singer | songwriter | musician | writer
The final song from the last series of Twilight Show is Come With Me. It’s one of my favourites of the songs I’ve written and this version has something very personal and intimate about it. I felt I was rediscovering the song as I was singing it. I’ve said a little more about the song … Read more
Last week I did another short set – four songs – for David Fee’s Homesongs Facebook page. They were: Makes Sense to Me The Ballad of Bob Dylan The Ever Open Door You Just Want The Thrill I also put up a new Twilight Show song, or rather a very short classical piece by a … Read more
Last week I launched my new single and video, Crow. Many thanks to those of you who bought it or commented. Crow has taken a long time to fly. For anyone interested in the process, here are a few snapshots from its childhood. Cale experiment 001 (2012) I had a few experiments on the go … Read more
This is something I toyed with last year but plan to produce more of now: a series of intimate performances, one song at a time, from my desk, recorded at night very quietly. It seems to match the mood in which most of my songs come to exist, quite shy and private. They’re a middle … Read more
Here’s a song I’d forgotten about, perhaps rightly so. This dates from the first Glasgow Songwriting Festival I attended in 2017, in Govanhill Baths. Findlay Napier, who organised it, recently asked participants to offer any examples of songs they wrote at the Festival. I was at a session led by country singer Jim Hunter, whose … Read more
I’ve been working on a new approach to one of my songs, scoring it for a string quartet. If I can get it right I’d like to do it for a few more. I’ve been supported and mentored in this by Ged Brockie, my guitar teacher; we spend as much time talking about composition as … Read more