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Then I wanted to take it a step further just to sort of do an album in isolation,

where I haven't got any time constraints or that I could just relax in my own
space, and feel comfortable and just do it. I really liked the idea, you've got

like Robert Johnson in hotel rooms and Chris Whitley in a shack, when he did

the “Dirt Floor” album. I

love the idea of field

recordings, the old Lomax

people, John and Alan. I

just like that sort of feel,

really. Lo-fi, do it myself,

and then put it into a
studio just to sort of get

it to listening standards.

BiTS: A couple of years

ago. Was it a couple of

years ago? Time flies so

quickly. You were winner

of the Acoustic Blues Act

of the year in 2023, just
last year, actually. You do

realise that this is going
to be another one that puts you up there in competition for this award.

TBS: Well, let's hope. Let's hope [chuckles]. I mean it's important – it’s not

important and it is important. It's not important in lots of ways, but

career-wise, since 23, like this year I've played in Portugal, Belgium, Italy,

Poland, the Azores and that’s all through winning the award where your head

is risen above the parapet a little bit and people pick you out. So it's important

in a business way, as a musician to get your name out there. It's been fantastic,

but I don't like the competition so much. I don't like pitting myself against
other musicians. It's not a great thing really, but I've been nominated for

about four or five years, and I’ve won it once.

BiTS: There's a surprising number of people who are very anti the

competition that results from these awards.