I started playing in a covers band called Accident On the East Lancs in 1976. This didn't fulfill my artistic desires, so formed a different line up just as the UK punk scene was exploding, so I followed that path with my own songs. I released two singles on my own label Roach Records. In a recent Record Collectors Magazine article on collectable punk singles, the reviewer said The Strokes should cover the first single Tell Me What Ya Mean. Also had an album released on Cargo Records called Shotguns and Hotshots. In 1985 I had a single released on the Vibes And Vibes label called I Believe In Love under the name of Citizen 88. This was a Prince kind of Bo Diddley riffed slice of funk. 1986 and I discovered the main core of my writing had been Alt.Country after hearing Steve Earle, Dwight Yoakam and Lyle Lovett. I have released two albums of Americana/alt.country. the first called Walking In Familiar Footsteps in collaboration with Hilly Briggs, and featuring Mick Taylor, and Paul Jones of The Manfreds on harp, and Jeff and Tommy Vee, sons of the late Bobby Vee. The second called Dirt in collaboration with Paul Green and featuring the Smokin' Jackets. I've played many gigs supporting Mick Taylor, Steve Gibbons, Buddy Whittington and many others, and toured with John Mayall. I've missed the bus to the elusive entertainment business so many times I don't even stand at the bus stop anymore. I just carry on connecting with songs in the universe and write them down. I hope you enjoy them, and I'll attempt to check yours out.
Music is life. Music is soul. Music is my essence. Ever since I heard The Rolling Stones play the blues at six years old on Rolling Stones 2 I knew there was no going back. It was what I had been searching for my whole very short life. I don't want to write songs, I need to write songs. I have written over 400 songs and recorded over 75 of them, documenting people I have known and life experiences. Have I been commercially successful? No. Have I been artistically successful? Yes without a doubt. I have had Mick Taylor from The Rolling Stones play on one of my albums, and have toured with John Mayall, the Godfather of UK blues. I am a happy man, I play music, I breathe. What more can a man ask for?
To be discovered in fifty years time