It’s late on Saturday night, and although I felt tired earlier on and went to bed, I’m up again now as my mind’s still hyper from playing at the first all-female songwriters’ circle at Eastbourne’s Underground Theatre this afternoon, along with Mel Hayes and Samantha Horwill. I think I can safely say we all felt really good about how the afternoon went, especially as Sam and I had only met for the first time five minutes before going on stage, and knew nothing about each other’s music, so anything could have happened! I particularly loved being able to talk about the process of writing and the inspiration behind the songs, instead of feeling the need to rush from one song to the next with minimal talk in between. Perhaps the main thing I took from the afternoon was that, as singer songwriters, we’re all really putting our souls on the line, exposing feelings that others keep to themselves, in the quest to find universal truths that those listening to our songs can relate to. When it’s a noisy pub and those heartfelt words are drowned out in a rowdy alcohol-infused din, it can be soul-destroying unless you can view it as a practice session so that it doesn’t matter that no one’s bothering to listen. But when, like this afternoon, the audience is there solely to listen and be entertained and identify with some of those truths, it’s magical and utterly rewarding, and it’s what keeps us doing what we do. So thank you Mel for inviting me to take part; thank you Ron and all the volunteers at the Underground Theatre for making the afternoon run so smoothly; thank you Sam for trusting me to play harmonica on your last song – I loved it! – and thank you everyone who came along to listen and engage with us. It was a really lovely afternoon. My only wish? That I could sleep now… :-)
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