To complete the picture on recent Sam Eason beardy action, a few notes on Sunday's Louisiana gig as well as some exciting news (that I pretty much can't say much about at the moment!).

I've been lucky enough to almost call The Lousiana my second home at times this year, playing there in 4 of the last 6 months. It still never loses it's magic - I just love the intimacy of the place; the fact that often the first few rows of people are sat on the floor which accentuates the feeling of playing in someone's living room. The audience is always so respectful and receptive too, and I don't think a bad job has ever been done by the great sound guys. Both The Fleece and The Louisiana (who are programmed by the Fleece guys) do a great job of providing opportunities for local acts and helping them to get a foot up onto the gigging ladder which I for one, very much appreciate. 

Sunday's gig was another great coming-together of a variety of acts which despite offering very different musical textures, still somehow still felt cohesive as a lineup. Eddy Hill kicked the night off with a great attitude-led singer-songwriter set reminiscent of Jamie T's more acoustic based material. This was followed by Hayley Chillcott who had people enraptured and transfixed by her beautifully fragile, yet dreamily ethereal voice over some finely crafted, softer acoustic songs.

I then played a set that, while not among my absolute best, was still memorable for a few reasons. Firstly, I decided to put 'Cliches' mid-way through the set for a change, in order to finish on 'Across The Sky' which I thought might be a nice one to leave people with. Secondly, I played a new song which despite being unconvinced by a few days before, with a few added harmonies from Beth, I finally 'got' the song and feel that it offers something to the canon that I haven't really had before. It's tentatively called 'Ever Decreasing Circles', and it's about the slightly downbeat idea that once we all get to a certain age/point in our lives, the knocks we take start to have a longer lasting effect and we're never quite able to get back to our levels of 'wellness' - the song is about getting to the point of no return really, where it may be better to let go than to hold on. As I said, a bit of a different angle to the usual Sam Eason love and happiness malarkey!!

I'm never a really good judge of how the gig comes across but, lots of people took CDs and said some nice things, so even if they were all doing it out of pity or duty, I felt like I did a good job! It was nice to catch some of headliners 'Scott James & The Revolution' - acoustic soul/folk with an urban tinge. Very different but it worked and there was some real talent up on that stage!

Finally, I'll leave you with the news that I'm working on doing the 'band thing' with some incredibly talented people that may or may not yield something special - the initial ideas and discussions have been awesome, but we have yet to meet in a room and get our instuments out.... ahem. That comes next week.
Watch this space, if it goes well, I'll tell you more (if it doesn't, I won't.)

Beard love xx

Photo credit: Mike Harley, http://bristolbands-mikeharley.blogspot.co.uk/

In a turn up for the books, I've been hard at work lately, particularly on the music front! It has been a really enjoyable period full of meeting new people, playing new places and doing lots of new things.
I recently played the wedding reception of a beautiful couple, Ross and Lucy at The Bathwick Boatman, Bath. I was able to really take a tour through my repertoire as I had been asked to play for nearly 3 hours, across two sets. 

Due to Ross and Lucy having their formative years in the 90s, like myself, there was much common ground in our musical favourites. I hopefully catered for the wide age range that comes into play when the different generations come together for wonderful events like this. I came up with setlists that were able to travel from Don Williams to The Killers, via Bob Dylan and Adele, so hopefully all bases were covered! On what was (at that point) the hottest day of the year, it was an absolute pleasure to be in such a beautiful setting by the river, watching the boats swish past while being made to feel part of the family by Ross and Lucy's genuinely lovely crew. Oh, and as you can see from the photo, I even tried rocking the bow tie for the first time and was reasonably pleased I didn't look toooo silly! (Beth looked gorgeous as ever)

That day was not complete however and after the newlyweds were off on their boat trip, I was off for event number two to play at little miss Lauren Castle's birthday party in Hilperton. A blooming grand house party of the finest proportions with a groovy 60s theme; These Castles know how to host a party! Again, I found myself in the company of some great people, with an obvious skew towards a younger crowd I made sure to pepper a few more recent chart hits onto the set. Getting in my covers of 'Get Lucky' and 'Pompeii' as well as cracking out the 60s singalongs to fit the theme, I actually even got a request via YouTube for one of my own songs! I had such a lovely evening to cap off a beautiful day, with my throat only just about lasting the duration but a smile which lasted for days after!