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THE BITS INTERVIEW: Liam Ward

Liam Ward is a top class harmonica man who is a front-man for his own

band and a featured artist (on harmonica, washboard and jug and stuff)
with the outstanding Jake Leg Jug Band, as well as doing a bit of teaching.

He is a blues specialist but also loves playing rock, pop, country, jazz

and more. He has performed across Europe and in the USA, Canada and

Mexico. He is also a session harmonica player with recording clients

worldwide. He play and endorse Hohner harmonicas.

Ian McKenzie spoke to him on the telephone at his home in the UK.

LW: Hello.

BiTS: Liam, it’s Ian McKenzie.

LW: Hi, Ian, how are you doing?

BiTS: I'm doing very well indeed.
Are you ready to go for this
interview?

LW: Yeah, the connection’s a little
bit dodgy, but I'll let you know if it
gets any worse. I can hear you. It's

just sort of a bit in and out, but yeah,
cool.

BiTS: Okay. Well, let's give it a try

anyway, please.

LW: Yeah, yeah, sure.

BiTS: Tell me, first of all, something about yourself. When did you first develop a love

of music?

LW: I grew up in a house that was full of music. So, my dad was a massive music fan.
He wasn't a musician, but he had a huge record collection and we always had

American and British roots music playing on the record player, and from a very young
age, music just seemed really important to me. First off, it was part of the
surroundings, but I always felt moved by music. My mum always likes to tell the story

that she took me and my elder sister, who's only a year and a bit older than me, she
took us to a kind of a toddler’s music thing where you get to bash and blow all the

different instruments. And then anyway, when we left, the person leading the session