Pier and the Craic (the tour so far)...!

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Here I am in Eastney/Southsea on a glorious Monday afternoon in late September - nearing the halfway point on this tour supporting Eleanor McEvoy!
It's been great to be back on the road doing a series of dates with a great artist in great venues with lovely audiences to boot!

We kicked things off in Birmingham at the Glee Club - a wonderful place that always treats its artists really well (including the support acts).
Thursday and I was back in London - we were performing at the Irish Centre in Hammersmith. A great place that is sadly threatened with closure but with the support and goodwill of people like Eleanor and the comedian Dara O'Brien among others - hopefully it will survive to live another day!

Friday and it was off to Winchester. One of the few places on this tour that I hadn't yet visited. A pleasant afternoon was spent wandering past the stunning Cathedral and the surrounding streets. Fact of the day - Winchester is the former capital of England - who knew!!

Saturday and it was my birthday, (late twenties in case you're wondering) I was treated to a delicious meal at the 'Le Mistral' French restaurant in Nottingham (go check it out if you're in the area http://www.lemistral.co.uk). The gig that evening was at the Glee again - always a pleasure to play!

Yesterday we were back on the south coast - in Brighton. Lazy Sundays in Brighton are a great way to siphon money on delicious Crepes, Cappuccinos and Smoothies...!
Komedia was a lovely crowd and it was great to see Emily Baker perform again (cheek out her song 'Hit & Run' - tune!)
Which brings us to today and Southsea (where the second of the pier shots is taken)
After today we head back to the Cox's Yard - Stratford upon Avon- a venue I've had the pleasure to play a few times now - so it'll be great to be going back there with Eleanor!

It's been an honour and a pleasure to support Eleanor on this tour. She is a great example of an artist whose longevity is a credit to her songwriting convictions and I hope some of her talent and professionalism will rub off on me!! ;)

Until next time.. X

#Winchester #cathedral

Welsh Music Prize

via welshmusicprize.com

In light of last night's Mercury Prize I thought I'd let you all know that we now have something similar in Wales....

The 12 albums shortlisted for the inaugural Welsh Music Prize (WMP) were announced last week and I'm pleased to say that 'In the Wake' was one of the albums chosen.

Huw Stephens said: "We are very pleased to launch the Welsh Music Prize with 12 strong albums from Welsh artists. The shortlist is but a reflection on the quality music made in Wales and released internationally. We hope the prize brings these collections of work to a new audience, and we are looking forward to announcing an overall winner on 21 October at Swn Festival."

It is a great honour to have been chosen alongside such great bands/artists all of whom have released such great albums. Here's the shortlist in full:

Al Lewis - In The Wake [Al Lewis Music]
Colorama - Box [See Monkey Do Monkey Records]
Funeral For A Friend - Welcome Home Armageddon [Distiller Records]
Gruff Rhys - Hotel Shampoo [Turnstile Music]
Lleuwen - Tan [Gwymon]
Manic Street Preachers - Postcards from a Young Man [Columbia]
Stagga - The Warm Air Room [Rag and Bone]
Sweet Baboo - I’m a Dancer/Songs About Sleepin’ [Shape Records]
The Blackout - Hope [Cooking Vinyl]
The Gentle Good - Tethered for the Storm [Gwymon]
The Joy Formidable - Big Roar [Atlantic]
Y Niwl - Y Niwl [Aderyn Papur]

My week at the National Eisteddfod - Wrexham

To many outsiders the National Eisteddfod can seem like a strange almost other-worldly event that takes place almost in its own reality.
Though it has it's roots in deep druid traditions the Eisteddfod is now much more than simply a chance for Welsh speakers to congregate in one place and reminisce - it is a celebration of the language and of music/art/theatre/prose all eminating from Wales.

The BBC sent the Welsh tenor Wynne Evans to the site this year for him to experience the Eisteddfod first-hand. The show which aired on Sunday is a nice snippet of all that goes-on and even features a guest appearance by no-other than myself :)
You can catch it again on iPlayer here for a few more days: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01350b3/Eisteddfod_with_Wynne_Evans/

I had one of my busiest weeks at the Eisteddfod this year. It began on Monday night with the concert in the Pink Pavilion with a full-blown orchestra. Myself and Arwel had the privilege to have our songs arranged for the Orchestra by the talented John Quirk. It was quite an experience to hear the songs in such a different setting and great to share the stage with such legendary Welsh acts from across the ages - Meic Stevens. Elin Fflur, Caryl Parry Jones, Tecwyn Ifan and Huw Chiswell.

Tuesday began quite sedately with a couple of nice acoustic shows at the Mantais tent on the site. That was quickly followed by our first 'Band' show on the Main Performance Stage which conveniently is located next to the beer tent :)
It worked out well that as we came on the sun began to shine and  there was a nice group of people sitting/listening to the music enjoy a nice cold refreshment! In the evening we played a show at Central Station for 'Cymdeithas yr Iaith' (Welsh Language Society) alongside Daniel Lloyd and Mr Bryn Fon. Sufficed to say there were a few pints consumed that night!

Wednesday saw us once again performing on the Eisteddfod site itself and we were also invited to do an acoustic set for Alan Thompson's Evening Show on BBC Radio Wales which was broadcasting live from Wrexham for the whole week.

Straight from the radio session it was a quick hop over the road to soundcheck for Maes B - Sion from the band was a very busy boy that night - not only was he playing with us but he was also playing for Elin Fflur and Gildas (all in the same night!)

Thanks to Wendie for the next picture - she was assigned the role of chief photographer for the night by her other-half to get good use of the new camera :)

Which brings us back nicely to Thursday and the performance for the TV Crew following Wynne Evans around the Eisteddfod!
All in all quite a busy week, filled with many a highlight and memories to keep.
Finally for those of you who are interested - Al Lewis Band will be appearing on the first episode of the new series of Nodyn which starts this Friday (12th) on S4C (you many remember pictures that were taken from the shoot on a previous blog).

http://www.s4c.co.uk/cerddoriaeth/e_nodyn.shtml

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sweet Baby James and Jackson B all in July

So this has been an incredible couple of days for gigs!
Yesterday morning I found out that one of my heroes Jackson Browne was the special guest on the couple of dates that Jonathan Wilson was doing here in London this week (Thank You Twitter). So I duly booked my tickets for the show last night at the Borderline in Soho and held my breath in the hope that the rumours were indeed true. As these picture can testify they were.....

It was a great show and we were treated to Browne classics "These Days" and "Take it Easy" and Dawes (his backing band along with Jonathan Wilson) were great in their own right too! Check them out: http://www.dawestheband.com/

On Sunday I got to see another of my idols James Taylor in Cardiff - another brilliant show from one of the founding fathers of the 'Laurel Canyon Collective' along with Jackson Browne. He finished the set with "You've Got A Friend" the Carole King classic!

I think next on my list of people I need to see live is The Boss.....!

 

Win 2 FREE Tickets to Cornbury Festival THIS Weekend!!

Dear Friends,

To celebrate my appearance on the Caffè Nero Stage at Cornbury this year - I'm running a competition for one lucky fan to win TWO free weekend tickets (includes Camping) for the entire festival!!!

All you have to do to have a chance of winning is complete the following line from my debut single 'Make a Little Room':-

"Well your eyes they convey, what ......................."

SEND YOUR ANSWERS VIA EMAIL TO: info@allewismusic.com

Hint: Watch the video

Note: You must be able to travel to the festival site on Friday 1st July and pick up the tickets in person from myself

(see website for directions: http://www.cornburyfestival.com)

Good luck!!

Al

Je t'en prie - Please...have a little listen

So here we have it - the French version of 'Make a Little Room' for your listening pleasure.
I've gone with the title 'Je t'en prie' for the time being.
To keep up the French theme of this post I also uploaded a picture I took from the Pompidou Centre in Paris a few years back looking over to the Eiffel Tower!

Je t'en Prie - (Make A Little Room - French Version) by allewismusic