I started writing songs almost as soon as I could play three chords on the guitar, but most of the early efforts were embarrassingly poor but fortunately also instantly forgettable.  As in all things artistic, you need experience of life in order to write with feeling, so as time went by, the songs got better.  I still occasionally sing songs written as long ago as 1974, but most are considerably more recent.

I have recorded a number of originals, from a self-indulgent vinyl album in 1988, 'Autograph', to a collection of songs with my wife, Ailsa, in 1998 - 'About Time'.

If anyone wants a copy of Autograph, I have a few spare!  Track listing is as follows:

Side One:  Time To Be Strangers Again;  The Cricket Game;  Happy Families;  A Change Of Direction;  Jericho
Side Two:  People;  Company;  An Eye For An Eye;  I Never Needed You More (Than I Need You Tonight);  Roses;  Watching

Looking back, I'd say it's interesting in parts, dull in others, and that some tracks show a degree of amateurishness, but that others aren't so bad.  Highlights?  Perhaps 'Strangers' and 'Jericho'.

[Note: lyrics to Jericho by Les Eastham;  Company co-written with Alan Fish]

A year or so before this album, I foolishly invested in a 7" vinyl single for the Blind Date Band which was at that time doing the rounds of pubs and clubs in Coventry, Nuneaton and thereabouts.  This was quite well recorded and I think still sounds ok if dated, but the punters only forked out for about 200 or so of the 800 I had pressed!  Track listing:

Side One:  I Wish You Well             Side Two:  Please Don't Hide;  You Don't Know What I'm Talking About (mp3)

I contributed two tracks to a compilation album called Turtle People which came out in about 1989.  These two songs were 'Leviathan' (which has dated since the Berlin Wall came down :-) and Slipp'ry Jack, a cod-Dickensian tale which sounds a bit rough to me now!

Before that, the second Oakenshield album had two tracks on which I had writing credits, firstly 'Collier Lass' to which I wrote the tune, the lyrics being traditional; secondly, there are two tunes which I wrote - 'Spur Of The Moment' and 'Sir Nigel Gresley' which we combined.

Oakenshield's albums were "Across The Narrow Seas" (1983) and "Against The Grain" (1986), both released on the band's own Acorn Records label (both sold out and now (slightly) collectable).  When the band folded, I took over the Acorn Records name and have used it since (not to be confused with the Jazz label - "Acorn").

The album that Ailsa and I recorded in 1988 - "About Time" - contained 9 originals plus 'Collier Lass';  these were:

Cairo Street;  The Best Times Are Yet To Come;  Big Fish;  Travelling Man;  Sally Went Walking;  Innocent Days;  Songbird In A Cage;  Tightrope Walking;  The Ballad Of Jimmy McHenry And The Reverend Green

Far too long passed before our next recording, "Hommadocks & Thingummyjigs", was completed in the summer of 2005.  This contains six new originals: An English Tune, Bright Star, No One Ever Sang Quite Like Billie, A Man Who Lived By The River, Market Song and When're You Going To Sing That Song For Me, as well as two tunes, March Of The Umpires and Market Day.

In the summer of 2010, we recorded our next album, "little apples...". This contained 11 songs, 10 of which were my originals. The track listing is: Remember Me, Betty & Maria, The Crow Before Dawn, Five To Midnight, Sometimes I Wear A Hat, Looking For Her Shoes, The Gift, Skin Deep, I Wish I Could Believe, One Little Song (Gillian Welch), The Same Sun.

And of course, I continue to write...