Clive Leyland

Sunday, January 1st 2006

A few small repairs

I've just had my TAYLOR 714 acoustic guitar refettled by Phil Hartley Guitar Repairs. It was buzzing a little and strings sometimes broke while moving to seriously altered tunings. Phil accused me of having played it a bit (well only every day for about the last 6 years) and worn the frets down. He dressed the frets and generally tweaked the setup and it now plays like a dream. He also suggested a revised string winding technique to help reduce string breakage. If you need fettling and live anywhere near Bolton, go see Phil. Highly recommended. (He doesn't often resort to the axe, hammer, saw and power drill!)

And a happy new year to one and all.

Thursday, November 3rd 2005

Mean lyrics with meaning

AN EMAIL JUST IN from a member of the audience at last Monday's Bacup gig: "Have been listening to the CD today and must say I really enjoyed it. You write a mean lyric. Admittedly I am a Northern Man of a different colour (Yorkshire) but that doesn't prevent the appreciation of reflective sometimes tender lyrics with some great refrains. Being the son of a Yorkshire miner and coming from a village that has suffered the same sort of changes as Bolton over the last 100 years I appreciate the links and empathise with many of your sentiments. Also enjoyed the instrumentals and harmonies. Thanks very much." Kevin Cole

Tuesday, November 1st 2005

World premier at Bacup

EIGHT NEW SONGS unveiled at the Bacup Folk Club gig last night. Living dangerously or what? Most of Bandersnatch turned up to watch/heckle and the band were prevailed upon to provide an unplanned opening spot. Yours truly therefore opened for his own solo set. Club organisers take note - book CL and you might get an opening spot thrown in!

Wednesday, October 19th 2005

Keeping it in the family

ANOTHER FIRST: I've been an after-dinner singer (see January 18th 2005). Now I've been an after-AGM singer. The Entwistle Family History Association asked me to close their annual general meeting last Saturday with a few songs from my CD "A Northern Man". Attendance at the AGM (at the Old Rosins restaurant near Darwen) would shame many a folk club. Maybe there's a new market here!

The EFHA supports research into the family name Entwistle. One of my grandmothers was an Entwistle so I joined a few years ago. Anyone with such an interest is welcome to join - check out the website.

Monday, September 26th 2005

A new review

BRIAN WILLOUGHBY has kindly sent some comments on my CD "A Northern Man" which are now on the reviews page. Brian is a regular visitor to Westhoughton Folk Club accompanying Cathryn Craig - see the March 18th item below. He was until recently a member of the Strawbs and is an acclaimed acoustic and electric guitarist. He's released an excellent new solo instrumental album "Fingers Crossed".

Saturday, September 17th 2005

Where did the summer go?

This OCCASIONAL DIARY has become rather more occasional than I intended. The last entry was in April and reported the closing night at Westhoughton Folk Club. In no time at all, or so it seems, the club opens again on 23 September with Allan Taylor, supported by Auld Triangle.

I also see that in March I said that the Bandersnatch CD "Round and Round" would be completed in a few weeks. Those few weeks have become many weeks but we are now into final mixing and mastering. Hopefully, further progress will be reported very soon.