My songs haven’t been influenced by any particular artists or styles but I’ve always liked British / Celtic folk music, and as a child lived adjacent to a Canadian uncle (Ken Ross - photo on back cover) He had been a professional rodeo star before the war, originally from Peace River Country and taught us kids to rope and ride western style. He remained a cowboy until the day he died and left me with the enduring western influence now reflected in my songs. I’ve chosen fourteen of my songs with a variety of subjects for this album, all in country / folk genre. I hope that you enjoy listening to them as much as I have enjoyed writing and recording them. The River - Things we dreamed about as children can turn out to be not quite as magical when experienced for real as adults. Having lived in the country in the times when we were free to roam over adjoining fields, hills and woodland, we often played by a small branch of The River Wey, and were convinced that if we made a raft we could float downstream to The Thames and on to the ocean, and adventures in distant lands. Just like Huckleberry Finn. "So flows the river’s eternal stream, carrying far away our childhood dreams" No Words To Say - How often do we think of what we should have said when it’s too late? Enhanced by clever mandolin and bass tracks sent by email from Vancouver Island (wonders of modern technology) "Thoughts never spoken - Words left un-said" Where Eagles Fly - As a visitor to Vancouver Island, I am always captivated not only by its quaint towns and villages and all the “pretty” parts, but by the wonderful moodiness of its dark forests, giant trees, steep sided inlets, misty lakes and the almost desolate expanses of the west coast with forest almost to the water’s edge. I’ve tried to capture this mood with the “Strat” track woven through the melody. "Your sombre hills your rugged grace" No Welcome Here - A haunting melody carried on an acoustic guitar riff with the theme of a bitter parting. "No sweet and sad farewell, just bitter tears" The Way We Used To Be - When looking for something else, we can come across an old photograph that takes us straight back to “how we used to be” and the hopes and dreams that we had at that time, sometimes never realized. "Smiling, holding hands with all our future plans, believing everything would go our way" Beneath A Starry Sky - "There’s magic in the air tonight" - no more to say. Another Day Another Broken Heart - The title says it all. Written with my cowboy hat on, it tells a tear jerking tale which can be taken as seriously as you want. "Hearts that are like a burnt out flame, having loved can never love again" Winter Solitude - There are times when we can have reasons not to look forward to springtime, when everyone else is anticipating light evenings and sunshine. "Like the firelight that fades away in the bright summer sun, with the passing of these winter days our time will all be gone" Merry England - My answer to all those songs about the other countries in the British Isles. "Merry England, you green and pleasant land" Madalina - A chance meeting with someone from another time, another place. "Older but still beautiful, just like so many years ago - guess we’d still be together if I knew then what I know" Last Call for Flight 53 - Nowadays, it seems that everyone’s on the ‘phone at airports, and it seems to the poor guy being kicked out that they’re all going home except him. "They’re saying love you I’ll see you soon, be with you by tomorrow noon" (I’m Never Going) Down That Road Again - For everyone who’s overcome an obsession, whatever or whoever it might be. "I was blinded by your shining star, but now I see just what you are, and all your brightness fades away, like starlight fading with the day" Live Music - Written from bitter experience. Parties and evenings at the pub ruined by guys singing along to “karaoke” tracks and calling it Live Music. But sympathy and a degree of admiration for the old down & out trying to play Danny Boy on a clapped out blues harp for coins - at least he played it himself. "Another coin another glass of beer" No Reason To Stay - A tongue in cheek song about the guy who’s always going to leave the small town for something better but never does. With a play on words throughout. "But when you say what you mean you don’t always mean you mean what you say"