Photo courtesy of Claudia Taveira
Hey there! hope you’ve all been enjoying the Easter weekend. March was a really busy month. I had another lovely show at The Bicycle Shop when I supported Oxford friends The Dreaming Spires whose superb new album ‘Searching for the Supertruth’ has been deservedly earning some excellent reviews. It was also fun that Joe from the band joined me on two of my songs, adding some lovely pedal steel. Here’s one of the live songs:
'Carolina Rain' with Joe from The Dreaming Spires https://youtu.be/T3-jJVRbTAA
It was a hectic but really fun weekend performing again at C2C Country to Country Festival at The O2. I saw lots of outstanding live music, an eclectic mix of Americana, folk, bluegrass and country and, as last year, there was such a lovely warm atmosphere and it was amazing to see how busy it was. Thanks so much to everyone who came along to my set at the Saloon and signing afterwards to say hi. Thanks also to excellent country music website W21 Music and Jeff G Photography for taking some great live shots. It was a real honour to be selected to play the pop-up stages for the second year running and exciting to have Radio 2‘s Bob Harris, who has really supported my music, invite the audience to listen to my set.
I’ve posted quite a few videos from my performance on my YouTube Channel www.youtube.com/lisaredfordmusic
Following on from last year, here’s another fun little highlights video I’ve put together with a clip of ‘Carolina Rain’ which was also recently featured on Amazing Radio in their all female playlist for International Women's Day
Here’s also a live video from my performance, singing original song ‘Never Was a Yesterday’
Also here's a fun a cappella video, singing ‘Be Around’ on the walk home from C2C in Greenwich Tunnel! https://youtu.be/iGJCov64KRQ
New Interviews
Another great part of playing C2C festival was getting to meet some of my fans and do some interviews with them for their blogs and channels. Here’s a fun interview video with French YouTube Channel L Teste:
Plus an interview with country music blog Six Shooter Country, chatting about playing the festival and my music inspirations:
http://www.sixshootercountry.com/getting-to-know...-lisa-redford.html
Record Store Day April 18th
Looking ahead, and one of the music highlights of the month is Record Store Day, a great day on the third Saturday of each April celebrating independent records shops around the world. This year I’m due to play in Cambridge and among the participating stores in Norfolk are Soundclash, who had queues going along St Benedicts last year and Lewks in Downham Market who from 8am have an eclectic line up of live music. Check out www.recordstoreday.co.uk for a full list of events and for more information on the live music in Norfolk.
Vocal Coach, Guitar Lessons
I love sharing the experience and skills I've gained as a performer and if anyone in the area is interested in singing lessons or beginner guitar lessons, please contact me for more information via Facebook at www.facebook.com/lisaredfordmusic
Lisa Redford
"one of our finest singer/songwriters" Bob Harris BBC Radio 2
"In a sea of smart female singer/songwriters Lisa Redford is an admiral" Maverick magazine ****
www.lisaredford.com
All Things Norfolk business member, singer-songwriter and music tutor Lisa Redford has written and recorded a brand new song at home during the lockdown "From Afar"
Lisa got her inspiration for writing this song when walking in her local area in Norwich and seeing a poster in a window which said "know you are loved from afar" . The song is all about missing loved ones but knowing that we can still love and care from them "From Afar" until we meet again. Once the song was written Lisa then recorded an acoustic version of it from her home studio.
We highly recommend that you take a listen to "From Afar" by visiting https://lisaredford.bandcamp.com/track/from-afar and support this talented local artist by purchasing the song digitally for £1 . You can also view the video by visiting https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfnukKmLcqc
On Friday 28 February, over 275 children from 8 local schools attended open rehearsals at the Auden Theatre in Holt.
The children, aged between 7 and 12 were invited to hear members of the London Mozart Players performing pieces in rehearsal, ahead of their public performance later that evening. Amongst the programme was Mozart’s Horn Concerto No. 4 performed by horn player Ben Goldscheider, who was the winner of Brass Section of the BBC Young Musician of the Year winner 2016, when he was 18 years old.
Saturday (29th) saw over 80 young brass, strings and woodwind musicians taking in a free workshop to perform as an orchestra. For the workshop, specialist music tutor Helen Stowell of the Norfolk Music Service specially arranged a range of pieces from Mozart’s Horn Concerto to Havana, by Camilla Cabello. For many of these young musicians, this was their very first ensemble performance and a unique moment to play great orchestral pieces with other musicians.
It has been a very busy and creative start to the year and I'm really looking forward to playing some lovely local gigs this month and throughout spring. These include some brand new live music nights that are happening in Norwich showcasing the wealth of talented local artists from Norfolk.
Common People at OPEN Norwich ~ Friday February 21st
My next gig is a really special one. As well as performing my own material, I love to perform many of my favourite songs from different genres. I'm looking forward to be playing an acoustic set at OPEN Norwich next weekend as part of a special 90's music charity night of Britpop, indie and dance from the team behind Common People. Expect some surprise 90's favourites in my set!
It has been a little while since my last All Things Norfolk column. I had a really busy summer playing lots of festivals in the area and further afield. Here in Norfolk I really enjoyed performing at the first F-19 festival, a major new music festival in Feltwell at the stunning St Mary’s Church; all profits from the festival went towards the upkeep of this stunning medieval building.
I was also part of a brilliant line-up for The Waterfront Sessions. It was an all day promoted by The Tilting Sky celebrating some of the regions finest country and Americana artists by the riverside at Norwich Waterfront and it really showcased the wealth of talent here.
In July I also released a single Let Go - the second from my latest EP Edge of Love. It has been receiving some lovely airplay on many stations and shows including BBC Introducing Norfolk. Edge of Love has continued to get great reviews, so much so that I’m excited to be releasing a new single I Just Can’t Forget next month. The ballad, like all of my songs, comes from the heart and has a more soulful country sound with harmonies, piano, pedal steel acoustic and electric guitar
It features terrific local musicians: The Vagaband’s Jose McGill - who also produced the EP - plus Mark Howes from local blues duo Dove and Boweevil and Mikey Shaw on drums. The single has already been performed live in session for Whispering Bob TV’s Under the Apple Tree - intimate live acoustic sessions recorded in the home studio of legendary BBC broadcaster Bob Harris - certainly one of the highlights of my career so far!
It has been a very busy and exciting time as my new EP Edge of Love - recorded and mastered in Norwich and featuring a whole host of local talent - is now released worldwide!
I have been blown away by the wonderful airplay and reviews I have received including 4 stars in national music magazines Maverick and RnR. The title track also features on the excellent Un-Herd cover mount CD which comes with the May/June issue of RnR, in shops now.
I have been interviewed for a few local glossy publications - including Norwich Resident Magazine, KL Magazine and Norfolk Magazine - as well as had airplay on BBC Radio Norfolk and Suffolk, most recently a live acoustic session for Drive Time on BBC Radio Suffolk with Stephen Foster.