A description written by the renowned Pianist and musical director, Brian Connor. It is always exciting to be invited to get to know a songwriter's songs – everybody has songs in them, but most of us never find an opportunity, or the confidence, or a pause in the noise of everyday life that allows us to release the songs that are in us. When John Lindsay first approached me with his songs I was more excited than ever – because here was a catalogue of songs that mapped the life of his heart and mind since he was a very young man starting out on his professional life to the present day, some forty years later. The stories they tell are of the life's good times and bad times as observed and experienced by a humorous, clever, thoughtful and always optimistic man as he makes his way around the obstacles and over the hurdles of life. Everyone has a song to sing, and everyone has a story to tell; but not many are as interesting as these ones. John and I spent some time working on his songs together and deciding which ones would most deserve to be on his inaugural recording. It was easy to assemble a band of talented and empathetic musicians to be at the core of this project – Rod Patterson on bass with Liam Bradley on percussion and drums both of whom have played, and recorded with many international artists such as Sir Van Morrison. It was a great opportunity for me to make my first recording in the very well appointed Belfast recording studio 'Red Box'. Our team included my trusted colleague - sound engineer Michael Manning (The Cauldren Studio Dublin), and once we were assembled and making music everything came together effortlessly. Dave McCann, Cellist and Ruth McCann, Violin, provided us with inspired string arrangements for many of John's songs, and backing vocals were imaginatively conceived and delivered by Niamh Kavanagh (Eurovision Song Winner 1993). Augmenting the core ensemble were James Nash on guitars and banjo, and Mark Redmond – the great piper and trad musician from Wexford. A welcome final addition to one song was a track of backing vocals from John's daughter Rachael. Anyone who listens to John's music will easily recognise the simple good humoured honesty with which he both writes his songs and delivers them. There is never an artificial moment in his musical world. That is not to say the songs are overly simple or artless; they are in fact skillfully crafted and often original in they're use of structure and phrasing – but this is achieved through his natural writing ability, and never through adherence to any learned formula.