Christmas Song Downloads

Merry Christmas to all our friends and followers.

We hope to see you soon and wish you all a happy and prosperous 2008!

We recorded these two songs for the Christmas edition of Sounds Special on the Billy Fury website.

We hope you enjoy them!

A Winter's Tale
I Believe In Father Christmas

Right On The Line

It's been a long time coming!

Our new album, Right On The Line is finally ready, the covers are back from the printers and I've started production.

The album has 16 tracks and as a nod to our friends at the Billy Fury website, it has two of Billy's tracks: Last Night Was Made For Love and Somebody Else's Girl.

You can have a free listen to Last Night Was Made For Love. Call it our thanks for being so patient, we hope you enjoy the album.

Have I Told You Yamaha Are Great?

Well in all honesty I have spent a fair few hours on it today but I've found how to do so much stuff it's been a joy!

I can now play all the pre-recorded song backings without bass for when Bob's with us and I've worked out how to split the keyboard to play two lead sounds (which I do on Fields of Athenry) and how to move the split point so I could fit in the required bass note, and I've also spent some time just playing different styles of music and loving the sounds that come from it.

Ahhhhh.... The only thing I've not done yet is work out how to record some new backings but I'm sure it won't be a problem. I've only looked at the manual twice and found what I wanted straight away!

Wonder if I can take it to London with me... Hmmm...perhaps not!

Keyboard Replacement

After the unfortunate refusal of my keyboard to play all of the notes it should the other week, I've decided to have an early Christmas present!

It was looking extremely like a duff printed circuit board. The Korg keyboard was not exactly intuitive to use and I'd found it very hard to get to grips with.

The new one is another Yamaha and whilst it's totally different than the old one in terms of controls, at least it's easy to find your way around.

I've managed to get it to play all the backings we use in the band. The only thing I haven't found yet and suspect I may not(!) is how to turn off the bass for when Bob is with us. It may well have such a feature for music recorded on it but there seems to be no way of taking it off the pre-recorded midi files I recorded on the PSR 630. There was a separate control file that had a switch in it for that and the new keyboard doesn't recognise the control file. Could be a lot of work for me!

But the progress I made in just one afternoon was excellent and a heck of a relief after struggling with the Korg.

Birthday Booking in Freckleton

We had a bit of help from some enthusiastic singers last night as David and I performed at a 40th birthday party in Freckleton.

An interesting gig - the SatNav took us down some narrow country roads to get there and then once we were playing the keyboard decided not to let me use several keys - which meant we had to rely on the pre-recorded keyboard sounds whilst I played guitar almost exclusively during the night.

I now need to find a spot with at least a fortnight free to get it repaired and am wondering whether to make my Christmas present this year a somewhat emergency purchase! The Korg doesn't like the files from the Yamaha so will have to plump for another Yamaha.

Whichever way I go, it will mean learning a whole new set of procedures for recording and style setting.

CBG Featured on The Strawbs Website

Some exciting news!

John was contacted by long time fan and friend of The Strawbs, Les Cotton, a fellow Blackpudlian musician and we now have a mention on the Strawbs website along with a fully downloadable track, one of John's solo efforts which is a cover of The Strawbs' track "Stormy Down" which appeared on their brilliant album "Bursting At The Seams".

"I saw them on stage the year the album came out," said John, "and the song bowled me over. It's a real privilege to be featured singing it on their website!"

On the website click:

Downloads > Fan Downloads > Latest Additions

You'll find tracks from Les Cotton also!

A Song for Remembrance Sunday

As it's Remembrance Sunday, I've uploaded a track from our new CD for free download.

It's The Green Fields of France a beautiful song that sums up the day. Click on the song title to download it.

The CD is just waiting for a cover to be designed - that could be my job for today...!

TV Update

Well, as Fred Talbot was shown talking to camera, my guitar is in its stand at the very edge of the picture but David is shown nonchalantly sauntering across behind Fred, totally oblivious of the filming...

I mean... is that fair ???

Ha ha ha!

Playing to the World's Largest Hot Pot!

Well I don't think we made the telly, but we did speak to Lloyd Grossman, who was fancying a go on the guitar and Granada North West's Fred Talbot was filmed in front of us (but with the camera pointing across instead of at us).

The hot pot was indeed big, though by the time it was ready we were a touch busy. Bob was stuck at work so it was just David and myself, but we were approached by lots of people who were very complimentary - and one who wanted to know what musci had to do with "the countryside" and suggested we should throw our equipment in the river! Well, a very good morning to you as well sir!

In fact the event was nothing to do with the countryside anyway, it was to promote Garstang's forthcoming food festival and everyone was agreeably surprised at just how many people turned up.

Here's the hot pot being cooked with Fred and his cameraman reviewing a scene already filmed in the background.

There was a juggler, lots of local food produce, a magician and the two of us. Lloyd Grossman vied with several local mayors but spoke extremely well and worked in a very humourous story of speaking at a somewhat quieter event.

A TV Spot Perhaps

Perhaps not also - but you may be able to spot us on one of the NW local TV programmes on Wednesday 10 October, 10:00am - 12:30pm, as we've been invited to play again in Garstang town centre as they attempt to cook the world's largest ever Lancashire Hot Pot! BBC Radio Lancashire will also be there.

As long as they get it measured and weighed or whatever before Bob gets his chompers round it...

We will be there somewhere in the background, trying to keep the expected crowds of hungry folk entertained!

If you want to come along, we - and the hot pot - will be on the main car park near the council offices. I have no idea what the plans are for the hot pot! If you come equipped even with your own knife and fork I'm not going to guarantee you'll get a plateful. And as hinted before; if you're behind Bob in the queue... no chance...!

CBG With Billy Fury

We were all round at my place, theoretically to finish off the recording for the album.

Well, we did finish off the recording for the album but David had brought along a small bust statue of Billy Fury and as we are featured regularly on his tribute web site we thought we should try to have a photo of the band "with" Billy Fury.

We tried this a few ways but the statue was quite shiny (and we're not!) and the only way I could get it to look anywhere near right was to simulate the two photos as pencil drawings in Paint Shop Pro which produced this. I'm sure it would be easier using a photo of the real Billy, but we liked the effect which may be used for an album cover at some point, who knows?

Work on the 3rd album - now entitled Crossing Lines will continue with some mixing and production work before I can start to burn the CDs and we have decided on the image for the cover so we need a fine day to get the photos taken and then design the cover and label for the discs.

It's been a long time coming. But it does sound good...!

Golden Wedding Gig

Creeping Bentgrass were out at Garstang Golf Club last night, playing for a Golden Wedding party.

It all went down very well, though I had a couple of small mishaps - the keyboard refused to work at one point and it was one of those songs where I play a guitar intro first so we had to play the entire song without any help from the keyboard so no drums or backing fill, but no worries!

Thankfully the keyboard worked after pretending it was a Spectrum ZX and switching it off and on again! Then the guitar went silent until I fiddled with the cable at the guitar end. That cable has now been ditched!

And after all that I started to play the intro for I Will Love You on the keyboard and totally forgot the tune. The old befuddled mind went blank and I busked a fairly nondescript but compatable intro, trying to ignore David killing himself next to me whispering between the laughter "You've forgotten the tune haven't you?" I remembered it once he started singing the first verse...!

If we didn't make mistakes, how would you know it was live? Ha ha! Anyway I don't think anyone else noticed apart from us.

A Winter's Tale

Yes I know it's only September!

That's the title of the second Christmas song we are doing for the Billy Fury web site this December.

A Winter's Tale was a hit for David Essex in the days when he had hair on his shoulders. Well... so did I! None on my head, but there was some on my shoulders...

I've used the Korg keyboard on this one and it will be our first track using the Korg rather than the Yamaha. Very orchestral and quite different to our normal stuff. Moya! Have you got your Billy alerts tuned in? It will be BILLYant!!!

Christmas Comes Early

I've spent the best part of the day putting together a backing track for our contribution to the Billy Fury website's Christmas Sounds Special.

We are committed to do a couple of Christmas songs for December and today I've been putting together the song "I Believe In Father Christmas" which was a hit in the 1970s for Greg Lake.

It only sounds a little like the original because that's the way I like to do music. I would hate to be thought of as sounding "just like" anyone else!

Anyway it's been a full day. I did a full four tracks just doing the jingle bells! Then there was a backing track of drums, two of piano, two of accoustic guitar, one of glockenspiel, one of trumpets, one of french horns, one of a brass section, two electric guitars - sheesh, I'm getting sick of that song... ha ha!

It now needs one more accoustic guitar, David's singing which I'll double-track, then Bob to put bass and a bit of mandolin on it and hey presto - 4 minutes of Christmas!

A Billy Fury Tribute

We have a new song on the Billy Fury web site for the month of September.

Last Night Was Made For Love was one of Billy's best remembered hits and my personal favourite and it also happens to be the opening track from our soon-to-be released third album.

In the late 1950s and early 1960s Billy Fury was billed as England's answer to Elvis. Born Ronald Wycherley on 17 April 1940 in Liverpool, he became one of the Larry Parnes stable of artists, appearing on TV shows such as "Oh Boy". During the 1960s he had 24 chart entries, clocking up an impressive 258 weeks on the Top 50.

The website keeps Billy's name and music alive through an excellent collection of sound and video resources, interactive forums and the monthly "Sounds Special" feature which contains an free album's worth of music recorded by artists from all around the world. A must for Billy Fury fans and we hope that our fans will have a listen to all the songs not just our own. There is a facility to comment on the "Sounds Special".

Garstang Music Festival

Today found us in Garstang in the same spot as last year, playing on Market Day for the Music Festival.

We had a great day and the paved area in front of us was filled for most of the day with people standing to listen on the street corners nearby.

Thanks to everyone who supported us and who contributed to the charity box. The ladies in the Council Office made very appreciative noises when we handed in a quite heavy box!

Also thanks to the many friends who turned up to support us and to listen and, in the case of Shelagh Cooney, to join us for a couple of songs!

The Musicians and the Sunflower

This afternoon, once the rain stopped and the sun came out, the two flowerpot men shook off their flowerpots and rocked around the little weed...

It was a birthday garden party but we started out indoors as the rain bounced down and then back up again! It's the third year we have been invited to play at this one and we felt very much part of the family as we were greeted enthusiastically by the guests.

"You look younger this year!" said one discerning lady of excellent taste and 20/20 vision. Not sure why Fran and Jeannie collapsed in giggles at that moment but anyway, moving right along...

The rain stopped after we had sampled our hosts' delicious food - ahhh, that trifle! So it was unplug, decamp and we met up with the biggest sunflower in the garden!

For the past two years we've been promising to learn Simon & Garfunkel's "Bridge Over Troubled Water" for Gran so this year we were almost as good as our word - which means we hadn't learned it but we did it anyway! "Sounded really good," Fran and Jeannie decided, "you should keep it in!"

Album Moves Another Step Closer

Bob came round last night to Burke Studios, to record bass onto a number of the album tracks.

It was a good night and we managed to finish Picture of You, My Life, Dirty Old Town, You're My Best Friend, The Rose, and Constantly.

He brought the old mahogany red mandolin with him to add some mandolin sounds to Dirty Old Town and I commented I hadn't seen that particular instrument for a while.

Apparently he was going to have it re-fretted but the workshop have instead taken a sliver off the frets with a file and Bob has also been sanding down the bridge to get a better action (the distance between the strings and the fretboard). It sounded absolutely terrific and you should be able to hear the results within a few weeks. In fact I'll try to get a bit of that track out in the next few days on the web site as a sample.

There's another 6 tracks to put bass on, so another session is booked for Thursday night. I know there's a lot of interest out there and folks waiting for this, which will be our first album since 2004.

I think we can honestly say we've stepped the sound up a notch or two!

Garden Party

Sounds like a Rick Nelson song...

No, what I really mean was that we've done a garden party this afternoon and early evening for our good friends Chris and Brian Chappell.

I call it a garden, but it's really more like a wonderland of terraces, fish pond, lawns, pathways and chicken coops. We had a bit of competition from the rooster but everyone seemed to have a good time!

There was a lone line dancer... David wondered whether that made her a "dot" dancer...???

Thanks Chris and Brian for your wonderful hospitality as always (did I mention the food?) I will now be on a diet for the forseeable future! And not before time...

Bob's in France on holiday - you're missing out, mate!

New Album Release Close

I've been doing some work on the album over the last couple of weeks and last night David and Jeannie came round so whilst the ladies went off to a craft fair, David and I put some vocals down and we now have all 16 songs for the album.

We now need to get Bob over to put bass on several tracks and then think of a name and get some design work done for the album cover, take photos and - hey hey!

I know there have been people asking about this for ages (years...!) and we're finally getting there.

I think we are going to start immediately on the next one too, to try to ensure we can have one to come out a year after this!

A lot of people ask where we record, as the quality of the recording surprises some people. But it's all done in my front room on the computer, as seen here.

Junior School Prom

Do you want to know what real fear is?

We played Croxteth one year when 12,000 came through the gates, but that was nothing!

Real fear is the build up to a Junior School Prom! Knowing that there will be a room full of hyper 11-year-olds expecting the equivalent of the Pussycat Dolls or McFly and getting two guys old enough to be their grandads!

But the truth is, those worries were all for nothing and what a brilliant night we had. And we were home for 10 o'clock!

The main thing is that both the prom-goers and the teaching staff thought it a good night! It was hot, it was lively, they were indeed hyper! It was absolutely great!

Wet One at Croxteth

Rain did not stop play until 4:15 but it was a dryer day for us than it was for the audience.

Our 6th year at Croxteth Park Open Day was the quietest so far as the weather kept people indoors.

A hardy few came out to play - we were never without an audience and sometimes it got into double figures... Compare that with the 12,000 who turned up one year and it certainly was a quiet one!

The fairground hadn't set up due to the wet ground so we were without any real competition for the noise stakes and you could hear us quite a way away.

Look at that marquee! Croxteth were certainly making sure we were kept dry and the weather kept changing its mind about what to do but by 4:15 it seemed to have set in to rain hard for a while and the marquee was starting to drip so we called it a day.

John's old school chum Jackie turned up with a few props - her school beret and the old school tie plus the now infamous french dictionary whose frontspiece we ripped out in the 6th form to make a fag from dog ends when we had all run out of fags. It was ghastly... It wasn't even in english of course!

She even brought a photo of Larry the Lamb... ahh...

What do you mean; you haven't a clue what I'm going on about? Check out my nostalgia pages - most of these reference are on the readers memories page.

Old Gigs, New Pix

For most gigs Fran takes some photos on a digital whilst Jeannie takes photos on film.

I've just got round to scanning Jeannie's last photos and there's a couple of them here.

How about this for a tent?

This is the marquee hired for the steam fair gig which was in aid of the charity Rainbow House, on 3 June. (See the original report here)

We've done these gigs, two a year for the past 3 years now and they are always a good night.

The second pic is of me filling in with Shelagh and Peter Cooney, our guest artists at the Myerscough College Open Day, the following day.

We thought it may be as well to give ourselves a break from singing after a full night and, indeed, we had a late night combined with an early morning which meant that over one 20 hour period we had been playing for 10 hours!

Shelagh, you may remember, contributed the haunting harmonies and penny whistle on "Fields of Athenry" on our 2004 "Kites" album.

July Track at Billy Fury Web Site

Once again we have a track online at http://www.billyfury.com

This month it is a track from our first album, "Keeping On...", released in 2002. The track is that classic from the pen of Mike D'Abo; "Handbags and Gladrags", made famous by some chap called Rod Stewart so I believe!

We had the privilege of watching Mike sing it himself a couple of years ago and he gave David and I the thumbs up for the harmonies we were belting out from the front row of the audience!

We have competition indeed this month - I'm by no means confident of winning the hat trick! (see previous post)

Visit http://www.billyfury.com for some great memories of Billy Fury and some great sounds from the 1950s to today.

Retirement 'Do' at Claughton

An excellent night last night!

We were out at Claughton Village Hall, booked to play for a retirement party and it went particularly well.

We had a brief break whilst guests finished off their refreshments and we had a guest spot, as a singer and two guitarists, one of whom was the host of the party, came on to do "Fields of Gold", then we joined them on stage to do a rip-roaring version of "Mustang Sally".

We have a weekend off next week, which will give my finger ends a chance to pull themselves together! They've had a bit of punishment these last few weeks!

You can see us next at Croxteth Park, Liverpool on Sunday the 15th of July, from around 11 and in Garstang town centre on Thursday 23 August at their music festival.

Gold Award at Billy Fury Site

It's only a bit of fun but also nice for us! Dave Jay, one of the brilliant artists who contribute to the Sounds Special feature on BillyFury.com gives his verdict on the other artists in the form of a gold award every month.

We seem to have picked it up for the last two months. Last month I had an instrumental up there - which probably won for its novelty value as most tracks are from vocalists. This month's track was our version of Del Shannon's "Runaway" from our 2003 album "Kites". You have a few days left to hear it on the site!

Dave, no mean artist himself, said, "I don't really like to give my award to the same artist the following month, but if it's deserved then I can only be true to myself, so again the gold medal goes to John Burke's Creeping Bentgrass. This is just a wonderful version of Runaway, so different to the original and I actually think, better!!!"

Ah, Mr Jay, flattery will get you anywhere!

The artists who contribute a song every month are definitely worth listening to. Some are professionals but many are guys like the three of us, who do it for the love of it or who do the odd gig here and there. You can download the Sounds Special music tracks for free off the Billy Fury site and also hear many tracks from the great man himself.

Regular contributors include (in no particular order) Dave Jay, Mike Chambers (can you tell him from Elvis?), Johnny Storme, Rob Dee, Roger Sea, Andrew Tween, Russ Dee, Geoff Howlett, Bruce Seaton and Des O'Reilly.

You can also buy the brand new DVD of Billy's life story - which I must get round to ordering myself!

New Public Date in Garstang

We have accepted a booking to appear at the Garstang Festival on Market Day, Thursday 23 August 2007.

We appeared there last year and had a whale of a time, gathering quite a crowd around us, on the pavement, across the road and on far pavements. They came to see what the fuss was about and stayed to listen and support us.

The photo shows us with Shelagh Cooney, who joined us to sing "Fields of Athenry" last year. You'll be able to find us outide the council offices at the entrance to the pay and display car park.

A Very Special Wedding Gig

We played a very special wedding reception last night - John's daughter, Gillian, became Mrs Edward Statham.

The happy couple are seen taking their first dance as a married couple to the band's version of Westlife's "The Rose".

The day could not have gone any better - band members David and Bob were at the wedding ceremony with wives Jeannie and Mary and David gave one of the two readings.

John, of course, had to give a speech as Father of the Bride and then had to keep a tight grip on the emotions in order to sing throughout the evening, which was one of the best gigs we could have hoped for. The dance floor filled with guests immediately following the bride and groom's first dance and only emptied at midnight when the band turned back into three old blokes!

Congratulations and lots of love to Gill and Eddie!

Larbreck Hall Caravan Park

Last night David and I played at Larbreck Hall Caravan Park. Bob had a prior engagement with The Old School Band but we gave them a good night of music and they got up and filled the dance floor!

We have played there several years - the first one at Larbreck was for the Queen's Golden Jubilee in 2002 - and we usually do an outdoor gig. The weather looked a little suspect yesterday so we were inside a huge barn and with a few pallets, boarded over for a stage and a couple of caravans as a backdrop, we added a few lights and it made for a good atmosphere!

We had the barn to ourselves for a while before the gig and worked out a version of Ronan Keating's "When You Say Nothing At All".

Myerscough College Open Day

Ah... a brilliant day! The weather held off for us as we played our hearts out at Myerscough today. The rain hit with a vengeance as we were halfway home - now that's what I call a result!

We were feeling a bit fragile at first after last night - it was 2:00am when we got back and we were onsite at Myerscough for 9:00am! But once we started we were just on a roll!

We had lots of favourable comments, sold a few CDs, gave autographs and there may be a chance of a booking or two!

We had a guest slot as Peter and Shelagh Cooney joined us - Shelagh sings and plays penny whistle for us on "Fields of Athenry" on our "Kites" album and I joined them on guitar as they sang 3 or 4 songs early in the afternoon. Thoroughly enjoyed it too!

We worked out at one point that of the immediately past 20 hours we had played for 10 of them... We eventually had to stop when my fingers were so indented even despite all the layers of corn, that I was worried I might cause the hard skin to split! We finished with a blistering version of Johnnie B Goode and a chorus of shouts for more.

Many thanks if you stayed to listen, hope you enjoyed it as much as we did! A weekend off next week and then we have one a week for the next 4 weeks or so!

Steam Fair for Rainbow House

Last night we played at Heskin Hall in Chorley for a Steam Fair in aid of the charity Rainbow House.

An excellent night despite the power pack for my guitar effects pedal packing up! I keep batteries in it so thankfully they just took over.

So now I have a spare pack of batteries for today but am hoping I don't need them as if I remove the batteries to change them I might lose all my settings which would be interesting! No chance of buying a replacement power pack before the gig as we have to be onsite by 9:00am!

Anyway, the marquee was packed last night and lots of folk came over to say how much they had enjoyed themselves. One chap came over to help sing Elvis's "The Wonder of You" - didn't make a bad job of it either!

Our next gig for the Steam Fair crowd is the first Saturday in August - glad you "reminded" us of it Jack, because we had the September one down but not that one!

Ok, we were in by 2:00am so it must be time now to get off to Myerscough College where we are appearing today from around 11:00am. Come and say hello and help keep us awake! Ageing rockers, eh? Any chance for a moment's rest and they're fast asleep...

A 2-Gig Weekend!

June is normally a busy month for the band and this one gets off to a hectic start with a gig tonight at a Steam Fair. We've done it a few times before, strange affair - as we play the audience gather round a collection of kettles to watch the steam... oh wait, no, it's one of those traction engine things isn't it?

The organiser, Jack, puts up a couple of marquees joined together. One holds a bar and seating and the other houses us and a dance floor and it's normally a belting night! Last year it had rained incessantly all day and as we drove onto the field the car was going every which way and a spray of mud covered the entire car, the roof, the bystanders, the marquee and anything within 50 metres... Sun shining at the moment so fingers crossed...

Tomorrow you can see us at Myerscough College's Open Day. The college is an agricultural college and will have lots of things for visitors to see and do. There's normally sheep shearing, cows being milked, horse riding displays, tractors, racing cars, arboriculturalists (tree looker afterers - they hate "tree surgeons") making carvings out of (dead) tree trunks with chainsaws, all kinds of flowers shrubs trees in the Plant Centre and just by the side of it will be us, Creeping Bentgrass, playing from around 11:00 until about 4:00. Admission is £8 per car - cram those people in!

June's Music Track at billyfury.com

The online Sounds Special feature at http://www.billyfury.com has changed a couple of days early this month as the site administrator is taking a well-earned break!

Our track for June is from our 2003 "Kites" album and is an updated version of Del Shannon's "Runaway". Expect a touch of fuzz from my guitar! No more fuzz than usual from David's voice though...!

The web site commemorates 1960s British pop idol, Billy Fury. Every month the site features the work of artists from both the UK and further afield in its "Sounds Special" feature. Fans of Billy Fury will also find lots of original sound and video files available to download as well as a thriving community of fans and enthusiasts of all ages.

Many thanks to the good people at http://www.billyfury.com for continuing to allow us to contribute!

Busy Month Ahead

The album may have to take a back seat during June as we go into overdrive, starting with a couple of gigs on the first weekend.

Saturday the 2nd sees us at Heskin Old Hall at a Steam Fair during the evening where we'll be playing in a marquee.

Sunday the 3rd will see us for our 6th consecutive year at the Myerscough Open Day at Myerscough College. The college is a land-based college - agriculture, horticulture, animal care, sports etc. so there will be plenty to see and do besides listening to us.

Accoustic Track

The closest on stage we get to being an accoustic band is when I'm playing the keyboard live and Bob is playing either accoustic guitar or mandolin. Even then they are plugged into the PA instead of being microphoned - that's a lot of hassle and usually gives us feedback problems.

But on our albums there's normally at least one track where instruments are recorded the good old way.

This afternoon I've laid down no less than 5 accoustic guitar tracks for the Beatles song "I've Just Seen a Face". We do it live but I'd be playing the Strat and Bob his bass. So - something a little bit different on the way!

I've been incredibly busy at work - the album is taking a long time! But it will be a good one folks, or if not then it won't be through lack of effort!

Witton Park Gig Report

Well the weather forecast was anything but good, but in the event it was quite kind to us!

We took up our usual spot in one of the outbuildings around the courtyard at Witton and were soon joined by an enthusiastic crowd of people as we went through a country set, then folk and Irish before moving onto a few 1960s numbers.

Lunchtime came and it was still fine and most of the crowd stayed put whilst we took a break and came back to let Bob play his mandolin to John's keyboard to get everyone tapping their feet to "Bluebell Polka".

We went back to do a few more country hits then started on the 1960s with the bit between our teeth. "The Young Ones" (our signature tune for obvious reasons!) then "Halfway to Paradise", "I'm a Believer", "The Wonder of You" (gives the audience a chance to go "Whoa-oh-oh-ohhh!"), "Please Please Me", "When You Walk In The Room" and onwards through the afternoon to "The Wanderer", "Johnny B Goode", "That'll Be The Day" before finishing with "The Night Has 1000 Eyes".

Fran and Jeannie were kept busy giving out cards and seling the odd CD although Jeannie found time to wrap a couple of snakes around her neck, perhaps getting a little mixed up? No dear - it was a "feather boa" you were after!

If you were there, then thanks for the support - the rain caught up with us later on in the afternoon but it wasn't going to deter the hardy folk who were sitting listening to us and umbrellas came out, hoods went up and feet kept tapping!

Thanks also to the organisers, to Blackburn Council and Myerscough College, who were instrumental (sorry about the pun!) in getting us there and who were showing some of the animals and other resources used by them in their courses that are held at Witton.

Our next public appearance is another Myerscough Open Day on Sunday 3 June from 10:30 to around 4:00pm, this time at their main campus at Myerscough Hall, St Michael's Road, Bilsborrow, just north of Preston.

Bye Bye Cassettes!

Ah, what memories these conjure up for a generation of people who wooed their partners with a well chosen selection of songs on a personal cassette!

The news has just announced that cassettes are no longer to be made. This is probably good news for the countryside, as one thing about cassettes I don't miss is the miles and miles of cassette tape wrapped around hedgerows and flapping in the breeze!

The band's music has been recorded and mixed on computer but in the 1990s I bought two identical hi-fi cassette decks so that I could record on one, play it back and record on the other, building up tracks (and background noise). Many units had two decks anyway but normally you could only record on one and it invariably ran at a slightly different speed than the other!

No such problems for me as I put the album together. Yes, I know it's taking a while but I'm still doing bits every now and then, honest!

It struck me the other week that the Yamaha keyboard is 9 years old and I won't be able to replace it easily if (when?) it dies. So I've been recording onto the PC all the backing tracks I've recorded on the keyboard so that hopefully I could think of a way of coverting them to a more modern keyboard if needs be. At the very least we could use them on mini-disk or CD for a gig or two. But that's not necessary yet!

You can see us next weekend at Witton Park, Blackburn - Sunday 13 May in the courtyard from 11:30am to 4:00pm. Come and say hello!

John's Solo Track at Billy Fury Website

This month the track at http://www.billyfury.com is a solo instrumental by John - the Beatles track, "Fool on the Hill". Available for download only during May.

Don't forget to join us in the courtyard at Witton Park, Blackburn during the afternoon of Sunday 13 May! We'll be playing a full range of music from folk, through Country, to 1960s and rock and roll!

Billy Fury Song is First for Album No.3

Our forthcoming (a blooming long time coming actually...) album sets off with a Billy Fury track - "Last Night Was Made For Love".

John has now finished mixing the track, appropriately enough, the first track to be completed for the album which is currently going by the rather strange working title "Already Plastered".

You can hear 40 seconds of the track by clicking the words "hear the current sound clip" in the column to the left - or indeed the same words here!

As always, bear in mind that our sample track changes every now and then and may not be the same as the one I'm writing about at the end of April 2007!

The photograph is of the fantastic new Billy Fury statue in Liverpool.

Sha-la-la-la-la-la-lee!

A bit of a rushed rehearsal last night as we set out with the best intentions but then all got held up a little!

We finally congregated at John's house and set up to run through a few of the newer songs we have added to the set. "Sha-la-la-la-lee", originally by the Small Faces needed some rearrangement of words - verses and middle 8s may not necessarily be as originally intended but it does now sound quite splendid!

Bob recorded three bass tracks for the album's "Last Night Was Made For Love" and now John has to pick the best one and cut and paste any weak notes or fret noise from the other two then that will be the first track totally finished.

David was struggling a little bit and sounding rather throaty. We had recorded a second main vocal for Westlife's "The Rose" but you could hear his throat a little so that's been scrapped until he gets back to full health! With three old gimmers like us, that can take a while! This throat bug has been passing between John and David for months!

New Sample Track Uploaded

I've uploaded a new 40 second sample of the band to the website.

Seeing as the finished version of "Somebody Else's Girl" is now available on the Billy Fury site, it didn't make much sense to leave the half-finished version up our our own site!

The latest sample is of the final track from the 2004 album "Kites" and is our cover of Robbie Williams' "Angels".

Download available at Billy Fury Website

During the month of April, one of our songs can be downloaded in its entirety from the Billy Fury Website: http://www.billyfury.com

In the late 1950s and early 1960s Billy Fury was billed as England's answer to Elvis. Born Ronald Wycherley on 17 April 1940 in Liverpool, he became one of the Larry Parnes stable of artists, appearing on TV shows such as "Oh Boy". During the 1960s he had 24 chart entries, clocking up an impressive 258 weeks on the Top 50.

He is most remembered for his hit singles "Halfway to Paradise" and "Last Night Was Made For Love", but his 1960 hit "A Wondrous Place" gained much new interest recently, being used as the soundtrack to a TV Advert for the Toyota Yaris.

The website keeps Billy's name and music alive through an excellent collection of sound and video resources, interactive forums and the monthly "Sounds Special" feature which contains an free album's worth of music recorded by artists from all around the world. A must for Billy Fury fans and we hope that our fans will have a listen to all the songs not just our own. There is a facility to comment on the "Sounds Special" without having to register and login. We have contributed our version of Billy's hit "Somebody Else's Girl".

Mr Bassman

This afternoon Bob came round to run through some of our newer stuff as a rehearsal and also to put a bass track on a couple of the album tracks.

We all find it difficult to earmark time to get together other than at weekends and at the moment even weekends are a bit busy!

Bob also introduced us to a couple of new jig instrumentals as we've been playing "Bluebell Polka" for our instrumental spot for the last few years and it's time for a change.

St Patrick's Night Gig

Last night's gig for Garstang Light Opera Group (GLOG) was a brilliant night! David and I are pictured in silly mode at the start of the night. David needed the huge Guinness as he had had to cope with a flat tyre on the way to Cabus Village Hall!

It was a night interspersed with many guest artists who either sang and played on their own or who joined us for a song or two.

We tried out a few of our new songs but the night went so quickly that we still had plenty of stuff left unplayed at midnight when my ballgown started to turn back into rags!

Thanks as always to the stalwarts of GLOG for helping make the night so memorable!

Preparation for a Gig

Tonight is a St Patrick's Night event as a fund-raiser for the Garstang Light Opera Group. Bob is busy playing a ceilidh somewhere with his other band, The Old School Band, so this one will be just David and myself.

However that's not the end of the story because as you can imagine, a light opera society will have its own fair share of talented people and many of them will "do a turn" tonight. Peter and Shelagh Cooney will join us on stage and perhaps do a couple of songs on their own. Shelagh features on our "Kites" album singing and playing penny whistle on "Fields of Athenry" and the harmonies always make the hairs on the back of my neck tingle even as I'm helping sing them!

Another close harmony group are "Cantabile", made up of four members of GLOG (as Garstang Light Opera Group call themselves).

David and I have a lot of new material that we are trying out tonight - I'm sure it will go down well and we have a full set of Irish music before the dance and rock and roll stuff inevitably takes over towards the end of the night!

I've spent the morning putting new strings on the guitars and breaking them in - brand new strings go out of tune for fun until they've been played for a bit. I've also finished off "Somebody Else's Girl" (see previous entry in the blog) and that's gone off to http://www.billyfury.com to be included (hopefully) in the April online album. You can play this month's album until the 31st and it includes one of my solo tracks, "Blue Bayou".

I'll post a report of the gig in a day or two!

Ten Tracks Ready

Yes it's been another day of singing to ourselves trying to get the album ready. We are about halfway there now - ten tracks waiting for Bob to put bass on.

We also had a bash at another Billy Fury track - Somebody Else's Girl has been done from start to finish this weekend! Well almost... The idiot producer failed to save the guitar track so now that's going to have to wait until next week. You can hear a 40 second sample of the results without guitar by clicking the link to the left. So who is this idiot producer with the slapdash method of recording music then? Er... that'd be me...

Album Work Continues

It's been a busy Sunday, as I've been preparing a few more tracks for the album. Fran has been at work so I had a clear run at being able to play the same thing over and over without getting on her nerves!

I start off with keyboard tracks - backing, drums and basic chord backing. Then any other keyboard tracks that may be required. That can include strings, brass, synthesizer, choirs or almost any other instrument.

Then I add guitar parts. Normally I add strummed guitars one to either side of the stereo image at the extreme edge, neither guitar audible through the opposite speaker. That creates quite a full sound. Then I might add other guitars closer to the centre with any lead or solo parts coming centre stage. I play both electric (Fender Stratocasters) or accoustic. If playing the accoustic I mic that up and have to turn off the fan on the central heating to ensure no background noise!

At this stage the track is ready for David to add his vocals after which I'll add any harmony parts. Finally Bob will add the bass and possibly extra accoustic guitar or mandolin parts.

Today "You're My Best Friend" has had an electric guitar part added and is now ready for Bob, whilst "Picture of You", "It Doesn't Matter Anymore" and "My Life" have been started from scratch and are ready for vocals to be added.

I was at a party last night and several people came up to say they had heard and enjoyed the band. Thanks for all the kind comments - we hope to firm up some more dates for public gigs soon - keep an eye on our home page.

The Green Fields of France

One of the few totally serious spots in a Creeping Bentgrass gig will be when we play The Green Fields of France, a beautiful and very moving song about a visitor to a World War One cemetary talking to a young long-dead soldier.

We have included this track on the forthcoming album and I spent some time on it today putting my vocal parts on it. I only sing harmonies on the final chorus but we put a speaking part over the chorus which adds to the solemnity and raises the audience emotions a little bit.

We always have to sing something cheerful afterwards but I'm sure it will be one you remember when the album is released!