Many people will know me for my enthusiasm for Original music, but of course that’s not my only interest in music. The key to any great music and/or performance is whether it entertains and/or inspires. With that in mind here are a few artists that I have found to be excellent and memorable performers
Andy Eastwood
Let me start by saying that I never really warmed to the music of George Formby, BUT I had to review my thinking on this after seeing Andy live and sitting in on two of his workshops. I described him as “a great old fashioned entertainer” and he commented “How come there’s not a lot more of that these days?” Andy is a hardworking professional who seems to be endlessley touring and travelling. He is technically excellent on a number of instruments and has a great manner in interacting with an audience
Phil Doleman and Ian Emmerson
I have met Phil many times and always found him to be a superb teacher with a genuine love of music. I saw him and Ian Emmerson live last year on the GNUF main stage and really enjoyed their performance. It was a great set with lots of variation. This year I saw tham on the GNUF underground stage and they knocked it out of the part. The 20 minute set was a master class in entertainment, just brilliant. The interaction onstage was superb and as well as being technically very skilled they were terrific entertainment. I could have listened for hours. Ian is a supeb performer in his own right “a dark horse” and also a genuine entertainer
Biscuithead and Dean
My bandmate Jessica told me about Dean and Biscuithed and I have seen them a few times. Dean has supported The Small Change Diaries a couple of times, most recently being at The Grove in Leeds. This lastest slot was a brilliant example of entertaining an audience. The songs are smart, witty and melodic and in my view the world is better for such music
Percy Copley
I met Percy a year ago and saw him play the GNUF mainstage. I admit that in “uke world” there are a lots of ok artists, but not a great number that I find captivating in a live situation. Percy is without doubt a real exception and again a genuine entertainer. I was blown away by his set and later when he spent and evening at my house I was amazed at how technically skilled he is as well as how good he is at creating his own material. I suspect years of association with Disney has done him no harm and I highly recommend seeing him live. He also did a brilliant job adding music to “Barter Blues” and we’ll do some more work together.
These are four artists that spring to mind this wet Wednesday morning in Yorkshire. All are very different and have provided what I consider to be excellent entertainment. There are of course others, but these are the ones that came to mind for this blog. All of these folks are true professionals and great musicians with a helpful sense of humour. These are of course all guys, women to follow soon