I really have to drive to The Isle of Bute now

PLUS a new single out today 📣 featuring John Parker

I write to you from one of those hotel room desks you generally never sit down at, flush from a triumphant gig in Manchester last night, and with news of a new single out today.

It’s a version of Keep Me Around recorded as part of the No Drama single sessions in 2019. John Parker features on double bass, and keen listeners can hear the sound of decades of fond friendship emanating from each of his calloused fingers.

The song made its way onto my album Some Things Are Like Other Things, but this version found its way into obscurity on my hard drive, which is no place for a nice little recording like this. So with this limited fanfare 📣, another song is out into the world.

TAKE A LISTEN:

Listen on Apply Music
Listen on Spotify
Listen on Bandcamp
Listen on everywhere else

My thanks to Matt Ingram at Urchin Studios who produced this track. We really connected on these sessions, he offered me dad support in a way I will never forget and have tried to pass onto others. Plus the man really knows his music.

Enough of that lad

As all of you know I take some pride in this newsletter offering something different than the usual self-promotion. The last few weeks have been a bit of a blur, and I’ve not managed to get much out other than a piano version of Keep Me Around for paid subscribers. And today, as I eye Google Maps journey times from Manchester to the Isle of Bute with increasing trepidation, may not be the day to make up for that.

This certainly didn’t help…

The Green Baron Rides No More 🫡

Was it ever really green? It was a hotly disputed subject depending on the lighting. And The Turquoise Baron didn’t really have the same ring to it.

Anyway, we went round and round the country together so many times that by the end it was held together with duct tape and blind hope. This was evidenced by a final spectacularly failed MOT from which there was absolutely no recovery.

So, time to grow up a little and invest in a brand new… *checks pockets*… scooter.

Faithful companion, fallen comrade, we salute you.

Anyway, I got a hire car and these first shows in Windermere and Manchester were both extremely special ones. My thanks to all the people who turned out for those, many are a bit like family they’ve come to so many.

OK, one more plug for this single and I’m hitting the road (and water) to Butesong. More soon!

Love Jake