My obsession with music making
As a child I would make instruments out of boxes strung with rubber bands and by 16 years of age I had saved enough money to purchase a mandolin which I then struggled to play by reference to the “A Tune a Day” tutor book. Progress was painfully slow and the results were not so good on the ears either. The following year I acquired an unwanted, damaged guitar on which I learned to strum a few chords in collaboration with a school mate. Serious practice then ensued, as did my interest in combining music with spoken word. The results were often recorded on a reel to reel tape recorder, sometimes in the company of my guitar playing chum, but often with another of my school chums, namely Alan Kilburn, whose passion for English literature soon took him away to pursue a teaching career as a head of drama, but only to rejoin me many later years to pick up where we had left off.
My alter ego continued to bash out music on guitar, mandolin and whistle whilst I underwent teacher training, regularly playing a number of folk clubs to keep me in free beer. Working for a living and bringing up my two children in the late 1970s then took priority until, encouraged by my lovely wife Karen, I returned to serious music making in the late 1980’s. I concentrated on guitar and was determined to become the next Martin Carthy, Bert Jansch, Nic Jones, or any other folkie I could steal tunings and finger picking techniques from. There was a brief excursion into the world of electro-acoustic guitar to try and emulate the likes of Roy Harper and John Martyn, but I soon returned to the acoustic inspiration provided by my first multi-instrumentalist heroes, the great Roy Williamson of The Corries and the equally great Robin Williamson, founder member of the Incredible String Band. The guitar playing gradually took back stage as my passion for multi-instrumental playing became an obsession and over the past 20 years over a dozen instruments have been acquired, all of which I play with great enthusiasm, but little proficiency. I’ve never had a music lesson, I don’t read music and I know nothing about music theory, however, I love “getting to know” an instrument and messing around with it to see what songs or tunes might emerge from late night acoustic doodling.
When our grown up children left home in 2002, Karen and I moved to the foothills of the Black Mountains where we remain, happily ensconced in our few acres of Herefordshire hillside. During our first couple of years here I played a few gigs with the talented world musician Manu Song in the guise of “The Bootleg Bards”, but the sudden death of Alan Kilburn’s wife prompted us to resume our shared interest in combining song and music with spoken word. In recent years we have performed an average of one gig a year for local charities whilst I continue to doodle on my steadily growing family of instruments with the hope that one day I might be able to perform at a standard I am pleased with and/or which others might find truly enjoyable. Karen continues to inspire and indulge me, and our son Jody looks after the lap top which serves as my home studio, often doubling up as sound man at gigs with an ex-colleague of mine, Lee Snead, who provides the PA gear. Our daughter Lucy kindly created this website as a present for my 63rd birthday, enabling me to preserve my home studio doodles and various live audio/video recordings.
I hope you may find something of interest in these offerings and I thank you for taking time to wander through the web site. A respected folk musician once told me that, regardless of the standard at which one might play music, it is important to share one’s efforts with others because this is what sustains the folk tradition. So, please blame him for my dodgy music making and in the meantime I’ll keep practising. Finally I would like to extend my sincere thanks and love to my wife and children for their continued support and encouragement.
With best wishes to all
Dick