Bill Nelson performing “Maid In Heaven” - a song that I would take to a desert island - wonderful in every way and I never tire of hearing it. Seeing this particular performance was the spark that led to me getting my own Duesenberg guitar. And check out Gavin Griffiths on drums - amazing!

Summer Music Workshops

For the 3rd year in succession, I’m going to be running a series of summer music workshops (in conjunction with Creative Music Studios in Carrboro). The workshops focus on composition and performance and are open to guitarists, vocalists, bass players, drummers and keyboard players alike. If you’re interested in attending, please call 919 448 8432 or drop me an email

The workshops run Monday to Friday 10am - 2pm - first week is July 15th 2013 - the workshops will run into August.

Jerry Lordan: All My Own Work

Until I read Jim Irvin’s piece in a recent Mojo about Jerry Lordan, I knew little of the man, aside from that he penned “Apache” for The Shadows - you’ll find the article on page 108 of Mojo issue 223. I was inspired to order a copy of Jerry Lordan’s All My Own Work (which has terrific sleeve notes from Rob Bradford and a postscript from Claudine Lordan) and I’m awfully glad that I did. JL possessed a deft hand for melody and the strings on these recordings are very lovely.

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One of my students recently arrived at a lesson clutching a copy of “Stride Guitar” - a set of transcriptions of Guy Van Duser’s album of the same name - I was unaware of Guy until this moment. The other day I was in Carrboro’s Nice Price Records & Books (sadly about to shut its doors for the last time) and found a vinyl pressing of the album, which I’ve digitized to share one of the recordings with you. The playing is absolutely beautiful and the sound of the recording is just wonderful. I understand that Guy is an adjunct professor at Berklee College of Music. The audio-player above will present to you Guy’s reading of “Stars Fell On Alabama”.

Before this man came along the musical landscape of the 1980’s was bereft of major 7th chords… along with Roddy Frame he changed the vocabulary of the guitarist in the UK and beyond. The above has Johnny walking us through the birth of the guitar part to “Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now” - if it won’t play, click on the youtube icon or click here.

Kevin Ayers

Last Thursday I found myself terribly upset upon hearing the news that Kevin Ayers had passed.  I have such vivid recall of the first time I encountered his music. It was at the end of summer in 1983. I was 17. I was in a pub in Nuneaton, Warwickshire. It was lunchtime. A new jukebox was just being delivered and the installer offered to the half a dozen or so of us present that there were 5 free credits for us to enjoy. The first up to the record machine was a local enigma, known to both friend and foe as “Jock” – he was actually from Newcastle, but when he’d arrived in the area some years previously, the townsfolk of Nuneaton had mistaken his accent as being a strain of Scots and his initial appellation remained. The first tune he picked was Roxy Music’s “Virginia Plain” and Jock sang every line in unison with fellow Geordie Bryan Ferry. Then came the next song. I’d never heard it before. However, within four hits of the cowbell, I was hooked. It was “Stranger In Blue Suede Shoes”. Whilst I’m very aware that our memories are mostly unreliable and often wildly inaccurate, I am, quite confident that during the 3 minutes and 20 or so seconds it took for me to hear “Stranger In Blue Suede Shoes” for the first time the world around me stopped, and it was, and remains, one of the most profound listening experiences I will ever have. Sometime shortly after that lunchtime epiphany I purchased the newly released Kevin Ayers Collection (Charly/See For Miles), a platter that was the signpost to many of Kevin’s albums proper. The last time I saw Kevin perform was at the Astoria in London in 1997. Learning that he’d left us was as intense a moment to me as was hearing “Stranger In Blue Suede Shoes” for the first time all those years ago.

At the time of my initial brush with “Stranger In Blue Suede Shoes” I was really only in possession of the most rudimentary grasp of the guitar. Subsequently I have become relatively adept at the six stringed beast and am quite agile in a number of styles of guitar playing and in addition to my own compositions, I can throw-down some pretty accurate readings of iconic guitar parts from the past 60 or 70 years. However, I have never been able to figure out exactly what the guitars on “Stranger In Blue Suede Shoes” are doing. Over the years this has come up in conversation with many other guitarists – most recently with Nick Pynn, who is no slouch when it comes to the guitar or any instrument with strings – and nobody has ever been able to tell me or show me what is really happening.

Having known the music of Kevin Ayers for approaching 30 years, I can’t imagine not having it as part of the backdrop to my life. I return to it relentlessly. And although I wasn’t a personal friend of Kevin’s and was never going to be, his passing has really affected me.

Now I’m going to sit down and listen to Whatevershebringswesing in its entirety. Rest in Peace, Kevin Ayers.

Bob Dylan Lays Off 2,000 Workers...

This is something I do, when I’m not doing other things.