Ward and Parker - The Podcast

Thanks for following us through 2020! Heres a little run down of the year. Don't forget to check out the spotify playlist. Please share the podcast and spread the word.

Donations to our chosen charities can be made here -

https://www.mind.org.uk/donate
https://donation.dec.org.uk/coronavirus-appeal

Hello and Welcome to The Ward and Parker Podcast. We are folk pop duo John Parker and Cliff Ward.

Ward and Parker are John Parker previously of JCB song fame in Nizlopi and Cliff Ward, founding member of folk super group The Willows. After being thrown together by Stu Hanna to form The Megson Band back in 2016 the duo now seem like an act destiny brought together.

Between them they hold many years experience on the stage and are excited to be performing together in this new and very different act! JP has worked with a huge number of acts over the years and performed extensively all over the world with acts such as Ed Sheeran, Kate Rusby, Newton Faulkner, Nick Cave, Polly Paulusma and Jake Morley to name but a few!

After many years compiling a long list of songs Cliff felt the time was right to start going out playing them and John was onboard from the outset. The combination of JP's beautiful soaring double bass and beatboxing style accompanying Ward's songs and guitar playing is the perfect mix and is not to be missed.

“Your voice was sweet and joyful. Bass playing was remarkable. Overall sound great. Best act for me at the festival!”
- Ian Murray, Ely Folk Festival 2018

Alternative, acoustic, jazz, folk pop with influences from John Martyn, John Butler, Newton Faulkner and more... Expect a diverse set from upbeat pop to soul searching songs of love and loss.

​Outstanding musicality and a real sense of two musicians both performing in the moment.

In this weeks podcast we interview the wonderful Polly Paulusma. She was a delight to chat too. We talk about her career in music and how she has coped in lock down. She talks about her Patreon page and how it has really worked well for her.

We reveal our own plans for a Ward and Parker Fan Club!! Yes you'll hear all about it, what we've got in mind for 2021 but we want to know what you guys think! Get in touch and give us your thoughts :) Would you like to join the fan club for exclusive content? We are planning on going all in and pretty much ditching the main stream social media sites in favour of our very own forums.

Here is a bit more about Polly.....

In 2003, tucked away in her garden shed, 28-year-old Polly Paulusma recorded her debut album ‘Scissors In My Pocket’. Record label One Little Indian signed her up and ‘Scissors…’ received immediate and widespread critical acclaim upon its international release in 2004. Paulusma was catapulted round the world, supporting Bob Dylan, Jamie Cullum, Coldplay, The Divine Comedy, Marianne Faithfull, and played Glastonbury, T in the Park and Cambridge Folk Festival. Since then she has released two studio albums and is slated to release two more (an album of traditional folk song, ‘Invisible Music’, and a 24-track double album ‘Pivot’ which is currently being released serially) in 2020 and 2021. She founded label Wild Sound in 2012, now a folk imprint at One Little Indian. She teaches English/Song to Cambridge English undergraduates and is writing her PhD on Angela Carter’s folk singing.

You can find more about Polly here - http://www.pollypaulusma.com/
Sign up to her fantastic Patreon here - https://www.patreon.com/pollypaulusma

You can find us at - www.wardnparker.com
Contact us at [email protected]
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/WardnParker/
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/wardnparker/

Ward and Parker chat about Covid, life as musicians in this crazy world. In this episode there are rants about social media, facebook and Spotify. Chats about teaching guitar amongst other things.

Episode 4 continued with Pete Ord. Chatting about current books and music.

Ward and Parker - The Podcast Episode 4
In this episode we interview the lovely Pete Ord - Amongst many talents Pete is the owner of Haystack Records and does a lot of great work on the music scene.
We also chat about the future of music, tapes and vinyl.
Theres talk of us getting motorbikes and trying to tour with sidecars! Lots of fun and some serious chats about whats happening in real life too. We hope you enjoy it!
Much Love
Cliff and John
xx

Welcome to Episode 3 of Ward and Parker - The Podcast!

In this episode we talk about starting a John Denver Tribute band, new songs and recordings get featured! We chat about lockdown, music formats and a possible cassette release! Should we do it!!?? We share new music and what we've been listening too and watching all with plenty of nonsense and good humour :) We hope you enjoy it!

Please do find us on Facebook as we love to chat with you guys! Do you have nay suggestions for naming cliffs guitar and banjo??!

Thanks so much for following us and we shall see you next time. Don't forget to share it and tell your friends! x

Podcast 2! We discuss the success of our first podcast, Our week, new recordings remotely, Cliff's bike repairs, Laura Marling's live stream, John's beauty, or not, GoGo Penguin new album, Radiohead, Jp discovering 'OK Computer' for the first time, Tori Amos's Book and the Hay Festival interview, Contagion, black lives matter, JP's missing running mojo and of course we have questions from you beautiful people.

Download, have a listen and please comment, suggest things and send us questions, we want this to be a cultural hub, we're not selling anything, at times we're not even coherent, get involved.

Thanks to all for downloading and listening. We love making these and its great people are getting something from it too.

A chat about who we are and what this podcast thing is all about for us. What's been happening in the world of Ward and Parker in the current climate and more to follow. This is a bit of a trial run as we find our feet in the podcasting world!