Greenbelt 2009
Two weekends ago, I took part in the Greenbelt Festival at the Cheltenham racecourse for the second time. I confess to staying in town with Jez’s cousin as an alternative to camping with thousands of my closest friends, but I like to think this contributed to my being conscious for my performances, not to mention my smelling like a rose rather than some other things I imagine I would have smelled like.
I arrived on site late Friday afternoon and logged in some CDs with the g-store; Rich and Linda were all-stars throughout the weekend, especially seeing as I was in there every day restocking supplies (my gift packs went like hot cakes – note to self for next year – and happily the rest followed speedily as well). They signed me up for an in-store performance which I did on Saturday afternoon, and that evening I was joined by Jez Carr on keys, Steve Lawson on bass, Tom Hooper on cahon, and Susan Enan singing backing vocals on a couple of songs in the Performance Cafe, glistening, starry roof and all. As was the case last year, the audience was so lovely – really ‘alive’ and listening, warm and responsive. If that was you, thanks so much. I love playing with a band, especially since I don’t get to do it often.
Sunday night we played at Last Orders hosted by Jam Cary and Jude Adam (produced by Helen Morant) and again, a serious trip for me getting to perform for 2,000 souls. What a lucky lady I’ve been. Things only got better on Monday when I had the privilege of taking part in the Rising, hosted by Greenbelt favorite Martyn Joseph, whom I met there for the first time – what a spectacular chap. I am sure he was wearing a bracelet from the B.C coast, as well. Joined by Scotslady Yvonne Lyon and Palestinian Reem Kelani, both beautiful singers and songwriters, we were all invited to share some things about songwriting and to perform a couple of songs. Martyn ended the time off by inviting people to sing along to a new song he’d been working on, which was awesome; getting to back him up was probably the highlight of my contributions at Greenbelt, I think because I don’t get to work with other musicians that often and I love to.
Needless to say, I had a great experience at Greenbelt, and it was a much needed encouragement.
Apart from continuing to work on the Solitary Songs, I’m playing gigs in London and Oxford for the next couple of months and trying to book some things a bit further afield in England. Jez and I are also planning to be in Texas in March for a small conference and I am hoping to plan a small tour off the back of that. If you live in the area and have any thoughts for me I’d love to hear from you.
yours in creativity,
Miriam