cover pic is by Joe Se
I’ve been working hard on my new Christmas single ‘When Christmas Comes Around’ which I’ve recorded and mixed myself like my previous acoustic festive song ‘St Benedict’s Christmas Fair’.
The song is about the pleasure of spending time with those you love during the festive period and I really enjoy the process of creating a song from scratch, and adding layers and parts to it.
The song has just received airplay on BBC Suffolk which makes all the hard work so rewarding and will be available on my Bandcamp page lisaredford.bandcamp.com
Here's is the unplugged video - When Christmas Comes Around
I launched the single during my short set at Mustard TV’s Christmas Party at The Forum last weekend where I was also joined by my talented student Breeze Redwine to perform two Christmas classics. Breeze has been continuing to receive airplay on BBC Introducing for her latest single ‘1000 Little Pieces’ and has just been invited to perform a festive song on BBC Look East.
Photo from Mustard TV
Really looking forward to seeing Lissie and Teddy Thompson this week at The Waterfront. As an acoustic songwriter myself I always love seeing artists perform solo acoustic sets. Lissie’s music is a great blend of folk, country, rock and pop and both her previous albums, 2010’s ‘Catching a Tiger’ and 2013’s ‘Back to Forever’, made the Top 20 in the charts with the former going Gold. Her songs have been licensed for films and TV shows whilst ‘The Longest Road,’ a song she wrote with DJ Morgan Page was subsequently remixed by Deadmau5 and nominated for a ‘Best Remixed Record’ Grammy.
Her latest studio album ‘My Wild West’, recorded in Nashville with her producer Bill Reynolds (Band of Horses), her band in in Ojai, California and executive producer Curt Schneider in his Studio City home, is Lissie’s most personal to date and for this tour she is also promoting her live album ‘Live at Union Chapel’ which is now available to order, download or stream via her website.
The special guest joining Lissie is Teddy Thompson whose career I’ve followed and I enjoyed his ‘Separate Ways’ album so much I worked with his producer Brad Albetta on my album ‘Clouds with Silver’ in Brooklyn which has been a real highlight of my career. I saw Teddy play earlier this year for the Norfolk and Norwich Festivel at Norwich Playhouse as part of an excellent show with American singer/songwriter Kelly Jones who he collaborated with on duets album ‘Little Windows.’ The stunning show, which had the audience captivated by the sublime harmonies, natural rapport between the band and musicianship, was directed by superb drummer Ethan Eubanks who I was also fortunate enough to have play on my EP ‘Reminders’.
Some other excellent live music treats are coming up. OPEN sees folk singer songwriter and multi instrumentalist Seth Lakeman on 11th December. His high-energy performances and series of best selling albums make him one of folk music’s most renowned artists.
At Norwich Arts Centre on the 21st it’s the annual midwinter moonshine from The Vagaband. I recorded my latest EP with frontman José McGill and this year the band are celebrating their 10th anniversary. Special guests will be alt-country band Morganway from North Norfolk. The superb Glenn Tilbrook is on Monday 12th. One of my first memorable gigs was supporting him at the same venue and with his energy, warmth and gift for writing songs, it’s not hard to see his enduring appeal as one of our most loved songwriters. For fellow Neil Young fans like myself Don’t Spook the Horse return on the 11th taking the audience on a journey through Neil’s long and eclectic career. Sam Kelly and the Lost Boys headline on the 19th. I saw their rousing set at Folk East and he has been awarded many accolades including Horizon winner at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards. Support is Norwich’s Jess Morgan who has been earning rave reviews for her new album 'Edison Gloriette'.
It's been a really busy and rewarding year with all the acclaim received for 'Courage' the debut single I wrote for Breeze and also the lovely reviews and airplay for my EP 'Another Place and Time'. I'm thrilled to hear it's just been nominated for Best British EP at the Belles and Gals Awards, an excellent music website celebrating female artists who perform country music.
"Lisa’s music is a beautiful blend of the sweetest style of country and the purest sound of folk music". Such lovely words from music blog Building Our Own Nashville who have just reviewed the EP and given it a great review:
https://buildingourownnashville.com/2016/11/11/lisa-redford-another-place-and-time-ep-review/
2017 looks set to be exciting too. My song 'Live Your Life' and also an exclusive piano version of 'Courage' are featured on a beautiful charity compilation CD for Postcards for Peace which will be officially released in February. It features 26 songs of war and peace, of hope and of love, of living life to the full, of not giving up and of having the courage to face adversity.
The album includes Grammy award nominee Linda Thompson, multiple BBC Folk Award winners Lau and Kris Drever, acts that have enjoyed chart success, Hothouse Flowers, and the wonderful Boo Hewerdine and Peggy Seeger.
For more information and to order the CD visit here:
http://www.postcardsforpeace.org/shop/a-world-of-hope-cd/
For all my music news and teaching information, please visit lisaredford.com
Thank you so much for reading my music column this past year. Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas!
In her latest feature for All Things Norfolk, Lisa focuses on the exciting launch of her fundraising single in aid of Future Radio "This Fine City" about Norwich and how we're all coming together znd overcoming this tough time.
"I began volunteering at Future Radio in 2018, regularly hosting the Afternoon Session and also briefly covering NR Sounds which showcases bands and artists from Norwich and the surrounding areas of Norfolk and North Suffolk. It has been so rewarding and enjoyable to be part of the station - certainly been a real buzz broadcasting live to listeners and sharing my passion for music"
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!
