Sam Carter Sings Nic Jones, Pound Arts Centre Corsham 25/8/2026.

Two weeks ago I was privileged to see Richard Thompson play in Bradford On Avon, and last night an equally picturesque small Wiltshire town played host to another singer-songwriter and virtuoso guitar player, namely Sam Carter who was performing at the Pound Arts Centre in Corsham. Sam won the award for best newcomer at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards in 2010, and BBC folk show presenter Mike Harding said that Sam was one of the most gifted acoustic guitarists of his generation.  He has been compared to such luminaries as John Martyn, Roy Harper, and Richard Thompson. This year Sam has taken time out from promoting his own songs to pay tribute to and spread the word about one of his own heroes of acoustic guitar and trad folk songs Nic Jones. Back in late June I reviewed Sam’s album ‘Sam Carter Sings Nic Jones, Live At Celtic Connections’, and when I saw Sam was playing in Corsham I knew I had to go and hear these great songs performed live. My friend Cara called for me at 5.30 and less than 30 minutes later we arrived in Corsham which is a beautiful little town full of period listed buildings where even peacocks wander the streets. Queen Camilla once lived here before her divorce and move to nearby Lacock. Her home Middlewick House was sold to Nick Mason of Pink Floyd fame who still lives there. Another music link to the area is Peter Gabriel’s Real World Studio in the nearby village of Box. 

In the Methuen Arms.

We met our friends Jane and John and spent a very pleasant hour or so in the courtyard of the Methuen Arms which is a splendid pub/restaurant/hotel on the High Street. Eventually time was getting on, and so we made our way to the Pound Arts Centre. This is a wonderful asset to the cultural life of the town and is housed in a restored Victorian school. The small auditorium is perfect for an evening of great folk music. Sam came on stage shortly after 7.30 and treated the audience to a great evening of Nic Jones songs beginning with Barrack Street from the classic Penguin Eggs album. This was followed by Master Kilby from Game Set Match, an album I particularly cherish because Nic signed my copy for me when I had the pleasure of meeting him in 2013. 

Another song from that album performed brilliantly by Sam was Clyde Water. In his career Nic mainly sang traditional songs which he put his own arrangements to, as well as songs written by the likes of Harry Robertson or Paul Metsers. I think that is why I like Ruins By The Shore so much as sung by Sam because it was Nic himself who wrote the lyrics, and I think the words are quite powerful and prophetic. Seven Gypsies is a song with a driving rhythm where Sam proves he is well capable of  replicating Nic’s astonishing ability. I have always felt sorry for those gypsies though, they didn’t deserve to be hanged. Other great songs from the evening included Courting Is A Pleasure, Ploughman Lads, Billy Don’t You Weep For Me, Annan Water, (In lots of Nic’s songs the hero or heroine meets a watery end!), Farewell To The Gold, and Oh Dear, Rue The Day. There may have been others that I have forgotten. Sam saved the best for last with the fabulous Canadee-I-O and Harry Robertson’s two great whaling songs The Humpback Whale and The Little Pot Stove. What a wonderful evening it had been. Thank you to Pound Arts for being a great venue and thank you especially Sam Carter for playing so brilliantly and bringing the great music of Nic Jones to new audiences. There are still a few dates left on Sam's tour, so I urge you to get a ticket if you can. PS, Thank you John Prideaux for the photo of Sam..

Richard Thompson & Holly Carter. Bradford On Avon, 13/9/2026.

The small and picturesque Wiltshire town of Bradford On Avon came alive on Sunday night with a visit from a music legend, namely Richard Thompson who in the 60s with his friends in the band Fairport Convention invented the genre known as English folk rock. Richard and his wife Zara Phillips were appearing at the Wiltshire Music Centre which is a modern purpose-built little venue with perfect acoustics. The support act was a singer-songwriter guitar player called Holly Carter who was accompanied by another guitarist/bass player called Joe Wilkins. I wasn’t aware of Holly previously, but she played an excellent set of songs, many of which had a powerful political message. 

Holly & Joe.

I particularly enjoyed a song about Stetson Kennedy who was an American author and human rights activist. He was a folklore collector during the first half of the 20th century and is remembered for having infiltrated the Ku Klux Klan in the 1940s, exposing its secrets to authorities and the outside world.  I hadn’t heard of him before, so some of Holly’s songs were quite educational for me. Holly also sang a song My Hands Are Tied which was about Frank Little an American labour leader who was brutally murdered in Butte Montana in 1917, and nobody was held responsible for his death. I also enjoyed Holly’s cover of Song For Woody from Bob Dylan’s first album. One of the catchiest songs in Holly’s short but sweet set was What You See, a song inspired by a photographer called Tish Murtha. I shall certainly look out for more music by Holly Carter in the future.

Richard & Zara.

After the interval it was time for the main man Richard Thompson. I have seen Richard many times in the past and he certainly didn’t disappoint this appreciative Wiltshire audience. I didn’t write down a setlist, but from memory he performed Misunderstood, Genesis Hall from the Unhalfbricking album, Turning Of The Tide, Pharaoh, Johnnies Away On The Rolling Sea, (The audience sang along with that one) Walking On The Wire, If I Could Live My Life Again, Walking The Long Miles Home, Vincent Black Lightning 1952. Richard introduced his wife Zara Phillips about halfway through the show and they harmonised beautifully on such songs as Cocaine Walking, Booze Talking and Pipe Dream from the new album Hippies Thugs & Heroes, the fabulous Withered And Died and I Wanna See The Bright Lights Tonight, The Rattle Within, If You Don’t Want Me, I’ll dry my Tears And Move On, and Wall Of Death. There were a couple of other songs, but I can’t remember what they were now. 

New Album.

Richard and Zara left the stage, and he returned alone for an encore. I was hoping for Beeswing, but someone in the audience shouted out a request for Jimmy Shand which he performed. I don’t like this song very much, but he told a funny story about the accordion player Jimmy Shand. When he was staying in a hotel one time, Jimmy asked at breakfast for some honey and was given a tiny sachet of honey. Jimmy said sarcastically, “Oh, I see that you keep a bee”. The show finished about 10.15 and we were soon home, tired but happy after a most enjoyable evening. Congratulations to Wiltshire Music Centre for booking such a great artist as RT. I hope I attend many more concerts at this great little venue.

 

Rain & Fire.

It has rained here the last two days. The fifth heatwave of the summer appears to be over. Wessex Water which is our local water company brought in a hosepipe ban a few days ago, so I will be using my watering can for the foreseeable future for the evening ritual of watering the garden. The sparrows seem to have settled in nicely in the tree at the end of the garden. I put some bird food out for them every day and then sit in my kitchen watching them descending and ascending. The big event last week was the partial eclipse of the sun. On the news they were telling everyone not to look at the sun directly. We were advised to get special glasses. I must have watched hundreds of glorious evening sunsets over the years without the need for glasses, so I still can’t fully understand why you can’t watch an eclipse in the evening. 

Anyway, I wasn’t going to risk it, but you couldn’t buy the glasses around here in any shop. I had to settle for fetching an aluminium colander from the kitchen and holding it up to the sun and watch the reflection on my white garden wall. I saw 61 mini partial eclipses which was a bit underwhelming. It did go quite dark, the temperature dropped slightly and a breeze began. Birds flew by as if it was time to roost, but it didn’t seem like a major memorable experience. The following evening something happened which had a much bigger impact locally. We had a big fire on the hillside near the White Horse. It took several teams of firefighters quite a few hours to get it under control. Luckily it didn’t reach the White Horse itself, although it was heading in that direction.  In the light of day you could see the whole hillside is blackened. It is mainly grassland up there so it should grow back quite quickly with some rain. 

Compared to what people in Spain, France, Greece and other countries have suffered this summer it is nothing. Even elsewhere in Britain people have had worse fires with houses burnt to the ground. Climate change is the cause of it and is the major problem facing the world today. It can only be solved globally by all the countries working together. Some of the leaders of major countries are so stupid they deny it is happening and would rather start wars they don’t know how to finish. It is very frustrating, so before I start a political rant I’m going back to watching my sparrows. I didn’t think the photo of my Mirabilis Jalapa in my last gardening post was very good so I have taken another one. Cheers.

In The Garden, Part 7.

I wasn’t going to write another gardening blog this year because I thought the garden had already peaked and was past it’s best. However, it seems to have revived itself recently. I think one reason is that I removed a lot of dead stuff which has given other plants more room to grow. This seems to be especially true in my hanging baskets where the verbena hybreda and petunias seem to be thriving now. Some other plants have also begun to bloom, such as Mirabilis Jalapa also known as Marvel Of Peru. (See top pic) This perennial was apparently cultivated by the Aztecs and have red or yellow flowers which are closed in the morning and open in the late afternoon. The only problem for me is they are quite bushy and grow about 3 feet tall which is a bit big for my tiny garden. 

Cosmos

Another tall plant is a dahlia called Apricot Star which has very attractive flowers and should be in bloom until the first frosts. It is hard to imagine frost at the moment as we enter the fifth heatwave this summer. I will only be outside in the morning and evening for the next few days. I won’t be using my hosepipe for watering either as we are officially in a drought situation now. I will use my watering can though. My Cosmos or Mexican Aster should be good until the end of September. They are thriving and looking better every day especially when we have a bit of a breeze and they dance in the air. A couple of blue perennials have been in bloom and spreading outwards since the early spring. One is Campanula or Dalmatian Bellflower and the other is Geranium Roxanne which should be good until October. Since I removed some dead nasturtiums and evening primrose the Oxalis Tetraphylla or Lucky Clover has also thrived.

Blueberry Plant.

Yesterday outside Lidl they were selling Blueberry plants and as I have blueberries with my porridge every morning I bought one so I can grow my own blueberries. I looked up on the internet how to grow them successfully and it said they like lots of sun and acidic soil and to use ericaceous compost. I went round to Davies, bought a bag of that compo and in the cool of the evening planted it in a biggish pot in my yard where it will catch lots of sun. I'll take another pic in the Spring and let you know how it is getting on. I went for lunch with a friend to the café at the garden centre in Trowbridge today and bought an allium which is soaking in a bowl of water at the moment. I’ll plant it this evening. It better grow because it cost £12. I bought 3 dianthuses as well. 

Elephant Hawk Moth

Yesterday evening I was pottering about out in the garden and I came across the biggest caterpillar I have ever seen in my life. I took its photo and google images told me it was an Elephant Hawk Moth. They live on such plants as honeysuckle and fuchsias. That is one of the good things about the internet, you can educate yourself about plants and nature. Also, talking about nature, a new gang of sparrows seem to have moved into the ‘hood. I hope they stay because I like looking at the birdlife when I’m sitting in the yard. That’s enough garden talk for one day. Don't forget there is a partial solar eclipse tomorrow evening. I think here in the west of England is a great place to view it, so that's what I'll be watching tomorrow.

Glen Hansard (21 April 1970 – 29 July 2026)

I feel today that I should say a few words about Glen Hansard. I can’t claim to have been one of Glen’s greatest fans, but I liked him as a musician and as a person. I was quite shocked when I saw on the BBC website on Wednesday morning that he had died in a motorcycle accident in Dublin. I think it was tragic and shocking because the news was so unexpected. He was only 56 years old and had a three year old son. I suppose my first introduction to Glen was in the brilliant and humorous 1990s film The Commitments when he played the part of Outspan Foster. The nickname Outspan would have come from his hair colour because in Britain and Ireland Outspan is a major importer of oranges. Glen got lucky because the films director Alan Parker was looking for someone with red hair who could play the guitar. However, I think it was through the Van Morrison connection that I really got to know Glen’s name because he would often introduce a Van song into his performances. I think Van was a hero to Glen. I came across several videos on youtube of Glen singing Van songs such as Into The Mystic, Astral Weeks or The Healing Has Begun. Even when he was on stage with Bruce Springsteen in 2013 he couldn’t resist slipping in a little snippet of Here Comes The Night. Lots of Glen’s videos are of him busking on the streets of Dublin which is where he began. He often went busking with an equally talented close friend of his called Mic Christopher. Mic also died tragically young in 2001 aged only 32.

 I think most people will have got to know Glen through the 2007 film Once in which he takes the lead role opposite Markéta Irglová. If you haven’t seen this film I urge you to do so. It is funny and sad in equal measure. You can find it on youtube. Glen and Marketa wrote the songs for the film and Falling Slowly against all odds for such a low-budget film won the Oscar for best song (Please watch video below). I watched the film again on Wednesday night and found the scenes where they go for a motorbike ride especially poignant. I did get to see Glen play live a couple of times at Glastonbury Acoustic Stage. The first occasion was in 2003 when Glen’s band The Frames performed. I can’t remember a lot about that performance because I wasn’t familiar with The Frames music at the time. Much more memorable for me was his appearance in 2023. I mentioned it in my review for that year. This is what I said at the time.

 ‘In the evening I saw Glen Hansard. I have seen him previously on the Acoustic Stage, many years ago when he was in a band called The Frames. I’m not an expert on his music by any means, but an American Facebook friend is a huge fan, so I was determined to see him, hopefully take some photos, and write down the set list. The photos are a bit blurry, and I hope this setlist is correct. When Your Mind's Made Up, Down On Our Knees, St John, Bearing Witness, Bird of Sorrow, No Mountain, Winning Streak, High Hope, Her Mercy & Revelate. There might have been more. Glen paid a moving tribute to his late friend Christy Dignam from the band Aslan during the show. 

He said that one of his songs was inspired by Leonard Cohen. I also noticed that he occasionally improvised little Van Morrison ‘isms into the lyrics, such as ’turn on your electric light’. I hoped he would sing a Van song as he often does, but he didn’t. It was an excellent performance which deserved a much bigger audience’. I took a couple of photos that night which I have included here although they don’t really do him justice. You can find some videos of his Glastonbury performances on youtube if you want. I can’t think of anything else to say about Glen Hansard now, except my sympathy goes out to his family who must be devastated by their loss.

 

Up Mayo.

 

On Sunday I had quite an exciting day for a change. As you may know my family came from County Mayo in the west of Ireland. This year Mayo had reached the final of the All-Ireland Gaelic Football championship, so I watched the game on BBC Iplayer. Most pundits regarded Mayo as the underdogs because they were playing the defending champions Kerry who have won the Sam Maguire trophy 39 times in the past. Mayo hadn’t won the title since 1951 although they had reached the final eleven times since then but had always been defeated. There is a myth that had grown around that story. In 1951 the Mayo team went on a victory tour of all the towns in the county. In the town of Foxford they passed a funeral which was taking place. The story goes that the team didn’t show the funeral due respect. This angered the local priest who put a curse on the team that Mayo would never again win the Sam Maguire while the members of that team were still alive. The story is a lot of nonsense of course, but as the years went by and Mayo reached the final time after time only to be defeated, some people began to think there might be some truth in ‘the curse’. 

The last members of the 1951 team were Paddy Prendergast who passed away in 2021 and Mick Loftus who died in 2023, so could Mayo now win the title?  For the first twenty minutes of the game on Sunday I feared the worst. Kerry were all over them and I thought Mayo were heading for another disastrous defeat. Gradually however Mayo began to play their way into the game and by half-time they were only a point behind Kerry. In the second half Mayo started brightly, took the lead, and got several points in front. Kerry rallied and the lead narrowed. I thought Mayo were going to blow it again when several shots on goal were missed. They reasserted their dominance in the last few minutes and I think even the Kerry fans would agree that Mayo were deserved winners. My late brother Paul would have been over the moon because he was a huge follower of Mayo.

After the Sam Maguire trophy was presented to Mayo’s captain Jack Coyne the Saw Doctors song The Green And Red Of Mayo resounded around the stadium. It is a great anthem but there is another song about Mayo that I like even more because it brings back great memories for me. It is called Up Mayo by John Hoban & The Bumblebees. When my late partner Kim and me were in Mayo in 1997 we were in Matt Molloy’s bar in Westport. As you probably know, Matt Molloy was the flute player in The Chieftains. They were selling this Cassette and CD to raise money for the hospital Cat Scan appeal. One of the tracks was actually recorded in the pub. We had a little chat with Matt and he signed the cassette for us. This morning I looked on youtube and was pleased to see that one of the Bumblebees Laoise Kelly has uploaded Up Mayo. (Make sure to listen to video below). I’m looking forward to next year already to see if Mayo can defend their title. I’ll have you all know, you’re going somewhere special, when you go, UP MAYO!

Me, Kim, Nellie, & Ian at Matt Molloy's

In The Garden, Part 6.

I think this will probably be my final gardening blog for this year. It hasn’t rained for at least a month and with the hot sun every day most of my plants have peaked earlier than usual compared to previous years. My sunflowers only bloomed in the middle of June and are already on the way out. The same applies to the nasturtiums and marigolds. I pulled out some nasturtiums because they were covered in blackfly. The hot sun has played havoc with the hanging baskets. On the other hand, I like the cosmos bipinnitus, a flower that keeps on giving pink, crimson, and white flowers. There are a few flowers still beginning to bloom such as summer phlox and there are some dahlias just about to flower. Also, a gladiolus called Mon Amour with pink and yellow blooms has just appeared by the fence. We haven’t got a hosepipe ban in this area yet so every evening I am out there dead-heading and watering. 

After that I sit on my bench, watch the sun go down and listen to music drifting through the ether from my kitchen. Yesterday evening it was Teaser & The Firecat by Cat Stevens. Just as it got dark I spotted a bat flitting about at high speed in the twilight. I had never seen one before from my garden. I must say that being outside on a summer evening observing the remains of the day is much more pleasant than being inside watching rubbish on the TV.