00:00So we're here at the Prince of Wales Theatre with John Wildwood. Hello sir.
00:06Hello there.
00:07So you're from Lichfield aren't you John?
00:09I am actually, yes.
00:10So not too far, not too far away.
00:12No, a few miles.
00:13And you've got a gig here 21st of March.
00:1521st of March, it's my last one.
00:17What can people expect from the night?
00:19Well a bit of country, a bit of folk, a bit of all sorts really.
00:22Yeah.
00:23Johnny Garner.
00:24And how long have you been playing music for then?
00:2754 years.
00:2854 years, wow.
00:29So what got you into it as a nipper then?
00:31Was your mum or your dad a musician?
00:33No, not really.
00:34No I just sang in the pubs.
00:36I went to the pubs to sing a bit.
00:38Yeah.
00:39I just got it up and just wanted to buy a guitar when I was about 30 on.
00:43Yeah, yeah.
00:44I first went to buy a guitar when I was 33 I think I was.
00:49Can you remember where you bought that from?
00:51Yes, Dennis Proffert in Walsall.
00:54Okay, yeah.
00:55I went there and I came back and I sold it.
01:00Yeah.
01:01So I bought a violin off them instead, £10.
01:03Oh wow, okay, a bit different.
01:05A violin instead.
01:06It's worth about £400 now, the violin.
01:08Yeah.
01:09So I got it, I never played it.
01:10So did you ever learn to play the violin?
01:12Some lesson but I wasn't very successful really.
01:15Yeah.
01:16You went back for another guitar.
01:18Yeah, I got another guitar later on you see.
01:20So what sort of music influenced you when you were growing up then?
01:23Well, Jim Rees was.
01:24Does Jim Rees look alike?
01:26I think I've got him on this one.
01:28Oh yeah, Tony Waugh, yeah.
01:29Jim Rees.
01:30Jim Rees and Johnny Cash, Hank Williams, all those sort of people.
01:37But later I've been doing, the last few years I've been doing a bit of folk music as well.
01:42Okay, yeah.
01:43So I do a bit of folk music as well.
01:45Yeah, the folk and the country scene has really taken off, hasn't it?
01:48Yeah, it's become more entertaining, yes.
01:50Yeah.
01:52And so it'll be, will it be your very last date, will it?
01:56My very last date, yes.
01:58Wow, so what made you think, I've done me fill, this'll be me last one.
02:02Was it just time catching up with you?
02:04Well, mobility basically, I can't move when I used to be able to.
02:08Ah, yeah.
02:09I've got the gear, I can't carry stuff and that sort of stuff.
02:12Yeah, yeah.
02:13And I thought it's the time to finish so I'll go over the bank.
02:17Yeah.
02:18And it'll be a quite emotional night for you then?
02:22It will be.
02:23It quite will be, really, won't it?
02:25Yeah.
02:26I know all my friends that I've played with over the years,
02:28all those people that were coming to play with us.
02:30Yeah.
02:31I've played on gigs with them and all sorts, I've known them for a long time.
02:33That's cool, so you'll be sharing it with friends.
02:35I will, I will, thank you.
02:37And any plans for a little tipple after the night, after the gig?
02:42I might have a quick drink perhaps.
02:44Yeah, just to mark...
02:45A short one.
02:47Yes, of course, I might do that.
02:56I do.
02:58I've just spoke to the lady behind the counter, just,
03:00and she said it is definitely closing.
03:06I think there's a meeting due to come, isn't there?
03:08There are meetings, but there's less many things going on.
03:11They're just trying to save it, I don't know what they're doing,
03:13but they're trying to save it if they can.
03:15But in terms of a musician from the area,
03:18what does it mean to have these kind of venues?
03:21You know, we can see the posters behind you,
03:23there's a lot going on here still.
03:25What does it mean for, as a resident and as a musician,
03:29to have these kind of places to exist in?
03:32It means a lot, not too much to me,
03:35it means a lot to me now,
03:37because I'm doing the show here,
03:39but to other factions of the music industry
03:43and the plays and all that sort of stuff,
03:46it's imperative to have somebody like this to come to,
03:50to play it.
03:51It's ridiculous not to have to close it.
03:54Have you played here in the past then?
03:56Yeah, I've played with Micky and Griff once.
03:58Yeah, yeah.
03:59That's 32 years ago now.
04:01Yeah, just 32 years.
04:03Yeah.
04:04Well, we wish you all the best then.
04:06Do you write your own songs then, do you?
04:08I'll sing a couple of songs on this show,
04:11which I wrote myself.
04:12Oh, okay.
04:13So the first album I came out in 77,
04:16the first album I came out to record,
04:19was five or six of my songs on it.
04:21Oh, okay, great stuff.
04:23But then I don't sing them too often,
04:25I don't get a chance to.
04:26Yeah, yeah.
04:27Which I'll be.
04:28Well, we wish you all the best for the night,
04:30and like you say, let's hope you go out with a bang.
04:33Yeah, I hope so, yes.
04:34All right, thanks ever so much, John.
04:37Thanks very much indeed.
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