Journeys

Hot days in the studio but its all going well. I think this album will surprise a lot of people and I just want to get it finished now. To be honest, if I was working at it non stop I think I would go crazy and there are moments when I think if I never hear another note of my own music that would be fine. I am excited to be nearing the end of the journey with this record though and I’m so looking forward to getting the new music out there and hearing peopl's reaction. It’s all so tentative in my head right now but I have a feeling this record has strong legs. It’s been good to have other distractions such as the Tonypandy project, which is now called Broken Peace Tonypandy 1910-2010. On Friday, after a visit to one of the schools taking part, I spent a few hours walking around the town for research and pleasure and enjoyed very much hearing those rich Welsh accents and the clatter of chatter on market day. I also drove to some very grey and depressed areas in the Rhondda Valleys and it always has a humbling effect on my thoughts and spirit.A few weeks ago I sang ‘On This Celtic Morning’ at the annual Welsh Sports Hall Of Fame dinner as they were inducting Wales’s most famous golfer Ian Woosnam. Even if the song goes no further, it was a great honor to sing the song in front of the likes of Ian, Gareth Edwards, John Dawes, JJ Williams and other Welsh sporting giants. It went down very well and I added a special verse to the song for Woosie. I grew up playing in tournaments with Ian though I noted his 68 was a little better than my 77 when we came up against each other in the Welsh Boys Championship in around 1976. I then caddied for him in the Welsh Pro championships a few years later and he was good but showing no signs of what was to come. In fact the next week I was trying as an amateur to qualify for a professional tournament and so was he! Anyway, the next time we met was when I was on tour with Chris De Burgh and he came back stage to the NEC Arena in Birmingham around 1992. My life had changed and he had won the European Tour order of merit umpteen times, been World No 1 and won the US Masters! So, it was nice to be able to play the song for him and reflect on the different paths that had led us to a sports dinner in Cardiff. The picture is of Ian and myself and Richard Dixon and his wife. Richard is now Chief Executive of the Welsh Golfing Union and I hadn’t seen him for about twenty years. Good to make all these connections again.