POSTCARDS
Thirty days hath September, April, June, and November. All the rest have thirty-one, except February, which we know about, and January, which has 1,279. But whose counting!
Tony Toledo, a friend from my former USA home state of Massachusetts, has certainly made January feel shorter this year. He has sent me a postcard-a-day for the whole of the month. What a surprise - and loads of fun for me & Jo. I met Tony at a gig in Massachusetts when I used to live there. A sudden severe winter storm of ice and snow meant driving home after the show was going to be tricky. Tony urged me not to risk the dangerous driving conditions. He and his friend Becky flipped a coin to see who would put me up for the night. Becky won, or lost - depending how you look at it - so Tony and I went to Becky's ground floor flat where our conversation into the wee hours was accompanied by the sound of snowplows scrapping the ice and snow off the roads outside. From that time forward he has been a diamond geezer, a true star. As I've got to know him better, I realise there are lots of us who know this. He brings light into the lives of many people, especially touring troubadour musician types like me. Every once in a while something can stop us in our tracks and make us think in a less-jaded way. These postcards spread on the table in front of me is doing that now.
Post Cards From America
NEW ALBUM! NEW TOUR!
Boo Hewerdine & I began writing the songs for Paper Tigers in January 2020. We were side-lined for a few years, so I saved all our recordings from those sessions and typed the lyrics into a file on my laptop….just in case we needed them in the future. The future finally arrived in February 2024. We finished writing those songs and recorded them in a couple days in Glasgow, in the same room where we recorded State of the Union, our very first album, in 2011. The album is out now and our only tour of 2025 is also happening this month and into March (details below).
GET YOUR PAPER TIGERS CD!
TOUR DATES FEBRUARY-MARCH 2025
SOTU TOUR
February
11th Montrose Folk Club, Montrose, Scotland
12th Glad Cafe, Glasgow, Scotland
13th The Catstrand, Dumfries, Scotland
14th Barnoldswick Arts Centre, Barnoldswick, Lancashire
15th Community Centre, Hunmanby, North Yorkshire
16th The Old Woollen, Farsley, Leeds
19th The Whitham, Barnard Castle, County Durham
20th Temperance, Leamington Spa, Warwickshire SOLD OUT!
21st Folk at the Barlow, Bolton, Greater Manchester
22nd Canopy Theatre, Beccles, Suffolk
23rd Astor Theatre, Deal, Kent
24th Junction 2, Cambridge
25th Hoy At Anchor, Leigh On Sea, Essex
26th Folklore Rooms, Brighton, East Sussex
27th Lyceum Folk Club, Newport, Wales
28th Maldon Town Hall, Maldon, Essex
March
1st Railway Inn, Winchester, Hampshire
2nd Sharrington Village Hall, Norfolk
3rd Golden Slippers Presents, Hampstead, London
SOLO
12th Acoustic Music Nights, Newnham Croft Social & Sports Club, Cambridge (All proceeds from the concert will be matched by Brooks and donated to Addenbrookes Hospital Charitable Trust.)
Brooks & Aaron 2025 Tour Part II
13th Garstang Replugged, Garstang, Preston
15th Manley Village Hall, Frodsham, Cheshire
17th The Bell Inn, Bath
25th The Blue Room Sessions, Den Bosch, Netherlands
26th Crossroads Sessions @ de Kaai, Bergen Op Zoom, Netherlands
27th Cultuurpodium De Speelplaats, Jochumhof, Steyl, Netherlands
CHARITY GIG 12th March
A friend in Cambridge asked me to play his new music series. I said yes, and have decided to donate all the money I receive on the night to Addenbrookes Hospital Charitable Trust. I had the opportunity to experience Addenbrookes firsthand, once in 2022 and once in 2023. I would like to make this offering to them with gratitude for the great care I received. So here's the skinny: 12th March at Newnham Croft Social & Sports Club on Hardwick Street in Cambridge (CB3 9JA). The concert is free and runs from 8-10pm. There will be one or two other acts playing as well as me. The money collected by the club, in lieu of a ticket price, I will match and donate to Addenbrookes Hospital Charitable Trust. Can't be there but want to donate? Here's a link to my JustGiving Page.
NO EASY WAY BACK
A home video version of “No Easy Way Back” is HERE and a home version of Don Everly's “Since You Broke My Heart” is HERE.
(Photo by Theo Looijmans)
SWIRLY WHIRLY PLAYLIST
A heartfelt playlist for February 2025. Use the code below to download your free mp3s.
