My last solo show was a triple bill with Clive Carroll and Amrit Sond on December 19th, at Acoustic Routes in Cambridge, which was nerve-wracking, considering the combined virtuosity of those two! Amrit is a total one off with a highly individual style (and a Grammy Award winner to boot!) and Clive is, well, Clive! Anyone who has seen him will attest to the fact that he's a phenomenal talent, up there with the very best players in the world. So yes, it was a scary experience, but one which was sold out, and great fun. Thanks to Bernard Hoskin for putting it on.
Instrument-wise, I sold my recently purchased Fylde Mandola to Mike (who plays keys in Jackie's band), and bought myself a Fylde Signature Octavius Bouzouki and Fylde Walnut Touchstone Mandolin in it's place. Oh, and I've taken up the banjo, after recently seeing legendary folkie, Pete Coe! I love old timey clawhammer style banjo playing, and have decided to finally figure it out. You'd think that a guitar player wouldn't have too much trouble turning his hand to this, but the clawhammer technique is utterly counter-intuitive to fingerstyle guitar.
Teaching-wise, I'm going to be running a new evening class in acoustic guitar at the ACM starting in January. Go to www.acm.ac.uk for more information.
That's all for now. I wish you all a very happy and peaceful new year! Wassail!
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