NOTE - THE MOST RECENT POSTINGS ARE AT THE BOTTOM, SO SCROLL DOWN FOR ALL THE LATEST NEWS.
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SONG SAMPLES
* 'Wild Flowers' (from What Did I Come Up Here For?) featuring Sian James, is 'the gem of the album ... an immense tone poem ... Hawkey [...] sounding like a male counterpart of Sandy Denny - wonderful' (No Depression): https://soundcloud.com/blabbernsmoke/wild-flowers
* Promotional video for 'Apple Green' (from What Did I Come Up Here For?): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwujZ0xb2FI
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Reviews and reactions to 2015's What Did I Come Up Here For?:
'Love the album. It's so good to hear some thoughtful music for a change - poetic, artistic and melodic. You may think the songs "sentimental" but I think they are just truthful. I am happy to be allowed to share your reflections on time, ageing, memories and love, and pleased at the wisdom these have brought you.
'[We] started to play from track 1 on our return journey home ... and were stunned into silence for the whole journey ... mesmerised by both the quality of the music and the lyrics ... which blend into something quite special. It is not just the quality of the music and lyrics, which we feel stand up on their own, but also the CD cover and insert, which in many ways adds value and a sense of place/purpose to the musical and lyrical content ... kind regards from a very happy purchaser.'
Meanwhile, my musician chum John William Davis weighs in from Colorado:
'Yep, that's a strong album. You really do have a great voice because it's a believable voice. ... Track 3 is a whole nother matter. That particular track isn't like anything else on the album and reminds me of what Jack Bruce was doing on three of his four solo efforts ... Man, I am just so envious of your piano playing and compositional sense on that song ... I can only say of "Forgiveness", "Wow!"'
15 June 2015: Paul Kerr has given What Did I Come Up Here For? a glowing review on his respected and authoritative Americana music blog Blabber'n'Smoke today - here's some of what he has to say:
'... [a] fine meditation on life ... superb songs stuffed full of fine lyrics ... moments that are actually quite sublime ... I Had A Fight With My Heart [is] a slow burn in the style of Otis Rush and the recording sounds like vintage John Mayall with Peter Green ... Forgiveness [explores] the angular waywardness of folk like Jack Bruce or Peter Hammill ... Invitation (For N.T.) recalls Clifford T. Ward or Donovan ... Hawkey is able to reflect on life with a grace and wisdom that at times recalls the poetry of WB Yeats, while his music is akin to the work of Christy Moore or Jackie Leven ... Stuart Bolton [adds] inspired Knopfleresque guitar flourishes ... No Shadow is dark and moody, reminiscent of David Crosby's ruminations with a hint of the dark side of Peter Green ... the gem of the album is the immense tone poem of Wild Flowers ... which might have been plucked from the Child Ballads, as Hawkey relates the tale sounding like a male counterpart of Sandy Denny. Wonderful.'
Click this link to read the review in full:
https://paulkerr.wordpress.com/2015/06/15/andrew-hawkey-what-did-i-come-up-here-for-mole-lodge-records/
25 June 2015: Paul Kerr's review now also appears on the excellent and widely-read No Depression roots music site - see:
http://nodepression.com/album-review/andrew-hawkey-what-did-i-come-here-mole-lodge-records
10 July 2015: the CD has picked up another great review, this time from Alan Harrison on his Rocking Magpie roots music website. Some of the things he says:
'... Now 72, the singer-songwriter is finally releasing his debut album - let me tell you, it's worth the wait ... His voice is warmly delightful and the musicianship throughout is worthy of the big boys in them there London studios ... Apple Green is simply beautiful: and if anyone with half an ear in radio hears, it will become a daytime favourite. Trust me. ... [This] is grown-up music for people who appreciate the intricacies of a well constructed and delivered song. Fans of Leonard Cohen, Van Morrison, and Randy Newman will love this from start to finish.'
Read the review in full:
https://rockingmagpie.wordpress.com/2015/07/10/andrew-hawkey-what-did-i-come-up-here-for/
16 July 2015: R2 (previously Rock'n'Reel) is the UK's premier glossy roots music magazine, and the new issue contains the following three-star review of What Did I Come Up Here For? :
'There is nothing the slightest bit trendy about Andrew Hawkey's debut album. Then again, doesn't the old maxim state that you should never sport the lastest fashions but wear classic clothes? After all, fashions are here today and gone tomorrow. 'Classic' is always in vogue. As a regular around the UK blues circuit with Pat Grover's Blue Zeros for the last two decades, Hawkey will have seen more than a few musical styles come and go. However, his music draws from the staples of Americana and the tasteful end of British roots and rock. Across a dozen songs there are shades of Van Morrison, Mark Knopfler (particularly in the fluid guitar lines of Stuart Maman Bolton), and Gerry Rafferty. On the songs where Hawkey pushes his vocal range beyond his comfort zone a touch of Orbison emerges in the fragile near-falsetto vibrato in his voice. The writing, backing music and vocal performances are strong across the whole record.' - Trevor Raggatt
* AUGUST 2019: NEW CD, LONG STORY SHORT, DUE FOR OFFICIAL RELEASE early in 2020. Ten all-new songs, co-performed, recorded and co-produced by multi-instrumental genius CLOVIS PHILLIPS (Jeb Loy Nichols & The Westwood All-Stars, Gail Davies, Harriet Earis, and many more) at Addaband Studio, Mochdre, Powys. Participants include pedal-steel wizard DAVID ROTHON (Redlands Palomino Company, Emily Barker, and more). Artwork, guidance and encouragement from my good friend JEB LOY NICHOLS. I'm attending the annual FOLK ALLIANCE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE in New Orleans in January 2020, at which I'll be doing some vigorous networking, with a view to getting LONG STORY SHORT heard and appreciated on the world stage, or at least beyond mid-Wales and my circle of friends. WATCH THIS SPACE FOR FURTHER UPDATES *
* JANUARY 2020: Official release date of LONG STORY SHORT is 3 April. Review and airplay copies have been circulated by G Promo PR on my behalf. *
* LONG STORY SHORT is now available direct from this website - go to MUSIC page to purchase. *
* QUOTES FROM JUST SOME OF THE REVIEWS:
'**** Gorgeous!' - Keys & Chords magazine (Belgium).
'Well, this is a nice surprise ... this excellent new album ... beautifully observed songs ... the classic Muscle Shoals studio sound is replicated in a studio in Wales' - Terrascope magazine (UK).
'[Our] admiration grows for a musician who does not give up. 77 years old - or young! - and a new album ... a great musical history and an ode to a wonderful musician.' - Real Roots Cafe (Netherlands).
'8/10 The ten songs on this fine album are calm meditations on the way we live that promote the benefits of a deglobalization and living simply ... I'd heartily recommend this album even though it documents the signs of the times a little too accurately for comfort.' - Whisperin and Hollerin
'5/5 ...an album packed with great songs that could possibly give the young whippersnappers out there today something to think about ... smooth and soulful with a touch of melancholy in places ... Jones On Me [is] a southern soul crooner underpinned by an organ part worthy of Spooner Oldham. I love this [album], a real surprise.' - Northern Sky
'... honest folk with a blues/country influence ... heartfelt and unfiltered by commercialization.' - Review Corner
'I've lived with this album for a few weeks ... and I've found myself coming back to it when I need some calming sounds, and it grows with each listen. In such an uncertain time, it's comforting to have something so reliable nearby.' - Dancing About Architecture
'The ten elegant songs in this collection meld nostalgia with hope, warmth with knowing observations. They are deftly styled to create a light sense of freedom as well as an overall landscape of evocative and sage lyrics blessed with melodies you can't ignore ... I don't know how many times I've listened to the David Olney-like Golden Heart (On a Rusty Chain), because it is simply wonderful.' - Mike Ritchie, Fatea
'He immediately reminded me of the country songwriting of characters such as Bill Staines and Chuck Pyle, with that quiet and discursive style that was the peculiar characteristic of excellent English songwriters such as Allan Taylor and Ralph McTell ... a selection that grows with listening, reserving moments of reflection and pleasure.' - Lone Star Time
'... Hawkey has been a long time student at the university of life and continues to study there ... Gentle songs, played with real feeling and an album that resonates with honest emotion.' - Lonesome Highway (Ireland)
'Now aged 77, the Cornish-born songwriter Andrew Hawkey is clearly not after a quiet life ... Hawkey's style is not dissimilar to that of fellow veterans Keith Christmas and David Corley with its mix of English and American folk influences ... 'Dear Friend' is an intimate acoustic conversation that's hopeful yet realistic ... 'Painter' owns something of Glen Campbell's gentle touch ... The title track makes for a piano-based epilogue, where Hawkey sings, "Long story short / I still did what I ought to / When I failed I still fought". Therein lies a moral for us all.' - RNR
' ... a very fine songwriter ... beautiful songs, well sung' - Frank Hennessy, BBC Radio Wales Celtic Heartbeat
'... As a songwriter he is not satisfied with classic old-man pain topics. If you appreciated the serenity of the recently deceased David Olney, this album will also have something to say ...' - Gaesteliste.de (Germany)
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June 2023: The new CD, Hindsight - Andrew Hawkey at 80 - A Fifty Year Overview is released on 23 June, and is now available to buy via Paypal - go to the Music page.
There was space for only one track on Hindsight to represent the 2015 and 2020 releases: 'Spirit' (track 15), from Long Story Short, was chosen for a number of reasons, not least because Frank Hennessy has played it several times on his weekly Celtic Heartbeat show on BBC Radio Wales. It seems to mean a lot to him. He says: 'I love that song, and I can't exactly tell you why it has such a powerful effect ... it's a great song, really, really brilliant'. Thanks to Frank, he's a great supporter.
'Hindsight is a wonderful thing, as the saying goes, and never is that truer than right here. The 17 songs here offer a fascinating journey through his evolution as an artist over the past 50 years - and his ability to not give in to trends. It is a captivating retrospective that highlights the longevity and talent of Andrew Hawkey, a musician who may have been overlooked, but really shouldn't have been. 8/10.' - Maximum Volume Music
' ... a winning mix of folk, blues and Americana ... 'Just One Night of Love' has a driving beat to rival Them's 'Gloria' ... This is the kind of loner acoustic folk that surfaces from time to time as buried treasure ... The album stands as a reminder of how much great music too eften exists below the radar. Through this release, Andrew Hawkey has done the world a great service by making the (re)discovery easier. 9/10.' - Whisperin and Hollerin
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