A London bus is a welcome sight any time of the day or night. Urban lore says they usually come in threes. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Then all at once three buses rock up. Like my tours over the next couple months. Here and there. UK and US. Solo and with my compadres….one with Aaron Catlow (and Jon Short for a few of those)…one with Vera van Heeringen…one solo.
Before those three buses arrive (so to speak), there has been my obsession with my new songs. There's something going on that feels different. It's like something is moving over the face of the deep but it's too dark for me to see what it is. Yet. And I've got it in my mind to find out. In the words of Stephen Stills, used out of context: “Something's happening here. What it is ain't exactly clear.”
I somehow got in my head to mimic in my songwriting process a form a Japanese visual art that goes like this: the artist dips their pen into the ink and creates a drawing until the ink runs out of the pen. When the ink is gone, the drawing is done. In terms of songs, write until the ideas stop. When they stop, the song is done.
At least that's what I intended to do. Lots of quickly written, fresh, in-the-moment songs.
In truth, what I've ended up doing is writing lots of versions of lots of songs. Over and over again. I've dipped my pen in the ink pot hundreds of times to write the same batch of songs. More Winston Churchill painting that lily pond in his garden countless times til he felt he ‘got it right’ than Japanese pen and ink art.
In the nearness of time these songs (and others) will see the light of day. Sometime round about the New Year, Aaron Catlow and I (with Jon Short on double bass) will release a collection of songs we're calling Working In Wood.
Not too long after that I will release a solo collection of songs which I am calling Brooks' Acoustic. Featured will be my new Alister Atkin J19, which is a honey of a guitar, and still, as of this writing, has very few plectrum scratches and dings on it.
Lastly, I've joined a collective of musicians called The Laurel Canyon Project (doing interpretations of songs from Laurel Canyon's hey-day), and we're rehearsing for UK festivals in 2026. Look for us at New Forest in July and Folk On The Pier in May. Others in the works I hear.
Three things. Like London buses. Oh yea.
AUTUMN CONCERTS 2025
Solo, with Aaron, with Vera, in USA & UK
Like London buses they come in threes…
September
13 Sep Elm Farm Music, Leicester Brooks & Vera
19 Sep Milkmaid Folk Club, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk SOLO
20 Sep Acoustic Tearoom, Kirkby Stephen, Cumbria SOLO
21 Sep Workshop & Concert, Keighley, West Yorkshire SOLO
23 Sep Hoy At Anchor, Leigh-on-Sea, Essex Brooks & Aaron
25 Sep Kirkcaldy Folk Club, Kirkcaldy, Fife Brooks & Aaron
26 Sep Cambridge Folk Club, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire Brooks & Aaron
28 Sep The Folk House, Bristol Brooks & Aaron
October
1 Oct Chapel Arts Centre, Bath Brooks & Aaron
2 Oct Lyceum Folk Club, Newport, Wales Brooks Aaron & Jon Short
3 Oct Tin Shed, Flintshire, North Wales Brooks Aaron & Jon Short
4 Oct Knoydart, Lochaber, Highland Scotland Brooks Aaron & Jon Short
5 Oct The Wee Bear, Kirriemuir, Scotland Brooks Aaron & Jon Short)
9 Oct The Soundbox Presents, St Mary’s Creative Space, Chester Brooks & Vera
10 Oct Centenary Centre, Peel, Isle of Man Brooks & Vera
11 Oct Old School Hall, Armathwaite, Carlisle, Cumbria Brooks & Vera
12 Oct The Globe, Hay on Wye, Powys, Wales Brooks & Vera
16 Oct The Chantry Chapel, Market Hill, Buckingham Brooks & Vera
17 Oct The Brunswick, Brighton and Hove Brooks & Vera
19 Oct The Green Note, Camden, London Brooks & Vera
25 Oct Six On The Square, Oxford, NY USA SOLO
29 Oct The Exchange, Bloomsburg, PA USA SOLO
November
1 Nov The Old Sloop Presents, Rockport, MA USA SOLO
4 Nov Folk At The Farmhouse, Burdett, NY USA SOLO
5 Nov “What About Wednesdays,” Weybridge, VT USA SOLO
7 Nov Lyrics Coffeehouse Redding, CT USA SOLO
8 Nov The Bull Run, Shirley, MA USA SOLO
9 Nov Sailing Into Song, Newton, MA USA SOLO
19 Nov Baldock Folk Club, Baldock, Hertfordshire UK SOLO
20 Nov Grateful Fred’s Presents, Bijou Sessions, Southport UK SOLO
21 Nov Acoustic Wessex, Blandford Forum, Dorset UK SOLO
22 Nov Lawn Tennis Club, Cambridge SOLO
(photo by JenFoto)
September Sounds Like This PLAYLIST
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