Wytham Wood

... is 'Oxfordshire's newest folk duo' and comprises me and my friend Jules, an extraordinary singer/songwriter/guitarist who I've been privileged to sing a number of gigs with.

A patch of remnant Oxfordshire forest might seem a strange choice of name for a Cornishman and an Australian, but Jules has lived hereabouts for nearly 20 years, attending Cornburys and Cropredys (both folk festivals held locally) and beer festivals in every pub he can find. As for me, Oxford has been my teacher and inspiration in more ways than I can count,and I'm proud to now call the shire home.

It's been a busy couple of weeks. Jules was recently invited to sing at Adderbury Folk Club's christmas fundraiser, and asked me to join him. I was in the midst of the flu, but three large glasses of mulled wine proved an effective throat relaxant, and we made it through. The Adderbury crew are a great mix of age and experience and seem to have a strong culture of fostering new folkies, and so a week later we went back to their session.

In between times, we recorded our first demo CD: 3 tracks, that I hope sound okay, cos I was still reliant on port to turn by croaky throat into anything remotely melodic. We'll know soon enough: we're hoping to try to score a few festival gigs this summer.
Our first official outing with the new name, however, was the Folly's annual Christmas bash. It's a bit of a mutual thankyou session really: to Guy and Sal of Pont Music who run the weekly open mike gigs every week, to the musicians who support them, and the landlords, Roger and Margaret, who give us a space in which to play, even though some weeks are pretty quiet. Most of all, it's a cracking night, always good for a laught. It's finally beginning to feel a bit like Christmas...