Author: Val Snclair

14 June 2024 – The Hive, Shrewsbury.  I’m delighted to be performing a slot for The Sound of Shrewsbury Folk the Fifth and I’ll  be joined by musicians Clive Butterworth and Mal Brown.  As always we’ll be putting our own stamp on some great songs,

Tickets available from The Hive,  £16

 

My very first performance in Shropshire with the new ‘Mood Indigo’ band finally took place on Saturday 17 December (after being postponed following the Queen’s passing), and what a fabulous evening it was.  We sold-out to an enthusiastic audience, who clearly appreciated the very eclectic set, and the wonderful musicianship of the band members.  Covering songs from Duke Ellington to Etta James, Snow Patrol to Joe Cocker, Gerry Rafferty to Melody Gardot.  War of the Worlds was a resounding success opening the second-half and you could have heard a pin drop through our version of Chasing Cars and the build-up of harmonies. The young saxophonist, Louis Meehan, stole everyone’s hearts!  What a brilliant player he is.  Jake Pettenall-Evans of ca-audio did an excellent job and was in perfect control of the very big sound coming from this 7-piece band.  See more about the players on the Mood Indigo page from the menu above.

 

The concert due to take place in Pontesbury on Saturday 10 September was postponed following the sad news of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth’s passing.

The event will now take place on Saturday 17 December and there may be a few festive surprises. 

Well, it’s been quite a journey over the last two years, patiently waited for restrictions to ease, and for musicians to get themselves back into playing mode.  We made a huge decision to uproot from Cambridgeshire and settle in the  glorious surroundings of Shropshire.  Then the untimely need to have some unexpected surgery.  However, today I spent a few hours jamming with the amazing drummer Steve Green, superb  pianist Des George and the very talented guitarist/bass and dear friend Clive Butterworth.  So watch this space as we venture out again on the circuit in due course.

Finally able to get together with some local Shropshire musicians, having some great jam sessions and will soon be able to meet some of the performance requests – yeah!

I’m getting ready, getting excited and getting rehearsed!  With any luck my jazz/blues concert in Budleigh Salterton with the Pat Brandon Quartet on Sunday 31 October will go ahead following the cancellation of the previous two dates. We’re ready to rock so come and join us.

 

2020 saw the competition introduce a new section – best cover song.  We entered 5 songs, all of which gained the top 5* mark and 3 songs gained a semi-final place.  We were surprised and delighted to get that far especially as there were 9000 entries from 84 countries. Yea, we are happy people.  The songs are

Paper Planes

You’ll Never Be The Sun

Satin Doll

Thank you to the brilliant songwriters who enabled us to cover these music treasures.

 

 

No doubt every musician feels pretty much as I do – missing the wonderful companionship  of those you usually work with, longing to share the same space again, and experience the precious moments of making music together.

Some will be experiencing tremendous financial hardship, as will the sound and lighting crews, and roadies, that performers rely on so much.

I expect it will be a very long time before we are able to perform publicly again but the health and well-being of everyone has to be the first priority.

Blessings and love