Note venue in Camden Town, London on Monday 3 November.  If you can make it, it would be great to see you there.  You can book your tickets here.

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Thanks to everyone who came to my gig at the Square and Compass pub in the Isle of Purbeck on Saturday night (and thanks to Anthony Paine for the photo).  It’s always such a special night there and a bit of a homecoming gig for me as I’ve known Worth Matravers my whole life and the pub is where I performed one of my songs in public for the very first time nearly 30 years ago.

My friend and neighbour Jody Prewett played a fantastic opening set and a particularly magical moment in the night was when my cousin Melissa Viney sang the backing vocal for my song ‘Back Home’ from the middle of the room (she’d had enough Guinness by then!).  The next day we did a house concert in Corfe Castle for some very lovely locals which was a great end to a great weekend.

My last public gigs of 2025 are at Green Note in London (Monday 3 November), Kingsmead House Concerts in High Wycombe (Sunday 23 November), and The Old Stables in Cricklade near Swindon (Thursday 11 December).  Ticket links can be found here.  Please spread the word…

I hope all’s well in your world.

xx

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I’ve just made a space on my website for some of my poems – ones from my collections ‘Words With Wings’ and ‘Meditation Mind’, plus more recent ones that haven’t been published yet.  They are all stream-of-consciousness, written after my meditation practice each morning.  I seem to have this habit now of writing them – if I write something I’m happy with, I feel like I’ve done something creative to start the day.  Click here to read them.

You can also now hear me reading all the poems from ‘Words With Wings’ with their piano accompaniments.  Click here to listen.  You can download the album for free here.

   

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It’s been a while – time has flown!  In June and July I did 3 house concerts – in Norwich, London and a beautiful farm in west Wales – which I really enjoyed.  I was supposed to play Twickfolk in London in June but got a virus so that gig has been postponed to 11th January next year.

I’ve been taking a break from gigs during August and working on a new album.  These are songs which were mostly recorded in Australia before I left in 2023 and I’ve just finished recording the vocals here in Bath with a very lovely and renowned producer called David Lord.  We are now in the process of mixing the album.

I am still writing a poem a day after my meditation practice – just sitting down with a coffee and writing down the first thing that comes into my head.  It’s become a habit and though it’s not always I write something I’m particularly pleased with (!), it’s a creative start to my day that I really enjoy.

I hope you’ve been enjoying the wonderful spring and summer – sometimes it’s felt like I’m back in south-east Queensland!  In the autumn I’ll be doing more private house concerts and some public gigs (please see my gigs page for ticket links and info) supported again by fantastic singer-songwriter Jody Prewett.  Please do get in touch if any of you would like to host a private house concert or a gig in your local village hall.

I hope all’s well in your world.

xx

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It was such a joy to find myself back at the wonderful Gaunts House near Wimborne at the weekend.  I’ve played there a couple of times before and every time wish I could stay longer.  The huge house and gardens are used for spiritual retreats and the peaceful atmosphere and lovely people who run it make it a very special place indeed.  Jody and I performed in their beautiful ballroom.  Thanks to everyone who came to hear us play.  I hope to come back there next year.  Thanks to Mike Watts you can now watch one of the songs I sang  (‘About Everything’ from my album ‘A Light To Follow’) on my YouTube channel.  Click here to see it.

I’m looking forward to another London gig next month (Sunday 22 June), this time returning to Twickfolk in Twickenham where I’ve played before.  Tickets are on sale now.  If you can make it, it would be great to see you there.

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Thanks to everyone who came to my gig in the basement bar of Green Note in Camden last week and to Folk & Roots for promoting my second sold-out London show.  I’m now going to be playing the main room at Green Note in November this year – tickets are on sale now.


Photo: Mike Watts

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Bath is starting to feel like south-east Queensland – the sun shining every day.  But here it’s spring not autumn, and I see the blossom on the trees and hear the wood pigeon outside my window every morning.  I am so glad to be here.  Considering the months in 2023 when that wasn’t the case, I’m feeling particularly blessed right now.

The avalanche of songs I was writing in January has stopped but I’ve been touring with my friend Jody, singing and playing and meeting such lovely people.  There are so many times when things have been hard and I’ve wondered why I do this work but then I get messages that mean the world to me, like the beautiful poem I received this morning from someone who saw me in Wiveliscombe at the weekend.  He made my day.

So slowly but surely I’m starting to rebuild my confidence and am really looking forward to the public gigs and private house concerts I’ll be doing in the next few months.  Thanks so much to Louise in Exeter and Ian in Wiveliscombe for hosting us last weekend.  If you would like me to come and perform in your living room or local village hall, please get in touch.

I’m doing public gigs in Birmingham then Bradford-on-Avon next week, followed by Camden in London the week after.  If you’re free and in the area, it would be great to meet you too.

I hope the sun is shining where you are and all’s well in your world.

xx