LISTEN: John Smith - 'Living In Disgrace'

Since posting about his beautiful track Headlong a few weeks ago it feels like I have been hearing about John Smith everywhere with various show announcements and reviews of his upcoming record of the same name, released tomorrow (30th June). Living In Disgrace is the latest single to be taken from the record, written about a period spent broke while living in Liverpool. The album has been produced by Sam Lakeman and mixed by Ruadhri Cushnan, who is responsible for mixing so many of my favourite albums including King Charles' Gamble For a Rose and Mumford & Sons' Babel. Known for playing guitar with the likes of Lianne La Havas and Lisa Hannigan, John is stepping into the spotlight with this record, and appears at End of the Road and Deer Shed festivals over Summer.

Pre-order John Smith's album Headlong before it's release tomorrow (30th June) here.

LISTEN: John Smith - 'Headlong'

Good news all around - now that I'm free of uni work and have a little bit more time to blog I've decided to set up an Instagram account for the blog to help spread the good word, and I've resolved to actually keep on top of my emails and check out some of the tunes I'm sent (often several a day). A little catch up on the past week or so of emails and I've dug up this new track from Devon's John Smith.

In a video that sees John performing the title track of upcoming record Headlong on a boat in Switzerland, it is perhaps the first live session I've watched where the musician is wearing a life jacket. It isn't however the first boat session I've seen and I'm now fondly remembering this Dry The River boat concert and We Were Evergreen Busk Barge session! This is my first introduction to John's music and I'm really pleasantly surprised by his voice and not surprised to see that he headlined a show for Communion at Union Chapel last month. 

The single is out a week today (19th) and is taken from the record of the same name, Headlong, produced by Sam Lakeman and mixed by Ruadhri Cushnan (Mumford, King Charles). The record is dedicated to the memory of John's close friend John Renbourn and reflects on his experience of becoming a father for the first time. You can pre-order the record here before it's release on 30th June.