Sunshine 'n' Songs

As I write, the sun is shining in a sky of pristine blue and it's hard not to think of the fast-approaching Spring... of something beyond what has become the norm in recent months. It would seem that there are better days to come, and that small thought is a big comfort in the here and now. Here's to meteorological metaphors!

News from this neck o' the woods is of upcoming gigs and recent goings on. Before I get to the gigs, the songwriting project you may recall me mentioning with Ange Hardy and Lukas Drinkwater that was taking place at Cecil Sharp House in London, took place last week... at Cecil Sharp House in London, no less! We had a productive few days writing songs based on items we found in the day's news and over the four days we spent there, wrote four songs. You can catch an impromptu performance of the songs to the staff at English Folk music's HQ here. There are also individual performances of the songs on YouTube, as well as excerpts from the concert that Ange & Lukas were performing on the Wednesday night for which I also joined them for on several numbers. As I say, it was quite the week and we were each battling bugs and whatnot to be as industrious as we possibly could, and at the end of it all we left feeling very satisfied with the whole project; a great experience. As to the future of the songs we wrote... who knows? Hopefully they will have a life beyond last week anyway.

The events page on the website here has details of gigs in various parts of he UK and currently looks like this:

13th April - Bradninch Acoustic Music Club, Devon

6th May -   Tithe Barn, Dunster Somerset (Double-header with Daria Kulesh)

25th May - Clwb Y Bont, Pontypridd, S Wales

27th May - The Bushcraft Show, Rosliston, Derbs.

29th May - Live at the Foyer, Linskill Centre, North Shields

4th June -   The Chlachain Inn, Mallaig, Scotland

5h June -   Marketbar, Inverness, Scotland

10th June - Carlisle Folk & Blues Club, Carlisle. (Opening for Australian singer/songwriter Jordie Lane)

11th June -  Leyburn Arts & Community Centre, N Yorks.

17th June - Downend Folk Club (Opening forr Kirsty Bromley & Lucy Wise)

18th June - Black Duck Folk, Chippenham (house concert)


There will be further dates added and confirmed over the coming days and weeks so please do keep an eye on the website and on Facebook and Twitter for updates. It'd be lovely to see you at a gig or two if you can make it along. Equally, if you know of a suitable venue near to you for me to play, feel free to drop me a line with any info and I'll see what I can do!

Thanks to everyone for the continuing support and for the fantastic feedback at gigs to the new material too. It means so much and news regarding the recording of the new album will be on the way in the not too distant future... I'm getting keen to begin the whole process again and to be able to put these new songs out there. There are a couple of videos up on YouTube of new songs that will be on the album - 'Other' and 'Doing Well' - and along with a few other videos, you can check them out on the website here.

Wishing you everything that is good and hope to see you soon...

Steve x

www.stevepledger.co.uk
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