Songwriters’ Circle at Graffham Empire Hall

SussexWorld

Singer-songwriters Ed Blunt, Daisy Chute and Jim Cozens combine to offer a Songwriters’ Circle at Graffham’s Empire Hall on January 20 for its first concert evening of 2024.

Transcript

00:00 Good morning, my name is Phil Hewitt, Group Arts Editor for Sussex Newspapers. Lovely

00:05 this morning to speak to Ed Blunt, who has family in West Sussex in the Pepworth area.

00:11 And Ed, you are doing a songwriting circle at Graffam Empire Hall on January the 20th,

00:16 isn't it? Now tell me, what is a songwriting circle? How does it work?

00:21 Yes, so a songwriting circle is sort of, it comes from the Nashville songwriting tradition

00:27 where you're all sitting around a campfire and you're sharing your songs in a very organic,

00:34 relaxed way. And we're basically taking that format to Graffam and there's going to be

00:40 three songwriters, including me, and we're going to be sharing our songs, but crucially

00:46 we're going to be sharing stories behind the songs as well.

00:50 So it's kind of the process of writing them.

00:53 Absolutely. And so the songwriters I'm doing with are the fabulous Daisy Chute. She's a

00:59 great folk singer, songwriter in the Americana and folk genres. And also Jim Cousins, who

01:08 is just over the border in Surrey. And he's a fantastic guitarist and storyteller as well.

01:14 That sounds brilliant. And do you do lots of these songwriting circles? Is it an established

01:20 format?

01:21 Well, yeah, it's one I haven't done a lot of myself, but I've seen a lot of people in

01:26 my network doing them. And I've always found it a really cool way to share songs. And because

01:32 it's, you're hearing the perspective behind the song, which is sometimes more interesting

01:39 than the song itself, to hear the inspiration behind it.

01:41 Yeah, I think in any life, it's always so interesting when the performer speaks, isn't

01:47 it? You don't want someone who's just going to stand up there, bang, bang, bang, deliver

01:50 the song. So you want the context, don't you? As a memory, at least.

01:54 Yeah, and that's, yeah, that's the special thing about the live connection, because music,

01:59 music at its core is really about human connection. And particularly in today's digital world,

02:05 it's so important that the artists and audiences meet in the live space. And so I'm very excited

02:12 about it.

02:13 It sounds a brilliant thing. So Grafham Empire Hall then on January the 20th, isn't it? Well,

02:19 Good luck.

02:20 Hope it goes brilliantly.

02:21 Thank you.

02:22 - Thank you, Phil.

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