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got a couple of Lightnin’ Hopkins LPs, some vinyl, that I do go back to just remind myself of where
it all came from [chuckles].

BiTS: I saw an ad in the last couple of days for a new book about Lightnin’, but I haven't seen
anything about it. I don't know what it is or who wrote it or anything. Do you know that one?

GW: No, I don't, but now you’ve mentioned it, I’ll be having a look for it.

BiTS: Just in the last couple of days I saw it, so that's something for both of us to look for, I think.

GW: Yes, definitely.

BiTS: When did you start performing as an artist in front of audiences?

GW: When I was round about
16 we had a band from school,
and we did a couple of gigs at

school and then a couple of
years after that I joined,
probably the first proper band
called Spike and we did a mix
of covers of the time. So we’d
do stuff like Fleetwood Mac,
Rolling Stones. We'd also do
some of our own songs as
well, and we played around
the Manchester area and
that's when it really started
for me. And then as you do,
bands come and go, and you
move on and then learn different instruments on the way. At the time in that first band, Spike, I
was just a singer. We went to a party, and somebody was strumming an acoustic guitar, and they
said, oh, can somebody sing along with this song, we can't sing? I just sat down and started singing
the song, and they said, when are you free next week for rehearsal? We've got a band and we’re
looking for a singer [laughing]. And then that's how it started. I’d no intention of being a singer,
as such. So I thought, yes, great. I want to be in a rock band and that's how it started. And then
from that got to learn to play guitar, harmonica and initially, in the early days, I even played a
bit of drums as well. I was sort of part influenced by my mother, who was a singer and pianist
and so we always had a piano in the house and my mum would always play and I’d sing along
with my mum. So there was always music around.

BiTS: Do you only play the guitar, or do you play other instruments as well, you mentioned a
piano?

GW: Yes, I do. I've got limited knowledge of keyboards. When I start doing recording, I tend to
play most of the instruments myself now, so that covers all guitars, whether that's acoustic or
electric bass, keyboards, as I say, limited, but enough to get by, harmonica, and I've occasionally
played a bit of saxophone too, but I’m not very good at that. So I've had a dabble at most
instruments [chuckling], so I guess Jack of all trades, master of none as the phrase goes.

BiTS: Do you play any other string instruments besides guitar, I mean mandolins or anything
like that?