Singer/Songwriter Jim Jones

After an intensive tour of my local Open Mic nights in December to help raise money for a friend, I’ve started the new year with just a handful of gigs. My first being the classic New Years Day at the Ship A Ground in Mort hoe. This is fast becoming the “New” New years eve as I hook up with friends and  musicians like Peter Bruntnell, Dave Little, Chris Millington, Jenna Witts and Ellie Campbell as North Devon’s finest turn out for  an all day festival in a pub!! Im sure next years will be just as good!!

Then there was Pete and my birthday hootenanny at The Kings Arms in Georgeham. Steve Cave was quite the host providing us with all we needed to make sure the night went well. Topping the night off was a DJ set from Wendy May Billingsly who managed to persuade everyone up onto our makeshift pub dance floor with her soulful tunes!! It was a great to see everyone out having a quality time.

Im playing this Saturday (5th Feb) at another local pub, The White Lion in Braunton to help raise money for a local gal who’s running the marathon. I will be joined by Amy Newton and we may even re-visit a couple of old C14 songs!!

Keep an eye on my website for gigs as I seem to be getting a fair few booked up and its always being updated.

Live at the Borderline June 26th 2009

Live at the Goldcoast Oceanfest June 21st 2009

Just to say a massive thanks to the folks at Q (Andy Fyfe) and the Mojo team for giving my album a 4 star Q review and listing “Hey” from “Daylight & Stars” in the top 10 Mojo playlist!! Its been a great year for me musically so far and this tops it all off!! (and we’re only half way through…read the reviews at www.jimjones.co.uk.

Had a great night playing at the Aggi with a host of other local muso’s.
Always a pleasure to play the paddle for relief gigs when its always well attended and for such a great cause. To check out how the night went have a look at thier facebook group here. P4R

The last of the dates on this tour brings us back to Pete’s local and musicians favorite The Grey Horse in Kingston upon Thames. A friendly pub filled with music loving people that all seem to know Pete well and the fact that there are photo’s of him on the walls gives you an indication of the love they have for him.

Also on the wall I notice the running order for the afternoon and following Papa George ( a fantastic blues musician who was playing on our arrival) is Peter Bruntnell. .

Pete starts with Dave doing a small set of classic covers and then announces that Im going to play a half hour set in the middle of his slot.

The fact that I wasent billed to play at this point and then was going to take half an hour away of what should have been thier beloved Mr Bruntnell left me feeling a little bit nervous and a touch uneasy.

However I soon found out I had nothing to worry about as the warm supportive locals gave me a fantastic reception and I could see why Pete refers to this place as his home pub.

Half an hour later and I play my last song of the tour.

A brilliant week of playing varied venues and meeting some wonderful people.
Im grateful to Pete for asking me to come and grateful to all the ears that listened that had never heard of me and even then went on to buy my new album.

I hope to be back.

See you on the next one.

Thanks

The final night on Petes ecclectic tour could not have been planned any better. (the last gig in Kingston is on Sunday afternoon) I played Bedford a few years ago and was amazed then at the amount of people at the gig and the support that an unknown like me recieved. Tonight was different though. The venue, unlike the previous time at the boat house, was a purpose built gig venue set up perfectly for the kind of night we wanted to put on. The guys at east-west who run the nights seemed to have everything covered and were a pleasure to work with. The sound engineers had a new state of the art Bose PA which somehow made you sound at your most natural but with volume (incredible piece of kit) we were fed, watered and even has someone looking after our CD sales for us. All we needed now in this 120 capacity venue were the people. Sitting in the back room you could here the place steadily filling up but walking out I never expected to see a completely ram packed room with people sat expectantly waiting for what for me has to be my show of the tour.

You could here a pin drop in this place and with such a good sounding PA I could almost whisper songs out but at the same time fill the room with sound. Every song I went onto play recieved a rousing response and come the last it felt like i was playing to a room full of friends and I would have been happy to have stayed playing for longer. However this crowd wasent here for me, this was Pete’s night and I was stoked for him to have the kind of venue, audience and set up that was surely going to make for a fantastic evening.

Returning to the back stage room after playing I was grateful for such a reception and after getting refreshed my ears pricked up to the sound of the whybirds. These guys were rocking out and seemed to raise the gig onto another level, giving a high energy set of strong memorable melodies set to a backdrop of original southern rock anthems. Definately worth checking out should you spot them out and about. (I should be a music journalist….not!!)

Finally Pete comes out with the boys and makes full use of the quality set up giving an amazing performance of the new material. Every song seemed to have people mesmerized. Even though the odd unanswerd calls for the old stuff didn’t happen I think the devotees soon realized that these tracks were matching up to and going further than the Peter Bruntnell classics of old. Judging by the response I think Pete demonstrated that he is still writng and performing some of the best music I know of.

I stood at the back of the room taking it all in, grateful to be part of such a happening and thankful to be travelling around playing support to someone who’s music I think is fantastic.

Cheers Pete.

Cheers Bedford.

It’s the grey horse then home tomorrow.

Arrived in London with a little time to spare so after having my nose pressed up against the windows ( like a kid at a cake shop) to the guitar shops in Denmark street I took my self off to the cinema. The only flick showing at the time I had to spare was the film “doubt.” A brilliantly acted film, that made great use of my free afternoon as the time seemed to pass in a moment. Met up with the guys, soundchecked, got some noodles, had a pint and felt ready for the night ahead.

Started at the borderline a little later than stated just so a few more punters could make their way down into the basement venue and generate more of a vibe. I started on my own with “find me out” to what seemed like only a few onlookers but when i looked up I was actually playing to a attentively silent and fairly busy room. Dave soon joined me on stage and once again did a great job of playing around my songs and not over them too much. He’s great to have around. 9 songs later and it’s all over for me again and I am grateful for the rousing applause of the now busy club. I’ve got time to have a beer and then take myself off to man the Merch stand at the back where I sold quite a few more albums. Thank you London. A band called the epstein were up next followed by Mr Bruntnell and the boys. Pete showed the packed room just why he is heralded as one on britains best songwriters. He played a blinder!
Worthing tomorrow. It’s all good.

Speak soon.