2020 Instant Whip, Stevie Steve and the Spanners
September: Recording session with Instant Whip. 3 new tracks: Love or dementia, Don't be late & Last Great Wish.
Photo: Tony Foster, Wayne Evans, Kev Bailes, Steve Howard and Tracey Beeby.
Love or Dementia is a song I've written for my mate Dan. Just married at 63 it's a fine line between the drooling of love and the drooling of dementia.
Summer: The first foray into a new project called W.E.S.H.
A sort of "library music" style adventure from Sam Howard and myself. More on this later.
February: Recording session at the Mouse House with Stevie Steve and the Spanners. 3 Tracks: Mary Ryley, Nottingham Folk & Sacred Idleness.
Line up: Stephen Howard: Vocals, Lloyd Sutton Bennett: Guitar, Vocals on Sacred Idleness, Wayne Evans: Bass Guitar, Anthony Foster: Slide Guitar, Mark Joseph: Cohon, Paul Asher: Accordion, Violin.
This is an occasional pickup band I assemble for my roots/folk/country type outings. Mary Ryley was a Nottingham character from over three hundred years ago who was said to have lived to be one hundred years old and at the very advanced age of ninety seven walked to London and back. Lyrics written by Stephen Howard.
Recorded and engineered by Doggen at the Mouse House Tuesday 11th February. All live. Backing vocals were overdubbed afterwards. Mixed by Mixup and Doggen.
The band I used for this session is usually called The Lincolnshire Poacher Allstars. Gez who books bands for the "Poacher" gave them the name although it is primarily a vehicle for "Ben" Bennett and his songs. When I suggested the name wouldn't apply when they played elsewhere, the "Ruffits" was said to be the original name. Sacred Idleness was written by Ben and is a staple number in their set currently.
Photo from left to right. Wayne, Tony, Ben, Paul, Mark, Steve
A one off 7" vinyl was pressed in March featuring rough mixes of both Mary Ryley & Sacred Idleness.. Whisk Records 7001, 2020. A rough mix of Mary Ryley can be heard on the music player.
Mastered versions should appear in 2021.