This month I'm flying out to Reykjavik to take part in the world famous Laugavegur Trek to raise money for Southern Area Hospice Services. As an added challenge, I will carry a guitar on my back throughout the entire hike, as I also did on the Sahara Trek 2013.
The great team at G7th Capos are kindly sponsoring me on this expedition, so expect some cool competition prizes when I get back.
Big thanks to everyone who turns up at my gigs, and to those who buy CDs. In response to several requests, I'm hoping to make music scores/tablature available to download soon.
This has got to be my busiest summer ever. Started July teaching at the Music Service Summer School in Portadown College, before spending a few weeks working in Austria and Germany.
Had a great gig in Heureka, Vienna which is now my favourite venue in the city, then I made my way to the Thomas Leeb Fingerstyle Guitar Bootcamp in Turracher Hohe, Austria. After a two year absence, it's so good to see it completely booked out this year. I was also delighted to be working alongside my good friends Thomas Leeb, Jon Gomm and Alex Kabasser again, and for the first time the great Antoine Dufoir.
Munich, Leipzig, Magdeburg and Berlin followed then a flight home to play the Fiddlers Green International Festival in Rostrevor. After that was a gig at the 7 Hills Blues Festival in Armagh.
Whilst in Europe, I also filmed an interview and some of my music for an exciting new movie on the world of fingerstyle guitar to be released next year. Details to follow.
Lots going on at the minute and lots of very exciting gigs coming up.
Once again I'll be playing several gigs at the Blues On The Bay Festival in Warrenpoint (21st-25th May) which is always a great weekend. Straight after that I'm playing at the Dublin Guitar Night on the 26th May and I'm really looking forward to that. Then the following week I have the great honour of playing support to Irish trad legend Andy Irvine when he comes to play Newry, for the first time ever, on friday 5th June. More details to follow on Austria and Germany gigs in July .
I'm delighted to have finally released my second album 'Heartstrings' which was first launched in London on St. Valentine's night 2015. So far the feedback on it has all been great and I'm really looking forward to playing it out on the road over the coming months. A lot of people have been asking me where they can buy a copy so it's now available to order here on the website if you click on the 'Shop' link above.
To celebrate the new album I've given the website a bit of an overhaul as well which was long overdue. Big thanks to Alan Brown at Take Note Publishing for all his help with that.
Some great gigs coming up both at home and abroad over the summer months and I'll be posting more details about that very soon.
Finally getting a chance to update this again. Things have been hectic lately. Recent highlights include a gig in Amplified (Newry) with Californian guitarist Shawn Jones, a show in Mattchett's Music (Belfast) with English guitarist Chris Woods and four gigs in two days at this years Blues On The Bay Festival (Warrenpoint). I've also been playing regularly at the Sugar Supper Club in Newry which has quickly become a very popular new acoustic venue.
I've also been writing and arranging material for album number two which I hope to record and release at some point this year. I have a very well known producer involved this time around too. More news on that soon. It's also been good to play a lot of this new material out at gigs recently.
Looking forward to a good summer of gigs and festivals over the next few months and especially my first solo concert at the Fiddlers Green Festival (Rostrevor) on thursday 24th July.
So busy lately I've been forgetting to update the news here lately. Just did a few shows with Thomas Leeb this week which were great fun. We also had the great classical guitarist Pat Coldrick as a special guest at the Newry Arts Centre show. Thomas and I will play another show at the Crescent Arts Centre, Belfast on thursday 7th November. Box office 028 9024 2338.
Then two days later, on 9th November, I'm off on a Sahara Desert Trek to raise funds for the local Hospice. Alistair Hay from Emerald Guitars has kindly made me a special carbon fibre guitar which (he assures me) can withstand the severe extremes of temperature in the Sahara. I will be meeting and playing with traditional Berber musicians so I'm very excited about it all.
Summer is near over and I'm busier than ever. Very excited to be playing Dublin Guitar Night on tuesday 27th August with two legends of celtic guitar - Tony McManus and Paul Brady. The following night Tony and I will be playing in Ballycastle, Co. Antrim.
I'm delighted to announce that I've been asked to support Jon Gomm in The Black Box, Belfast on thursday 19th September. If you haven't heard Jon go check him out on youtube. He's a phenomenal player.
I have also been invited to play the following evening at Culture Night Newry which sounds like it could be a lot of fun.
Festival season has kicked off again with the recent Blues On The Bay Festival, Warrenpoint, where I did three packed out shows. I'll be doing several more festivals over the summer including Tanglewood Festival, Armagh Blues Festival and Newcastle Arts Festival. More details to follow.
Also coming up are several Irish dates this year with international artists and good friends Az Samad from Malaysia (July), Tony McManus (August) and Thomas Leeb (October).
For more up to date news add me on facebook and also subscribe to my youtube page where I've added some more videos recently including a little tribute to the great Django Reindhart.
Unfortunatley my workshop and concert in Vienna has had to be postponed until the autumn. New dates will be announced soon and will be posted here.
On a brighter note, if you are in Austria, Germany or Switzerland please check out the current edition of Akustik Gitarre magazine (April/May 2013). They have kindly run a feature on me and my album on page 28 and my song Rush Hour is also on the cover CD.
Lots going on as usual. I was back in Hammersmith, London recently for another very successful guitar night. Big thanks to everyone who turned up and supported this event again and also big thanks to all the wonderful players who contributed so much to the evening.
Recorded some tunes recently for the Magnet Centre 20th anniversary CD. This is a youth project I was involved in 20 years ago when it was first getting off the ground. I will be posting video footage from the studio session on my youtube and facebook pages soon.
In other breaking news I'm delighted to announce that I'm giving a 2 day fingerstyle guitar workshop in Vienna, Austria on the 11th and 12th May with an evening concert on saturday 11th. Really looking forward to returning to Austria again.Please contact me if you're interested in signing up for this.
More details to be announced soon on festivals and shows for 2013.
Thanks for reading and please check back again soon for updates.
Lots going on lately, but one of the big highlights recently was opening for Celtic-Rock legends Horslips at the Inishowen International Guitar Festival in september. It was a very enjoyable gig and it was a great honour to perform to so many 'stars' who were in the audience that night.
This years Hammersmith Guitar Night was also very special and it was great to catch up with all the Londoners again.
If you're reading this in Germany, Austria or Switzerland, look out for the next issue of Akustik Gitarre magazine which will feature an interview and feature on me and also one of my songs on their cover cd.
Had some great concerts in Austria this time around and made lots of new friends. Even managed to squeeze in a visit to Bratislava. Back home now and more festivals coming up. This week I'm playing at the Fiddlers Green festival in Rostrevor. August 4th I'm playing Tanglewood Festival @ Narrowwater Castle and 18th August I'm teaching a guitar workshop and giving a concert at the Newcastle Arts Festival. Also on 10th August I'm playing at a special Lowden Guitar exhibition at the 7 Hills Blues Fest, Armagh.
In a few weeks I'll be off to Austria again to play some gigs and also teach at the Thomas Leeb Annual Guitar Camp.
Thanks for checking in. Will update again soon so do check back.
Teaching and playing with Thomas Leeb this weekend was great fun. Thanks to everyone who showed up. Looking forward to Austrian tour in July and various festivals later in the year. More details to follow.
Delighted to announce that myself and Thomas Leeb will be hosting a one-day guitar workshop in Newry on saturday 31st March. Numbers will be limited and there will be four hours of masterclasses from myself and Thomas during the day following by a concert in the evening. This is open to all ages, young and old, but probably not suitable for beginners. If you're interested get in touch with me. Look forward to seeing you!
Still busy playing and teaching, and recently I played 1st guitar in a great version of Jesus Christ Superstar. Looking forward to some time off over Christmas to work on new material and repertoire for next year. Speaking of next year, I'm now trying to organise gigs for 2012 so if anyone is organising festivals, clubs, etc., please get in touch.
Summer's over and I'm looking forward to seeing all my guitar students in school again. It's been a good summer and I've played some great festivals promoting the new album. Coming up this month is Godspell in Newry (6th-9th) followed by Clonakilty Guitar Festival (16th-18th)with George Lowden and then headlining Hammersmith Acoustic Guitar Night in London on the 24th.
My album is now available to download on both iTunes and Napster.
Back on the road again - I'm leaving tonight for a few shows in Scotland over the weekend. They're all in the Highlands which is a beautiful place but very far away - as far north as you can go on the mainland. Friday night is in Lairg Village Hall, Saturday night is in Kinlochbervie Village Hall and Sunday night is in Mossett Tavern, Forres.
Big thank you to everyone who turned up at the album launch last night. It was great to see so many friends in one place at the same time and a pleasure to play for you all. Thanks again to my student Shane McCartan for a great performance as support artist and to George Lowden for the very flattering introduction he gave me. That auditorium is also a great venue which doesn't get enough use as a live venue.
Hello and welcome to my newly redesigned website. Things were getting a bit rusty here so I've had the site brought up to date which was long overdue. Check back here regularly as I hope to keep you informed of where I'm playing and what I'm up to.