Mostly Folk Podcast 192

Artie Martello played a 3-song feature from These Hours in this episode of Mostly Folk from last week. I love the 3-song lineups as way to get into an album a little bit more (plus it reminds me a bit of open mics!) and I really enjoyed listening to the other albums featured here. 

You can follow Artie on Mixcloud, Twitter and he has a particularly wonderful Instagram account following his life up in the mountains. 

Latest Videos

I've updated the Videos page with some of the latest live videos from Hoodoo's and Wandle Park - got a few more to come including some songs that haven't been recorded yet so this it the only way to hear them! Hope your favourites are in here somewhere: 

Solid Ground -

Swim Any Sea - 

Water's Edge - 

I've been enjoying singing backing for Chris Sheffield/The 9 Lives - here's the first time we sang Hold Me at Hoodoo's:

Live this week in Croydon - Croydon Radio podcast

A big thank you to Andrew Chatterton and James Tighe at Croydon Radio for taking up Some Kind of Comfort for their shows last week - you can listen to James's "Live this week in Croydon" podcast below. By complete coincidence I was standing outside the studio as James left after this show (while waiting for my open mic slot at Hoodoo's) and we're arranging a live session so keep your eyes and ears peeled for that! 

Some Kind of Comfort

So good news! The new single Some Kind of Comfort is out and available through all the usual channels - iTunes, Amazon, Spotify, etc. You can listen to the final edit on SoundCloud below, and there's also a video! The lyrics are here. 

It's my first time releasing a single and I was lucky in that everything came together really quickly on this one, it only took a month from writing the song through recording it to getting it released. Admittedly I have been pushing it and playing it a lot as right from the start this has had special sentimental value to me and it also speaks to what I want to do with my music in general - bring comfort, since it seems there's not enough of that in the world and we could all use a little more. I'm not about to solve the world's problems but if writing a song can put a little bit of peace or love into someone's day, then that seems a good thing to put out there, and the more good things there are, the less room we'll all have for negativity. Right?!

A side note about where I'm at with releases and albums at the moment: I have a vague idea about trying to put a song out every month or so, that seems to fit better with where I am in terms of available time and resources right now. When I was recording These Hours I had a fairly coherent idea of what I wanted to do with the album as a whole and was determined to record in single takes as that was representative of what I was doing live at the time - the songs all kind of held together that way and that was pretty much all I did for a couple of months, rehearse and record and gig a bit in between. Fast forward 18 months and I am working on quite a variety of material, also collaborating a lot and looking forward to getting some different productions done of some of the songs. I'm not convinced about how it would hold together as an album at this point, even if I had the time to dedicate to just doing that - but I do have a backlog of songs, with new material coming through all the time, so working on them incrementally seems to make sense. I'm going to see where it takes me for now...

Hope you enjoy this song and we're starting work on the next one on Thursday... watch this space!

Radio

Some of the tracks from These Hours have been getting some radio play this week so I wanted to say thank you and share the links - both shows were great in their entirety and packed full of gorgeous and intriguing music. 

Roots and Fusion (Pure 107.8fm in Stockport) played These Hours on Wednesday night - the episode 381 podcast is available on their Mixcloud site here. 

Bob Campbell at the Folk Music and Beyond show on KALW in San Francisco opened the show with Tide Will Turn on Saturday afternoon and had this to say about it: 

"This song recalls to me the things that I keep hearing myself telling myself and hoping that an answer will come."

- which I thought was rather wonderful. I'm not sure there are many answers in there and this is not a song I've been playing live at all, but I think I will, as it's definitely something that rings true to me at the moment - 

And the fields will burn, when the wildfire comes
And you're freed from all you let go
Take your leap of faith, believe in the change
And the tide will turn, before you know. 

You can listen to the entire show at this link - but only for the next week until the following show goes out, so don't hang about! I'm endlessly grateful to everyone who takes the time to listen and play the songs, thank you thank you thank you x

Sumner Anderson Launch

Thursday saw the launch of the Sumner Anderson website AND the "Running" EP - 

Working as a duo with Rob Anderson has been a massive focus for me this year alongside my solo song-writing, and I'm pretty sure the story of how this all came about is one I'll be telling over and over - for now you can read a bit about it at the website: www.sumneranderson.com

"Running" is the first of two live EPs we're releasing this summer. If you have a copy of These Hours, you might be interested to hear some of the new versions we've done of some of the songs from there. There's also new material and one or two things from the Wayne Drury Project. 

You can come and see us live TONIGHT! at the Stage Door (Webber Street, SE1 8QA) near Waterloo - event link is here. 

I feel incredibly fortunate to be a part of this. 

Calling for Serenity videos

The Calling for Serenity YouTube site has been updated with a whole hostory of videos since the launch of the Endless Numbers EP last month. I'm posting a couple here but there's a whole lot more where these came from! 

First and foremost here's the official video for the lead single Pi - I love this!

This is the version of Heaven Inside from the first time we ever played it live together (at the St. Mungo'so festival):

 

And here is the full acoustic set that Rob and I played at the launch party, in full: 

 

More details including how to get hold of the EP are on the CfS website: 

http://www.callingforserenity.co.uk  

Everything Forever Lyric Video

I was delighted to hear that Everything Forever was going to be featured on West Norfolk Radio's annual promo CD. Even more delighted to have some CDs come my way which arrived yesterday - looking forward to hearing everything that's on there! West Norfolk Radio have been so supportive ever since the release of These Hours last year and I'm really grateful for all they do. 

I've just released a lyric video for Everything Forever and it's up now on YouTube: 

Gigs this weekend

If you're around Saturday you can catch me at the St. Helier festival in Carshalton during the day (sometime between 12-5pm, I'll let you know if I get a more precise time!) More info on that here: 

http://www.hievents.co.uk/events/246713/st-helier-festival-2016

In the evening I'm going to be playing at the church hall in Warlingham for this gig with the amazing John Lazenby, raising money for the Lily Foundation. You'll need a ticket for this but there will be some on the door. Facebook event link is here: 

https://www.facebook.com/events/1046778958705932/?ti=cl

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Hope to see you! 

Wandle in the Park - videos

Saturday saw the inaugural Wandle In the Park folk jam at the beautifully restored bandstand in Wandle Park, Croydon. Lovely to see so many there, particularly to have the chance to catch up with so many Ruskin House regulars.  

I've posted a couple of videos and have some more to come - here are Swim Any Sea and Renegades (with helicopter accompaniment!)  

Got lots of these outdoors gigs coming up this summer, so if this looks like fun to you check out the Shows page for dates. 

Upcoming gig dates

Starting today I've got a string of weekend gigs for the next 7 weeks - several in and around Croydon, some with Rob Anderson, a lot are big days out involving heaps of other local musicians. There are more details via the shows page and I'll be keeping the Facebook page updated - that and Twitter are the best places to check for last-minute changes. 

Hope you can make it to some of these dates, they're all going to be great! 


- Sunday 29 May - Surrey Country Show, Lloyd Park, Croydon, 2pm
- Saturday 4 June - Wandle Park Bandstand (time TBC)
- Saturday 11 June - St Helier Music Festival (daytime TBC) 
- Saturday 11 June - Lily Charity Gig, Warlingham (7pm)
- Saturday 18 June - Stage Door, Waterloo (8pm)
- Saturday 25 June - Wallington Music Festival
- Friday 1 July - Hoodoo's Introducing, Croydon
- Saturday 9 July - Croydon Folk & Blues Club Festival, Ruskin House

Calling For Serenity - Endless Numbers EP

I'm really excited to announce the launch of the Endless Numbers EP. 

Back in the depths of last winter I contributed some vocals to a collection of very powerful songs written by Rob Knowles (from Audio287) under the guise of Calling For Serenity - a project combining gothic rock, trance synths and rap with the aim of raising awareness of mental health issues. Not having done anything like this before, at the time I was sold on the message of the songs and mostly just having a lot of fun experimenting in what was a totally new genre for me. It was only later that I began to understand the extent of Rob's vision for the project and the number of people it would reach. 

Mental health awareness is an issue really close to my heart, and the aim of Calling For Serenity is to encourage discussion and empathy for the silent suffering that is so widespread. I have first-hand experience of how mental and emotional health issues can make life unbearable, and can also attest to the difference it can make to get the right help and support, and how this can turn a life around. If you don't suffer from a mental health issue yourself, it's extremely likely someone you know does. There is still so much stigma around mental health and these experiences are difficult enough to describe as it is - and the isolation and difficulties of communicating how it feels to be unwell only make matters worse. Having just one person who listens openly to what you're going through can change a situation dramatically and even be life-saving. Creating a space and a culture where mental health can be discussed openly is vital, and something we can all contribute to. 

The EP is being released on Monday 16 May and you can pre-order it now on iTunes for just £1.99!

There's also going to be a launch event in Richmond on Saturday 21 May - if you would like to come along or know someone who would, please get in touch via the Calling For Serenity website.

Please, please, please, check out the EP, find out more about the project, and share the links! 

Going Live, snotty colds and other events

Been an interesting couple of weeks here! A nasty cold in the middle slowed me down (and stopped me singing)(which made me very grumpy!) but I was just enough better to sing at Hoodoo's on Tuesday - live streamed on Facebook for the first time - and at The Brook on Thursday, which was a smashing night packed with great local talent as always. Good to catch up with folks and put a few more names to faces. 

The Sumner+Anderson project is still going from strength to strength; after a wave of inaugural gigs, we've started to record some of our songs - including some of Rob's yet-to-be-released material, and new versions of Anywhere With You and Solid Ground. I can't wait to share these songs as it feels like we're on to something really special.

A couple of other projects I sang on are in the process of making their way out into the world, including the forthcoming release of the Calling For Serenity Endless Numbers EP. Rob and I will be playing at the launch event on 21 May - watch this space for more details. 

There's been a little bit of songwriting going on around the edges, and a whole lot of rehearsing, designing and planning. Too many projects to keep everything going equally at once, but the main thing I wanted for this year was to be singing, gigging and recording more than ever before, and that's certainly happening. So all's well!

Couple of pictures from our gig at Ruskin House (Croydon Folk and Blues Club) on the 3rd: 

 

 

New lyric video: Just A Story

I've just added this to the Videos page - here are the lyrics to Just a Story. 

It's not something I really believe, although I do love singing this song and it's one of my personal favourites. I wrote it for a friend who was having trouble at the time with the way that relationships come and go and felt like giving up on love because it was always going to end. 

There are a lot of things I believe about love and the nature of love, and one of those things is that you can experience a momentary love connection that has an eternal impact: it's never gone, it's here and it's now, and it's all that you need to know. Relationships may end but some love, if not all love, lasts forever. 

Swim Any Sea

This is almost the newest song I have: Swim Any Sea. 

I have played this a few times live and people have been great about learning the chorus so they can join in! There is every chance I'll be asking people to sing along in future so if you want to swot up beforehand, here are the lyrics: 

 

Woah, you're part of my soul
As if somebody out there was waiting for me
I'd move any mountain to bring you back home
Oh my love, for to find you, I'd swim any sea.
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