Middlebrooks & Clifton

“A shared interest and passion for the ambient, experimental, improvisational and unusual aspects of guitar playing – as well as FX innovations – lead us to discuss making time to play and record together. As tends to happen during the busy days of working life, family commitments, work schedules and travel tend to take president over organising self-indulgent noodling and recording sessions! Good intentions sometimes take a little longer than planned to come to fruition, as most musicians will testify. Some four years after our initial discussions, we planned a rehearsal and playing time – and then had to cancel it due to illness. So we finally agreed that there was only one solution. Play a concert together and see what happens. In at the deep end, to say the least.

Jason Boardman, enthusiastic entrepreneur, promoter, musician and fan of all things experimental and left of centre, kindly offered us a show at Knoxville’s premier alternative music venue, the Pilot Light. And so it was that on a wintery November evening, we finally made it happen. Matt Honkonen took care of all the the live recording technicalities, the post production and mixing and mastering process. St. Thomas LeDoux did a great job mixing the live sound in the venue. And we would like to extend our grateful thanks to the enthusiastic audience, as well as to all fans of experimental ambient music.” – David. 18th March 2018

Brief Biography: George

George is a guitarist, songwriter, expert programmer, guitar maker, vinyl enthusiast and tech genius. He is the proud husband of Heather and delighted father of Naomi, his sometime office assistant who has also recorded an album of her own. He’s always happy when he makes it across his office/studio in the half-light without terminally damaging his feet on small pink plastic children’s toys.

www.georgemiddlebrooks.com

Brief Biography: David

David is enjoying stepping out of his comfort zone, experimenting with new musical directions and exploring unusual sonic territory. He is still resisting the temptation to dot the perfect quaver when song-writing and composing, and is greatly enjoying the vibrant musical life of Knoxville Tennessee during his American sojourn.

www.davidclifton.com

Joanne Hogg

Joanne is the lead singer of the Celtic band Iona. She was born in Ballymena, Northern Ireland, the daughter of a Presbyterian minister and a nurse. She studied medicine at Queen’s University Belfast, and following an audition at an arts festival in Holland, was invited to join a singing group based in Denmark. She took a year off from her studies, and also recorded for Adrian Snell on his landmark Alpha and Omega project. She subsequently returned to Queens to complete her two remaining years of study, and then interned as a junior doctor at Belfast City Hospital to complete her registration.

Some six months into her internship, she was taken seriously ill and was consequently required to rest and recover. She eventually completed her registration as a doctor, but was advised on medical grounds not to continue in full-time medical practice. It was during her convalescence that she was contacted by Dave Bainbridge and David Fitzgerald, who were in the process of forming Iona and were convinced that Joanne was the right choice to take the role of lead singer and co-composer. She agreed, and the rest is history. Since then, Iona have toured all over Europe and America, and their recordings have become phenomenally successful worldwide, making them one of Europe’s best-selling Celtic bands.

Joanne recorded her first solo album in 1999, entitled Looking into Light a selection of newly arranged traditional hymns, with musicians from Iona providing the instrumental melodies. In 2001, Hogg collaborated with vocalists Máire Brennan and Margaret Becker and released an album of New Irish Hymns, the first of three in a series of similar projects.

In 2008, she released two solo albums, Raphael’s Journey and Personal. Raphael’s Journey is available only as a download and features friend Máire Brennan of Clannad. Her Personal album was also released alongside a press release designed to give fans an insight into the process and making of the album.

Her vocals have also been featured in videogames, most notably the Sony PlayStation role-playing video game, Xenogears. You can stay in touch with her latest recording and touring work at www.Iona.uk.com

Charlotte Smith & David Clifton

The new folk song album recorded by Charlotte and David in the USA is currently in the final stages of production and editing, and all being will be mastered in Nashville Tennessee in the next few weeks, and ready for a release during the Autumn of 2024. The working title is “The Tree In The Wood” and it is sounding great!

Phil Baggaley

I am married to Clare, we have a son called William and we hail from Derby, which is where Derby County F.C. come from. I say that because most people think they’re called Derby County nil!

I played music from a very early age, as my parents were very involved in the Salvation Army. It wasn’t long before I was learning how to play a brass instrument, and also taking piano lessons. One of my abiding memories of childhood was that we used to join together with our relatives and put on concerts as a family (sounds like the Von Trapps!!).

At junior school I started going to guitar club and very soon this became ‘the thing I wanted to do’. One thing led to another, and my sister and I joined up with cousins Ian and Lynn Blythe to form a ‘folk group’. Along with Ian, we began writing songs together, and it wasn’t long before we became quite well known within the Salvation Army music circles. We also performed at the Royal Albert Hall and The Barbican which was quite a blast.

Also at this time, around my mid teens, I had begun to play concerts with good friend John Hartley under the infamous name ‘Phil & John’ ( it took a long time to think of that one!). Things really began to take off for us, and with the concert and recording schedule becoming ever busier we eventually turned professional in 1982. There then followed many years of working together touring the UK, USA, Australia and Europe. We both moved on to other things in the late nineties, and John moved to America, where he is now a successful producer and songwriter based in Nashville.

Along with Ian, David and Adrian, we worked on several very successful projects, which you will find here on my page, the latest being a ‘prequel’ to City of Gold entitled ‘Road to the City’.

More recently I have been appointed as a Lecturer in Music here in Derby, and I am combining this with my songwriting and production work. Last year we formed a recording and production company, Open Road Music, which is based here in my hometown. Last November we completed our first production, a Christmas EP for one of our new artists, Rosie Meek. You can keep up to date with our latest projects and plans for the next few months by visiting the web-site.

www.openroadmusic.bigcartel.com

Andy Piercy & David Clifton

Andy Piercy and David Clifton have been writing and recording together for over twenty years. They first met whilst working on the pre-production for an EMI and Warner Chappell album project by Steve Booker, which Andy was co-producing.

David and Andy both have a long history and background in the British music industry. Andy was lead singer and songwriter for the rock band After The Fire, and toured with Queen, ELO and Van Halen as well as having a top 5 hit in the USA with ‘Der Kommissar ‘(Don’t Turn Around) in the 80’s. Andy then went on to produce artists such as Nine Below Zero, Gary Numann, and T’Pau. His recent production work has been for sacred music artists as diverse as Rita Springer, Kim Hill, Delirious, Martin Chalk, Graham Kendrick and Matt Redman. David was signed to Virgin Records with the indie band Sensible Jerseys who were championed by John Peel before going on to tour and record with some of the UK’s most respected artists, including Tanita Tikaram, Mary Coughlan, Julia Fordham and Steve Booker. Over the years his session recording work has encompassed many musical genres, including Madness, Mickey Hart, Pele, Paul Heaton (Beautiful South), Haley Westenra, Helen Watson, Delirious (Cutting Edge 1), Matt Redman, Robin Mark, Graham Kendrick and Kim Hill.

Their songwriting has mostly been in the sacred music arena; they were both on the music team at Holy Trinity Brompton, London where they helped develop the contemporary and renewal worship, and trained new church musicians and songwriters. Their own songwriting is often been praised for its strong use of scripture, Biblical texts and sound theology, within an accessible musical style that suits modern congregational singing.

Radio play and airplay downloads can b accessed here: Radio Play Downloads

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