Hey again all! Just a quick update as I'm finally banishing SOME of the worried "what if I don't end up with anything?" thoughts - as of today I have finished FOUR songs! I haven't got them recorded yet but I'll give you a quick sneak peek into the stories behind them (in the order they were finished, with their preliminary titles):

1) The Good Natured Man - Young lady who has it all comes to Bath; has many suitors; falls for the wrong man; loses all her money; falls into the wrong crowd; doesn't end well!
2) A Welcoming End - A song talking about the juxtaposition of the grandeur of the city alongside the filth of the slums; a warning to all who enter...
3) The Bath Bugaloo - A stompy jazzy-folk number all about a curious man who dressed in head to toe in green (including hair!) It's got a great little singalong line haha!
4) Confessions Of A Sedan Chairman - Offering a bit of a glimpse into the life of a Sedan chair carrier what it might drive them to!

Very happy to have some songs in the bank now and I'm still brimming with musical ideas for all the others (I already know what they're going to be about and the research is done, just need to extract the lovely musical nectar from the text!)

One other lovely development is that I finally have my band of incredible musicians at the ready to help me bring them to life on the night. You'll be hopefully getting guitar, acoustic drum setup, violin, fiddle, double bass and mandolin in varying quantities and combinations!

Hopefully there'll be a few of you there to hear it all laid out, tickets are on sale now (link on the BathSongs page!)

Speak soon, and thanks so much for reading!! 
Sam x

Tues 7th April 9:02pm
The BathSongs writing has begun (albeit a week behind schedule!) Since I last wrote a blog, I have been cutting down all the research; the people; the stories from the big bundle I started with down to the ones I think have a good BathSong in them.

I spent a bit of time reading and re-reading the ones I was left with to try to find the best angles to write them from. I'm still looking for that angle for a few of them but have some good plans afoot for the rest! In terms of making sure I keep the writing fires burning, I'm planning on working on around 3 songs at once (like spinning plates!) and starting a new one when one of them sounds 'finished'. Tonight was the first night of sitting with notes and guitar in hand and seeing what melodies and forms the tales might want to take. 

After a few hours, I have two and a half plates spinning!! The first is probably going to be called 'A Good Natured Man' and will be a ballad style song of love, loss and tragedy. Another is more of a portrait song -'Guinea Pig Jack' which I think will be a bit more of a cheeky upbeat shuffler! For these two I have a strong idea for the melody and lyrics for at least the first verse, as well as a 'route plan' for how I want it to map out. The 'half a plate' spinning will be 'A Welcoming End' for which I have an embryonic version of a melody and opening on the go. You can hear veeeery rough snippets of these early ideas on the BathSongs page in the Mixing Pot playlist, but please bear in mind they are just the starting points.

I'm feeling a bit happier having started the writing process but know it's still a long process... which I don't actually have a long time for!! I think I'm going to have to be a bit flexible on my scheduling (see previous blog entry) and sacrifice some of the recording time if needs be. Anyway, I have the house to myself this evening so I'm going to see if there aren't a few more revolutions I can spin these plates before sleep comes knocking!! Thanks so much for reading, feel free to post any comments, questions or ideas onto this blog, through my contact page or the BathSongs facebook page!

Much love! Sam x