Jon Gomm - catch him on YouTube, he doesn't mind!

Acoustic singer-songwriter Jon Gomm has been hailed as one of the world's “most gifted and inspirational” guitar players.

He actually laid hands on a guitar aged two, wrote his first song at six and went on to accompany his father to watch gigs in his home town of Blackpool.

Touring musicians would often stay at their family home, which meant he regularly enjoyed expert tuition from some of the greats.

Nowadays he has a cult following of his own.

If you can get along to his gigs you’ll see how he combines a deeply personal performances with his natural wit – and a characteristic two-handed guitar style!

Using just the one instrument, his technique brings drum beats, bass lines and sparkling melodies to the audience, all at the same time.

A master of the art, some of his musical creations are something never heard anywhere else.

He says: “I’ve got a cult following and I’m really well known among guitar players in particular – and there are a lot of people playing the guitar these days!

“It’s mostly down to the Internet now. There are lots and lots of videos of my work on YouTube that people have watched.

“I’ve got loads of friends and followers online and that’s how people find out about me now.”

Early on he turned down a place at Oxford University studying English to attend The Guitar Institute in London. He paid his way through college playing jazz in café-bars, recording as a session guitarist, and playing country music for line dancers.

Nowadays he spends much of the year on the road, touring Europe and playing at festivals from Rome to Athens.

And he loves the Jolly Brewer – where the atmosphere is “amazing”. He’s looking forward to their first outdoor gig of the season.

He says: “I play a few covers in my set and they are the ones people will remember and request.

“Once the album had been out a while all the requests I get at gigs are songs from that record. It’s quite humbling when people are shouting out for songs you’ve written yourself!”

Jon’s independent approach to the music industry means his albums are home recorded and released on the label he owns.

His presence on myspace and YouTube are key to his appeal, with his debut album Hypertension selling over 10,000 copies with no industry backing.

He’s not keen on putting songs online that aren’t produced and published for people to buy for themselves.

“Every gig I play gets filmed – and some of the quality is amazing,” says Jon.

“I really don’t mind. The reason people want to do it is because they want to help me. They are aware that the way people find out about me is by people telling each other. They realise they can tell thousands like this and their spreading the word
is really flattering.”

The brand new album, Don't Panic, sold out on Amazon within five days.

A right royal knees up for you?

by Patrick Astill

What will you be doing on the big day then?

Maybe a nice breakfast in bed, followed by an easy morning pottering around the house and then settling down for the greatest show on earth?

It’s plain that the great British public seems distinctly under-whelmed by the prospect of a royal wedding.

Even David Cameron did his bit this week with a rallying call for anyone who wants to have a street party.

“Go ahead, flout the regulations – get out there and enjoy!” he said. Or words to that effect.

I don’t know of any street parties around our way. One school is opening up on the Saturday for a big party for all the local children and it’s going to be very well attended.

And why not? There’s little else to celebrate as a nation at the moment.

We’re hardly likely to see a Nobby dancing around the edge of the Wembley pitch with a football World Cup any time soon. Gone are the days when I‘d welcome a general election result with champagne (it has been known, you know). And I can’t see Forest being promoted to the Premiership either.

So given a choice between being fashionably cool about the whole wedding thing, which is what I believe many people are striving for, or having a bit of a knees-up, even if it’s only in the back garden with the neighbours, I know which I‘d rather do.

I can still remember a clutch of royal weddings, a few royal babies and can even recall the fuss from when Diana was still working at the nursery and the rumours had started about her and Charles. It was the wedding of the decade and was watched by many more millions around the world than anyone could be bothered to count. I’ll stick my neck out and guess that interest is still out there.

OK, so I won’t be getting paid for my extra day off – but that’s all the more reason to enjoy it in my book, to take the “pain” away!

I can’t think of anyone, even among the ones who say they don’t care, who won’t want to sneak a look at Kate’s dress, or the Queen’s hat, even if it takes them a couple of days to peek in the Sunday papers.

If you’re one of those who say they can’t bear the royalist celebrations, I‘d bet that you’re in the minority.

First published in the Lincolnshire Echo. 

Tony Christie on tour at 67!

by Patrick Astill

He's probably best known now for that hit charity video with Peter Kay miming to his music, but that’s only part of the story for Tony Christie.

Its seven weeks at number one serves as a reminder of Tony’s longevity.

Celebrating 50 years in the business, he’s done the lot.

He’s also woven his career in and out of the public eye, and only last year achieved a long-standing ambition to appear in a West End musical.

Lincoln audiences will get a chance to appreciate his full range when he steps on stage at the Theatre Royal.

His current wave of popularity started as far back as 12 years ago, when Jarvis Cocker sent him a new song with the same title as an old Christie album track, Walk Like A Panther.

Tony told What’s On: “Walk Like A Panther reached the top ten.

“I did all that and went back to Spain where I was living and the radio started to play it and it became a hit so I had to come back to do Top of the Pops.

“Then Peter Kay came completely out of the blue and that got me to move back to the UK.”

Tony saw Max and Paddy singing (Is This The Way To) Amarillo to some bemused Asian elders.

He said: “I nearly fell of my chair laughing. Then the phone started ringing…”

Three years after the Comic Relief hit, the critically-acclaimed Made In Sheffield was released, putting Tony well and truly in the public eye.

He said: I’d collaborated with Richard Hawley. I wanted to do Coles Corner, the song. I never realised that six years before he had written a song specially for me to record.

“He’d put it on his album. I heard it again while I was driving home one night and thought I’d quite fancy doing that song. He pointed out he’d already done that six years before.

“I contacted him to ask if he’d like to produce that track on the album but he said he wanted to record an album with myself doing purely music from Sheffield. Sheffield songs, Sheffield artists, Sheffield writers.

“It was obviously a fantastic idea because the result was a hit and also critically acclaimed.”

And Tony hasn’t looked back!

“I did a musical last year, and I’m trying to find time to write my autobiography this year.

“One of the boxes I hadn’t ticked was the West End musical. I did a run in Dreamboats and Petticoats and really enjoyed it.

“The year it was set was 1961, the year I started out in showbusiness!”

A new album of all new songs, Northern Soul, Philadelphia blues, is in the making, “quite an eclectic mix and a brilliant album” he says.

“It’s my 50th year in the business and that’s why I’m doing this tour.”

It’s a 50-date tour. So how does he keep young-looking and young-feeling?

Tony reveals: “By just constantly working. People say if you retire, you die. I always embark on a strict fitness regime. I stopped drinking alcohol – I did that two months ago and it’s not easy to start with, particularly as I go to so many functions. I do a lot of walking and I’m ready for ten weeks of hard work. I’m a workaholic because that kind of living keeps you young.

“I perhaps see myself differently in a mirror. I’m only 67, going on 68, although I feel 20 years younger than my body!”