Hi everyone! – March 2019

Q. It’s been two years since you updated your website. Where the hell have you been?

A. A lot of different things came together at one time and led to a decision to pull back from my ‘life on the road’ and spend more time at home.

Q. What kind of things are you talking about?

A. After 42 years working as a professional musician, I felt it was OK to step back a bit and look for a new way to work that will allow me to keep writing, singing and performing, all of which I love just as much as I always did. Music still means the world to me.

After the success of the Nicky Hopkins book (which by the way, against all the rules of publishing is still selling!) I received a phone call from Spencer Davis. Spence said he had just read the Nicky biography in two days and asked me to write his life story. I was happy to say yes. The book is now ready to go and will hopefully appear later this year. In the meantime there is another book offer on the horizon…

I have three children all leading busy lives and two grandkids as well, so family stuff has become more important. I think we are at a point where the old ways of doing things need to change. I want to be part of that change but I’m not yet sure how.

‘Signs that you once counted on don’t make sense any more
You find your footsteps turning back towards your own front door.’ (Four Walls)

Q. How have you been keeping the bank manager happy?

A. I’m lucky to have something in the region of two hundred songs recorded that still bring in royalties. I’ve collected my personal favourites on two three-CD box sets (Life & Soul Volumes I and II), both available on Blue Rose Records. The latest one brought things up to date with some brand new tracks alongside my older songs, from my solo albums and from my time with Plainsong. Richard Thompson joined me for ‘East Nashville Blues, the newest recording.

I haven’t stopped travelling and playing concerts.. The shows I have done have been particularly intense and enjoyable and the audiences especially welcoming. In the last two years I’ve played in the UK, the USA, Germany, France, Estonia, Austria and Sweden. I’ve recently begun to jot down lyrics on stray bits of paper, so I guess there are some new songs on the way.