HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Merry Xmas (Tour is Over)

Hello to all of you reading this and please accept my belated wishes for very merry Christmases and happy new years to you all. Above is a picture that you may have enjoyed more about two and a half weeks ago but which now may just increase your January blues. (Thanks to Isabelle Adam for a cracking shot of my Christmas jumper, which I found on here.)

What has kept me so busy since last I wrote? Well way back when October dawned you may remember I set out on the road with that lovely Josie Long to accompany her on her UK tour. The tour took us as far up as St. Andrews, down as Brighton, across as Norwich and Tywyn and pretty much everywhere in between. I loved absolutely every gig on the tour and I would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who watched me, especially those of you that bought CDs.

No sooner had we finished our last gig of the tour at the Cardiff Chapel Arts Centre than we were on the road to London to join the wonderful Robin Ince for his brilliant Nine Carols and Lessons for Godless People shows at the Bloomsbury Theatre, which I enjoyed even more than last year. Particular highlights this year included Gavin Osborn, Isy Suttie, playing with Steve Pretty and his brass band, and the amazing Frisky and Mannish. After a few cancellations saw Robin’s End of the World show a little short of acts, I found myself on stage at the bloody Hammersmith Apollo playing to a sellout crowd and, er, Hugh Grant, who seemed to enjoy me even if he thought I was eleven. The world didn’t end, but if it had done that would have been quite a last night.

After a brief interlude for Christmas, I was delighted to end the year supporting my friend and hero Sam Duckworth at Brixton’s Windmill. As always it was an inspiration to see him play and a big thanks to the Windmill for a great crowd. It was a lovely way to end an incredible year for me.

Thank you…