‘Hearts and Stones’ started life as a simple blues based project five years ago. It was meant to be recorded, mostly live, and put out quickly as a personal indulgence! I’ve long been a big fan of the blues and I had always wanted to get some of my musical friends together in the studio to see what would happen. So, three days before that Christmas, we all gathered at Modern World studios in Tetbury, Gloucestershire for a two day residential session. I invited some of the best musicians in the UK (who I am very lucky to call friends) and over those 48 hours we recorded a mix of my original songs and a few covers. We had multiple drummers, bass players, guitarists and other instrumentalists and everyone took it in turns to jump in to the session; hanging out and playing pool with the other musicians when they weren’t recording. It was a magic couple of days. Nothing beats the energy you get when great musicians play live together. It was that spirit, energy, friendship and spontaniety that I wanted to capture in those songs.
Well, life got pretty busy almost immediately after those recordings were done and, sadly, the project was shelved for a while. In the subsequent months I started writing again and I realised that, combined with some of the those original recordings, I might have something resembling a whole new, ‘proper’ originals project. It was a big decision to make because it would turn what was meant to be a very raw project into something that would require a lot more work, crafting and time. But, for better or worse, I decided to go ahead.
So I chipped away at the album; adding new songs and re-working the old ones. Lockdown came in March 2020 and for all the crap that came with it, it provided me with some much needed time to finish what I had started. Throughout all of the additional writing and recording, I was very aware of the fact that I didn’t want to lose sight of what made this project special to me; the rawness, the blues foundations and the friendship of the musicians involved. I hope that what I have ended up with is a testimony to those original aims. It’s no accident that the last track on the album, ‘Still Can’t Feel Your Love’, is actually a jam we recorded before we started to do the ‘real’ recording. It’s a simple blues in its purest form; no overdubs and done in one take. It’s pure enjoyment and it is the DNA of the music that forms the rest of this album.
There is only one cover song remaining on the album and it comes from the original sessions. ‘As Wise As a Serpent’ is my very favorite song by one of my very favourite artists; Gerry Rafferty. I wanted to see if there was a way I could do justice to this song whilst making it very much my own. Gerry Rafferty’s music is a family passion so I decided to ask my Dad and my Brother to help me out with backing vocals. Seeing my family, especially my dad, behind the microphone was a really special moment for me.
Anyway, I hope you like it! You can pre-order your physical copy below. Thank you so much for your support.
Well, life got pretty busy almost immediately after those recordings were done and, sadly, the project was shelved for a while. In the subsequent months I started writing again and I realised that, combined with some of the those original recordings, I might have something resembling a whole new, ‘proper’ originals project. It was a big decision to make because it would turn what was meant to be a very raw project into something that would require a lot more work, crafting and time. But, for better or worse, I decided to go ahead.
So I chipped away at the album; adding new songs and re-working the old ones. Lockdown came in March 2020 and for all the crap that came with it, it provided me with some much needed time to finish what I had started. Throughout all of the additional writing and recording, I was very aware of the fact that I didn’t want to lose sight of what made this project special to me; the rawness, the blues foundations and the friendship of the musicians involved. I hope that what I have ended up with is a testimony to those original aims. It’s no accident that the last track on the album, ‘Still Can’t Feel Your Love’, is actually a jam we recorded before we started to do the ‘real’ recording. It’s a simple blues in its purest form; no overdubs and done in one take. It’s pure enjoyment and it is the DNA of the music that forms the rest of this album.
There is only one cover song remaining on the album and it comes from the original sessions. ‘As Wise As a Serpent’ is my very favorite song by one of my very favourite artists; Gerry Rafferty. I wanted to see if there was a way I could do justice to this song whilst making it very much my own. Gerry Rafferty’s music is a family passion so I decided to ask my Dad and my Brother to help me out with backing vocals. Seeing my family, especially my dad, behind the microphone was a really special moment for me.
Anyway, I hope you like it! You can pre-order your physical copy below. Thank you so much for your support.