10 Minute Country

So many artists in the past month have announced the delay or postponement of their scheduled album releases. Luke Bryan, Margo Price, Wille Nelson and the Dixie Chicks have all announced delays in the Country world, whilst artists like Bon Jovi, Alicia Keys, The Pretenders and Lady GaGa have also joined them from other areas of the music industry.
It doesn't seem to make sense! We're all at home with nothing to do but listen to music - why would you not want to capitalise on that? That was James' standpoint until he looked into the situation a little deeper. This podcast is an exploration of what he found.

Today is 'Never Will' release day. April 3rd 2020 and amongst all the rubbish and angst that the world is going through there shines a rare beacon of hope, light and creativity.
James reviews Ashley McBryde's new album and finds himself in awe, nay, shell-shocked as to what he finds. Bigger, bolder, ballsier than 'Girl Going Nowhere', McBryde seems to have skipped albums two and three and jumped ahead about five years in terms of growth and learning. 'Never Will' is simply a triumph of Country and Rock, the superb melding of the two in a painful, honest and raw package that is hard to listen to at times but so, so rewarding.

The cancellation of this year's C2C festival has major ramifications going forward. In this episode James explores the possibilities that the organisers have going forward and then realises that there isn't an ideal solution to this problem.
In the second half of the podcast James examines the wider impact the Coronavirus is having on the music industry - he ponders whether this will cause a paradigm shift in the relationship between the artist and the fan and whether there are possibilities to be had for musicians in the coming months ahead.
Buy music. Buy Merch. Spend the money you would have spent at gigs on the artists' website.

Today is Friday 13th and we're not ones to fall prey to superstition but with yesterday's cancellation of the Country to Country festival in London we are feeling particularly unlucky right now.
James was on site at the O2 arena yesterday. It was an eerie and unusual place to be. Social media was aflame with rumour, supposition and super-charged emotions, which was always going to happen because, understandably everyone has an emotional and financial stake in this festival.
This is a special, off the cuff episode of 10 Minute Country with James' reaction to the cancellation.

Cornish singer-songwriter Bailey Tomkinson has had an amazing last few weeks. Her last three singles have reached #2 on the iTunes charts but recently, thanks to articles that have appeared in The Metro, The Times and then the Daily Mail her name has been everywhere as she has been put forward as the UK's answer to Taylor Swift. She's even recently appeared in the pages of 'Hello' magazine.
James catches up with Bailey and talks to her all about it and talks about her new single, 'Rounds', a duet with Amy Lawton, which is out on Friday 13th March.
*Warning - the podcast ends quite suddenly without the usual outro and theme tune thanks to an annoying technology fail!*