Bluebell Notes

Jo, Jim and Neil take a trip to Shoreham, to visit musician, producer and playwright Phil Jones on his houseboat, the home of Long Way Home Productions. They chat all things studio, mobile projects and future plans, and there's an exclusive live track from Phil recorded at the kitchen table - perfectly in keeping with the Bluebell Roots aesthetic! You can see a video of the performance on the Bluebell Roots Facebook page, and find out more about Long Way Home Productions on www.lwhp.co.uk 

We're back! It's been a while again, but we have a great episode for you, where we discuss how music, musicians and venues can be pigeonholed, and how it can be a good as well as a bad thing! There's an interview with Helen and Jonnie of From the Workshop, plus a live track from their recent performance at Bluebell Roots.

You probably thought we'd all emigrated! But, with apologies for the huge delay (blame Neil - if anything's late, it'll be down to Neil!) we present episode 14, where we chat about performing and recording covers of others' work. Our guest at the Bluebell Roots live show was Rob Corcoran, who performed with Roger Askew and, after the show, Jim and Jo sat down to chat with them about Rob's work and about being covered by a very well known Irish musician ...

Bonus episode to accompany Episode 12 - featuring an interview with musician Katie Spencer on her experiences as a woman in music, live music from Bluebell Roots floor spot guest Nigel Wesson, the full interview with Donna Canale, and a second track from her live set.

In Episode 13, a new opening greeting, some new clarinet bits and a good discussion of the considerations, mechanics and basic finances of touring for grassroots musicians in the UK and beyond. We chat to Jaime and Jason of April Moon, to get their thoughts on life on the road a long way from 'home' (a fuller version of this chat coming in the bonus Bluebell Notes Offbeat episode) and we have an exclusive live track from their recent performance at Bluebell Roots. Josie has a new Question of the Show for you and we review your responses to the previous show's question.

In Episode 12 - Jo, Jim and Neil still utterly fail to nail their three-part harmony intro - but hey, full marks for effort and tenacity, right?  We feature live music from the July Bluebell Roots show, from Donna Canale, and there's an exploration of the issues that women in the live roots music scene regularly face, including input from Donna. And Jo finally saves us all from Neil's mouth trumpet as she gets her clarinet sting for the Question of the Month/show/episode feature! (Month? Who are we kidding?!)

In Episode 11, we discuss the ways musicians often find to supplement their income from sales of recordings or live shows. There are some pretty creative ways! We look at grants, crowdfunding, live-streaming and more. There's a chat with John and Lin of The John Ward Trio and a live track from their recent Bluebell Roots set. Jim reveals yet ANOTHER nickname, Neil can't say 'digital' and we discover that Jo can only do harmonies if she goes first!

Bluebell Notes Offbeat is a companion to the usual monthly shows, but with extra content there wasn't time for in the main episode! In this first bonus episode, to accompany Episode 10, we have the full reports from Jim & Jo at Rochester Sweeps Festival and Jack in the Green, Hastings, plus live music from May's Bluebell Roots show and an exclusive extra live track from Polly Morris's performance at the same show.

In Episode 10 (10? Already?) we look at how music is used in rituals and traditions. Jo does all the research, while Jim and Neil chip in unhelpfully. We have an interview with Dorset singer and songwriter Polly Morris as well as an exclusive live track from her performance at Bluebell Roots. Jim and Jo bring us a report from the streets of Rochester during the Sweeps Festival and we introduce our new bonus content - Bluebell Notes Offbeat!

For episode 9, Jim, Josie and Neil chat about health and wellness for musicians. There's a review of April's Bluebell Roots event and the new venue, including a live track from Paul Winter, and they chat to Erica Steenkamp about her musical beginnings, the impact of health issues on her and her partner Chris, and much more, and there's an exclusive live recording of her track, Julietta.