Page 31 - BiTS_08_AUGUST_2023

there's a 1960s re-recording of something with the good tape and the nice remastering, I tend
to go for that over the scratchy 78 version. I appreciate a lot of prewar blues fans think that’s
heresy. But I'm a big fan of kind of the rediscovery era stuff, because you can hear it properly
and you can hear the nuance in a way that I think you lose it on some of the older stuff.

BiTS: Somebody famous, I'm not sure who it was, said you can't get away with anything when
you're an acoustic player because all the mistakes show up.

PPW: Yes, I mean, depends who you’re stood next to sometimes, I think, but yes.

BiTS: You've been at this for a long time. You work solo now, I think. Have you ever been with
a band?

PPW: Yes, I was in a band called .44 Pistol from about 2008 through to about 2016, and we did
a little reunion tour, but I think the point where music became my career, it got to be that we
had slightly conflicting ideas of what we should be doing. We didn't fall out or anything. Those
guys wanted a gig a fortnight, and I wanted three gigs a week.

BiTS: Right. You're in Stafford, I think, is that right?

PPW: Yes, that's correct, yes.

BiTS: And do you work mostly around that area?

PPW: Yes, post-pandemic, most of it's been Midlands based. I mean, I don't limit myself to the
Midlands. Pre-pandemic I did tours of France and Germany and Belgium and Scotland and Ireland
and all sorts of places. But I'm still finding I'm still fighting to build it up again.

BiTS: We'll talk about “Liège” in a minute, which is one of
my favourites of your albums. I think that's absolutely
fabulous. Tell me, first of all, how many albums have you
done so far?

PPW: Well, depends what you're counting. I did two EPs
that I recorded at home and then I made an album in 2016
in a proper studio. And then I did a live album of traditional
songs in front of an audience, and then I did “Live At Liège”.
Then I did the “Wildwood Flowers” EP, which is like a bit
more folky, and then I've done this new one which is called
“Blues, Ballads And Barnstormers”. So is that six altogether?
But there's kind of only actually two of those that are
full-length studio albums.

BiTS: You've indicated already that you've done quite a bit
of travelling around the world. Do you have a place where
you were playing when all of a sudden you thought to
yourself, what on Earth am I doing here? This is absolutely
wonderful. Anything that's outstanding like that?

PPW: Yes, there's been a few of those moments. I'm trying to think now. Often it’s been, you
know, like support acts and things. I played one of my first gigs after I gave up my job and I went
on tour in Scotland for three weeks as one of the very first things I did, and I managed to get a
support slot for Stefan Grossman on the Isle of Bute. I mean, it was a social club. It wasn't a big
venue, but that, you know, amazing ferry ride across to the island and then having breakfast