Sometimes relationships are a bit of an uphill struggle. A dear friend of mine and I happened to be going through the same thing at the same time, and I wrote this for him. I watched him help, help and help his partner who always needed more than he could give. And I watched him move out, but not really move on... there seems to be a lingering feeling of 'would that I could' and this song is written on the very edge of that feeling. A kind of joy in letting go, a kind of regret at not being able to do anything more, a kind of wishing things to be different, but a kind of acceptance of how things are...

I wrote it from his perspective, though the topic is personal to me too, and likely to most people. Haven't you also tried to help someone that doesn't really want to be helped? And felt sympathy but also need a safety distance...? There is something to letting people be the way they are....

P.s. Thanks to Kev Wicks for making a pun (with this picture) about 'De Joy of De-Feet'!! :D Silliness always welcome!!

I've always felt the urge to reach out to people. It was underneath my training and career as a therapist and is still underneath my music. This strange desire to touch what can't be touched, and to be with people despite, during, and unaffected by even the most horrendous circumstances.

I saw scores of things that horrified me, and I've listened to hundreds of people life stories, and I have found that where there is simple willingness to hear and be with pain, there is equal willingness to explode in humour, anger and affection. It's amazing what a difference a listening ear (and heart) can make.

Did you know that roughly a third of adults in the UK have been sexually abused? 78% of suicides were male? Anxiety and depression are the most common mental health disorders...the list goes on... 

The fact is, we all struggle. And one persons problem is everyone's problem. I wrote this for everyone and beyond. Who knows why?

I am presenting a month of new music on Mondays, complete with video, a free download, and a little backstory:

In Time

One cold November night in the English drizzle, I was sat by candlelight trying to write a song with this new finger picking technique my producer had insisted I learn. For four hours I sat there, staring out of the window into the darkness and jotting down cheesy sentiments. Frustrated with myself, I asked myself what I REALLY wanted to say. And I wrote this song. All in one go. A conversation with myself. And I shed many a tear over it. Oddly enough sometimes sad things can be very beautiful too, even nourishing.

"Stop fooling child, you've many years before you,many transitions to go through, nothing's the same don't you know?"

Nothing replaces anything else. People don't replace one another in our hearts, and the flux of people coming and going from our lives is utterly natural. It's just that...a loss will always be a loss, no matter what happens afterwards. And in reality, there's nothing to letting people go, or letting go. It requires no action at all. And yet, somehow, I'm still taking my time...

42 minutes of recorded music has a market value as close to '0' as it gets. You may be able to sing like Adele (and in my opinion, way too many people do), but that's not enough. That's not even half the story. Success - both in creating a valuable experience for people and in 'selling' music is ALL ABOUT CONTEXT. I would repeat that, but I think the capital letters do the trick.

In many of the TV talent shows they build a surprise transition into a performance because it's not enough to be amazing in one way. You have to do something unexpected. Or BE something unexpected. In one of the first talent shows I ever watched, a bin man made it to the semi finals. Not because he was more talented than 80% of the others but because his story was so engaging. 'Bin man is secretly a super talented musical genius'... And we all watched his rise to fame....
Talent is not scarce. Amazing music is not scarce. This is what industry people understand, and 99% of musicians don't. This is what branding does. It's about bringing out your context, your story. Because if you hear someone talented playing in the street - heads turn. But if people pay £20 a ticket to see the EXACT SAME PERFORMANCE in say, the Albert hall in London, folks are going to be madly disappointed!!

This is partly what has lead into me booking in a tour entirely on donation (dates coming out soon!!!). I want to REMOVE the idea that the audience are in charge and know what to expect. SASKIA and the June Apples concerts have been £12 a ticket on average, and when most people invest that, they do so because they expect to hear a certain sound. And as an artist, I'm going to go right ahead and say that it is NOT up to audience what we do on stage!! I want people to come to the concerts expecting something vaguely nice, and I want to utterly blow them away with something they've never heard before. I don't always know what I'm going to do up there. I like improvisation and above all I value authentic, unrepeatable performances, such that you can't find on recordings. And I am giving me and my band the freedom to do that, as well as giving audiences the freedom to come and take a risk on a new band without feeling concerned by money.

The intention to make music available to anyone regardless of price is part of my context. Part of my story is the thrust to GIVE music and musical experiences to people. And to do it for free. Because I know in my heart of hearts, that if I manage to communicate even a tenth of what I feel when I'm on stage, the audience will look after me in return.  Besides, no matter how good I get at marketing, music is not something I create to market and make money from. My songs are integral to my whole being (whatever that may turn out to be), and are an expression of life as it occurs to this little girl from the west of England. Whether anyone listens or not. ;) But they will...