Quiet Power – Stan Ambrose

Today, I would like to pay my respects to Stan Ambrose.  A longstanding host of BBC Radio Merseyside ‘Folkscene’, a Folk Musician and Harpist (that he picked up once retired..) and ever – present on the Liverpool music scene.

I had the pleasure of being invited by Stan on a couple of occasions to be on his show.  This involved an hours worth of conversation interspersed with recordings of my songs.  My first impression was how softly spoken and gentle he was, humble, listening.. We had insightful conversations before we even began recording.  I came out of the whole experience feeling inspired, grounded, listened to and that I’d had opportunities to talk about the spiritual and creative elements of my musical process, what had inspired my choices to play the music I did and what I valued. I felt encouraged and proud of what I do. I have massive thanks to Stan for that experience to connect with someone who values pushing the boundaries in creativity, this also helped me to reconnect with my own values of why, how and what I do.

I find this anchor when I get caught up in the superficial sides of music and ego.

Ever – grateful.

RIP Stan. Thank you for the inspiration and connection.  You have influenced many people  xxxx

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Stan Ambrose

 

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!

 

Festives, newness, Southern Comfort and Lime

As my final mail of 2011 I mainly wanted to say thank you to everyone who has supported and enjoyed what I’ve been upto creatively this year whether it be music or art. Cheers! And thanks to those I’ve shared the gigs with. It’s been a great and varied year. My favourite!

2011 started off with my album released and ready to gig. I spent the year sending messages to magazines, reviewers and radio shows and got a significant amount of positive feedback. All the reviews i’ve had so far are on my website and I’ve had some great local help from Seven Streets, LSU, Liverpool Acoustic, Radio Merseyside, Nerve and this month Good Vibrations gave me my final review of the year.
Nationally I had positive reviews from FATEA, R2, MU Mag, The Girls Are and Americana.  In terms of radio I had a fab experience on ICON Radio,  KVFM and  ‘Folkscene’ on BBC Radio Merseyside after being invited by Mr Stan Ambrose. As his only guest I had the whole show and had my entire album played. Definately a moment of pride and acheivement. There’s has also been great support coming my way from Bob’s Folk Show to the South!

Over the last 12 months my gigs were a little chocolate box of mixture.  December culminated in two great gigs, the penultimate in LLanberis, Wales after which I went mountain biking in Snowdonia and the final gig of the year at Sound Women in Huddersfield, which was preceded by a traffic-laden, 4 hour journey from Liverpool!

Work – wise I’ve spent an incredible time building up my guitar students and also taken on more commissions art-wise. The most recent two being illustrations for a childrens book and a painting for a present I’m half way through for a customer in USA.

My plans for 2012 are of the writing kind. New music for the new year and the forming of a tour, possibly Europe. I’ll definitely be gigging as ever around the UK. Plans for the capital city are afoot. 31st Jan I will be playing live in session on Bob’s Folk Show. http://www.radiowey.co.uk

My album Cycle Grace Pulse Break is for sale at http://www.cdbaby.com.jobywater2
My blog and updates are as ever to be found at http://www.jobywater.com

The shows I’ve done and art I’ve created will very soon be on the site!

Again, many thanks and I wish everyone the best for the end of 2011 and most definitely 2012!

See you there

Jo x

Mountains, biking, Radio Merseyside

Fresh from a weekend doing some fantastic experiencing of the Welsh mountains I’m still not aching like I thought I would.

Sunday night I spent the night in the Heights Hotel Llanberis after gigging there, waking up in Snowdonia was pretty amazing. Veggie breakfast and then onto a seriously hilly but very beautiful mountain bike ride. At one point the sound of a Jet seeming to be in the air actually manifest infront of our faces and shot down the valley, Top Gun stylee 🙂 good fun. A walk onto Devils Kitchen ensued. Beautiful. At one point I nearly skidded off the road on the way back because a confused sheep couldn’t decide whether it needed to run infront of my speeding wheels or not…….

The last couple of weeks have brought me some good radio experiences. I was invited to be interviewed for Folkscene on Radio Merseyside by local Harp legend Stan Ambrose. This aired last Thursday and tonight. I will be putting it up here at some point soon.

I also recently received this link for my KVFM session.

 

My last gig of the year is coming up on Friday 16th Dec at Lawrence Batley Theatre Huddersfield. Sound Women. The day before my birthday 🙂

I’ve also just finalised some illustrations I’ve been doing for a children’s book. There will be some examples up here very very soon I’m sure!  A completely new experience was had, I learned much and hoping to do more illustration-type wor.

December excitement!

x