School gig, Blackburn 1966

Bridget Tickner and myself, Amsterdam 1972

Teaching in Ealing 1976

1964-1978... The Early Years

The idea of making a record had been one of my driving ambitions since fooling around with a neighbour's Grundig in the mid 60's. We had a local band called 'The Link' and we played covers by the Stones, Pretty Things and Nashville Teens, plus Howling Wolf and Muddy Waters. My roots were taking hold.

Many years later I was fortunate enough to meet Jo Ann Kelly, whose help and encouragement inspired me to write to Nick Perls at Yazoo/Blue Goose, who had already recorded some British Slide giants of the period, Sam Mitchell, Roger Hubbard and Graham Hine. Nick needed some demos and on a borrowed Ferrograph in my student bedsit I made desperate attempts to record myself, trying to capture 'where I was at musically'.

Having witnessed the live performances of the above mentioned players, I soon realised that my material, my voice and the equipment had a long way to go. I abandoned the idea and continued my life as a newly qualified teacher, wandering the streets of Europe, busking my way around this new found freedom having finished my education.

The next 10 years saw me teaching by day and playing by night doing the rounds of the London Pub Rock scene, which launched so many careers within the R'B/Country scene. The candle was indeed burning at both ends and in an act of pure self- preservation I crawled out of London to the peace and tranquillity of Bath, where I was re-united with my oldest buddy and slowly began to recover from 10 years of 'City Life'.