music business

Liverpool Acoustic Festival – 19/03/16

Hey all,..

Lots of squirreling little plans going on here that I’m excited about for 2016.

Creative, collaborative, proactive..

The most immediate is my involvement in Liverpool Acoustic Festival. This is a weekend packed full of acoustic artists held in Unity Theatre and Philharmonic Music Rooms. I’m made up to be on a line – up with lots other fantastic artists including Marcus Bonfanti and Dave O’Grady. The festival runs all weekend but my performance is on Sat 19^th March in The Music Room – Philharmonic, I’ll be on at 7.15pm and will be road testing some new tunes.. Get your tickets.

I’m also very honoured to be invited as part of a panel discussion with Liverpool Acoustic at Unity Theatre at 5pm – 6pm on the subject ‘Female Is Not A Genre’..This, I believe has sprung from a very well written piece by songwriter Roxanne De Bastion last year. I’m in good company for this sitting alongside Roxanne De Bastion, Kaya Herstadt Carney and Eleanor Nelly.

I hope to see some of you there!

Other news on the collaborative front is my co-written track ‘Sharks’ with Operation Lightfoot (Luke Moore)… the track is now recorded and finished and sent for mastering. I’m excited, really excited about this track from beginning to end. It was great to be asked, to work with Luke and Jon (Crosstown Studios), to perform with other Lightfooters and now just to hear the finished product puts a big smile on my face. I loved working with strings on this one! I will be making some noise when it’s release time….

I’ll also be making some noise soon…. All will be revealed in due course!

Until then, stay creative and with your heart

Folkscene & Bluebird Cafe comp!

A couple of weeks ago I was invited to go to Radio Merseyside and record an hour-long interview with Liverpool harp legend and all round good ‘un Stan Ambrose for his show Folkscene. I always have a great and interesting chat with Stan on creativity and songwriting.

Here’s the link to playback for the next 3 weeks. After that I will add it to my Soundcloud account..

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02jv9j6

And and and…

I have also managed to be picked as one of the 20 songwriters invited to go to group songwriting workshops with visiting Nashville songwriters and music industry execs on their visit to Bluecoat, Liverpool for The Bluebird Cafe event on 29th August.

http://monkeymindproductions.net/the-bluebird/

Exciting, creative times!

Chopping Wood video / Tom Robinson / Folkstock Xmas & Blues Matters

Hello All!

Swishing into December are we, doing whatever each of us likes to do or not do! 🙂 Me personally I like to leisurely drink coffee and stay in where its warm..

Busy times musically!

First up. Last month we filmed a vid over two days to compliment my crowd favourite Chopping Wood. This song has been making people happy. So I contacted the fab Mr Andrew Ab and he sent the finished product to me this week and I couldn’t wait to share it.. I suggest sitting yourself down with a brew and taking 4 mins..(until the end of the song of course) and soaking up this little visual delight. I’m really happy with it and so seem those who have thus far seen it..and who can say more than that.

Secondly. Last month Chopping Wood was picked by the one and only BBC 6 Musics Tom Robinson for his Fresh on the Net blog. I then was emailed an excellent message to say the same song had been selected for Tom’s BBC Introducing Mixtape show. Happy? Well..just a little bit 🙂 Here’s the show that went out with my song on it!

http://freshonthenet.co.uk/2013/12/mixtape20131202/

The Fresh on the Net site is also an amazing resource for musicians looking for tips on how to optimise their opportunities..

Third. Last weekend I headed down to Hertford Corn Exchange to perform as part of the Folkstock Christmas show. I did the festival in the Summer and I can’t recommend it enough for the future. I was treated extremely well and the acts were all top quality. Last sunday was a full day of free music. Check out these guys if you can and keep an eye on the festival for the future!

Pic from the day by Helen Meissner..who also took some vid footage and made an awesome compilation here…. as well as being the boss of Folkstock!

definitely not least… one day last week whilst browsing the internet I came across this little gem..

If you cast your eyes to the bottom you will see what made me happy 🙂

Blues Matters is a great mag featuring all things blues and somethings that push the boarder of traditional blues. I like this ethos a lot being that my music is not especially traditional to any genre. These guys have reviewed my EP and it is in the current issue with favourable words. Once I have my copy I shall be posting a picture of the review.

Until next time enjoy this time of year however you need to! Many good vibes from me and if you’re looking for gift inspiration I would recommend my EP Chasing Tales…. naturally!

Jo x

WHISCing on the SEVENSTREETS of LIVERPOOL ACOUSTIC

At the beginning of this week I hit a bit of an ebb tide-wise after spending copious amounts of time in computer-based business research mode. The creative portion of my existance started to seem like a very distant memory. After a small crisis I aired on Facebook in the words of ‘HELP!’, Mr Graham Holland of LIVERPOOL ACOUSTIC came to my aid. After 2 coffees in conversation at Bold st Coffee I realised I am actually doing ok for a self-release muso/artist on the organisation/business front. I have dealt with the fact that I’m not the only one and after a couple of words with myself I think I’m over it 🙂

So, Liverpool Acoustic. Graham set up this up originally as a web-based hub for all things acoustic in Liverpool. A place to find gigs, open mics, reviews, web-links, artist profiles. Anyone interested in the acoustic scene or musos looking for reviews, a profile or gig opportunities should defo check out this site. Liverpool Acoustic is also a bi-monthly top quality event at View 2 Gallery on Mathew st. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

My next stop of what turned out to be my magic day was WHISC (Womens Health Information Support Centre) on Bold st also. Reason for visit was to reschedule my Shiatsu massage after sleeping in last week….oops. I went in and babbled about how much time I seem to be spending on the computer and came out having agreed to do their blogs/updates aswell……?! 🙂 However. This is a place I really support in Liverpool and I’m trading for a free massage so I didn’t really do bad afterall.

WHISC is a charity for women to use. They offer everything from a drop-in ‘listening ear’ service to reduced price holistic therapies. I have been having Shiatsu there for the last year and it’s amazing. So if you’re female and need support or want to volunteer or are looking for massages etc I suggest you head here! They’re really friendly people.

Thanks to Vicky Andrews this week who did me a fab interview for SEVENSTREETS magazine. Awesome bit of writing. There’s even a swear word in it (see what happens after a couple of beers..).

I also had my album reviewed by AMERICANA magazine.

Have a great weekend! And if anybody needs one of my badges to cover up unsightly holes or stains on clothes give me a shout. I hear that’s what they’re being used for…:)

Jo Bywater