In My Life …

#2
A friend had calcium build ups on the sheath of the tendons on one of her hands and the symptoms were similar to mine. This is what gave me the idea to stop the calcium supplement that I’d been taking for years to keep my nails tough for my guitar playing. The lumps on the tendon of my left hand started to disappear and it wasn’t so painful. I started to think about getting back into my music and I started playing again. I had only played occasional gigs and dances for about 3 years, it seemed like longer.

I was staying with an old friend, Susie Stockton, she used to be my manager when I was young and got me my first big break as fiddle player with the Shetland band Hom Bru

I had played Susie some of the demo tracks of my songs a few months before when she was visiting, and when we were down at her place she asked me to sing some of my songs and then thrust her guitar into my hands. I sang loads of my songs and Susie said she thought that they should be heard and that I should make a song CD. We had a good talk the next day and I left with instructions to think of who I’d like to produce the album and how much it would cost to record.

I went away and I had a good think. I decided that I would like Martin Simpson to produce it and I told Susie. She told me to contact him and see what he reckoned, so I did.

I had gigged with Martin and recorded with him, so I called him and asked him if he’d be interested in the project. He said he wanted to hear demo’s of the tracks and we arranged a meeting.