2023

the year in review

A few selected highlights from the year…

january

The Girl Who Fell from the Sky

The year was started by me releasing my first Studio Ghibli arrangement into the world on YouTube. A beautiful piece by Joe Hisaishi called The Girl Who Fell from the Sky from the film Laputa: Castle in the Sky.

february

One Day Workshop Down South // A Very Special Guest in The College

In February I hosted my annual One-Day Workshop ‘Down South’ - it was a blast being joined by so many fabulous musicians.

The College was treated to a guest appearance at our monthly Zoom Meet by the peerless Antonio Forcione. A particularly special one as he was the guy who got me into composing on the guitar in the first place! Magic stuff.

march

Giengen Guitar Festival // Audio Show Deluxe // Community Composition Ep. 5

March saw me hopping onto a plane to play at Jule Malishcke’s festival over in Germany. A wonderful time was had (and even ended up in the local paper!)

I also had a blast performing at Audio Shoe Deluxe, where the record label who support my work with Innotet (Vertere), were exhibiting. It was great to meet my label mates (Ceazar and Elles Springs) and meet Miles Showell - the mastering wizard who will be doing the half-speed mastering for Volume Two with Innotet.

There was also time to get the fifth edition of Community Composition created and released on YouTube!

april

A Gig with Clive // My New Guitar // Brittany Guitar Workshop // The Lover’s Waltz

April saw me join me ol’ chum Clive Carroll for another gig at our old haunt of The Art House over in Southampton. Always a blast!

There was also the rather momentous event of me taking delivery of my new instrument by my dear friend Tom Sands - what a lovely day that was =)

And where better to play the new guitar in than at my annual Brittany Guitar Workshop over in France.

I also released another Jay Ungar arrangement - his beautiful tune - The Lover’s Waltz.

may

Another Very Special Guest in The College

May saw the inimitable Derek Gripper join the us in The College’s monthly Zoom meet to share his music, answer questions and give a workshop on playing Malian Kora music on the guitar. Sublime stuff indeed.

june

Recording of The Botanist

It was in June that I headed to Oxford to record a new piece - The Botanist. It was wonderful working with Oli Whitworth and Gerald Garcia again - they’re a proper A-team they are!

july

One-Day Workshop - Up North // Old Path White Clouds

July saw me host another one-day workshop up North in Ripon (the hometown of my dear friend and guitar-maker extraordinaire, Tom Sands). I also recorded and released a new private commission which the client was keen for me to share called Old Path White Clouds - I had such a lot of fun with that one =)

august

Releasing The Botanist // Releasing Sasquatch with Horn Section // 50 Years of Fylde // Germany Tour Starts

August was a busy one which saw me release both the video for The Botanist along with Sasquatch with Horn Section. I also headed up to see Uncle Rog of Fylde guitars to take part in some recording to celebrate 50 years of Fylde Guitars! Then I hopped on a plane over to Germany where I started another little tour of Germany with my dear friend Sönke Meinen and Philipp Wiechert.

september

Freepsum Guitar Festival

The tour with Sönke and Philipp ended up back at their wonderful festival in Freepsum. An absolutely marvellous time was had!

october

Ullapool Guitar Festival

Ullapool is always such a special time, and this one was no different. It’s basically a family reunion at this point, and I so enjoyed sharing the stage with so many sublime musicians.

november

The Wake Up Live in Germany // The London Workshop

The lovely folks at Freepsum Guitar Festival managed to capture some fabulous footage from my gig and I was able to edit together a live video of The Wake Up (featuring loops and drum brush!) November also saw me run my first ever one-day workshop in London - a fabulous time was had.

december

Recording Innotet Volume Two // Gearing Up for My First Book Release

And so we find ourselves getting to the end of December 2023! This month was dominated by the recording of my new album with Innotet - Volume Two. I’m so excited to share the results with you - it was just an exceptionally wonderful time spent with some of my favourite people. I also spent some time gearing up for my first ever book release which is due in January…

One final thing to say: if you’re interested in making the most of this last day of my winter sale, then the code is below for 15% off:

WINTER2023

And what can you find in the shop? Well… let me give you a flavour:

Thanks for all the support this year, and here’s to 2024! A very Happy New Year to you =)

W