When British broadcasting legend ‘Whispering Bob’ Harris who presented the iconic Old Grey Whistle Test back in the seventies and currently presents Radio 2’s Bob Harris Country, expresses approbation for what you’re doing, then you know you’ve got it right!
“I love the Shed, it’s just so great, the music that’s produced there is so organic, it’s so wonderful. Jon gives a lot of young artists fantastic opportunities and of course now the Shed’s got this amazing reputation, big artists insist on calling in and playing live. I love the Shed!’ (2013)
The idea for the Shed was born in the Royal Oak pub back in June 2009 where Jon and some of his friends used to meet. Their initial idea was for a monthly Cheese and Cider meeting but this gave way very quickly to the Shed concept.
The Shed 12ft by 10ft is based in a former World War One billet in Jon’s back garden and has no specialist equipment – the sessions are completely acoustic and are usually recorded in one take, on a handheld compact digital camera.
The first Shed session was made up of a group of locals from the pub followed quickly by another local singer/songwriter Lenny Savage. Since 2009, Jon has seen over 1000 musicians in the Shed including The Alabama 3, Passenger, Natty, Paul Heaton, KT Tunstall, Tim Minchin, Fairport Convention, Steve Harley and Dave Rotheray of The Beautiful South.
2011 was a very special year for Jon and the Shed, as he was awarded the “Shed Of The Year” title. Worldwide coverage in the media including Sky News, BBC, The Guardian, National Geographic, The Sun and The New York Times followed!
In 2018 Jon is still recording in The Shed, he continues to attend festivals, including the Larmer Tree Festival where he takes over the head gardeners shed, behind the main stage and records over 50 sessions and he is still booking some great acts for Kenn Village Hall. Bristol based, Elles Bailey with her ‘smoky vocal’ style will be there on 23rd November. https://www.ellesbailey.com/
Jon is currently signing up bands for The Songs from the Shed Clevedon Music Festival 2019 which takes place on Saturday 18th May and Sunday 19th May. The patron for the 2019 Festival is the wonderful songwriter and broadcaster Tom Robinson who hosts three shows a week on BBC Radio 6 Music. Tom’s latest album, ‘Only the Now’ (because that’s all we have!) is out in October. Tom like Jon is very keen to encourage and support up and coming young musicians which he does through his radio show and his website http://freshonthenet.co.uk/
Tom will himself be performing a one-man show on the Saturday night which is sure to be fantastic – hopefully we’ll get to hear some of those old classics such as War Baby, Glad to Be Gay and 2-4-6-8 Motorway.
Another reason to love Tom Robinson? He was an early campaigner for Rock against Racism and is a lifelong supporter of Amnesty International and LGBT Rights.
Other acts which Jon has now confirmed are: Son of Dave, Circes Diner, Rodney Branigan, CoCo and the Butterfields, Ian Sherwood, Kate Griffin and Ford Collier and Fish out of Water.
If you want to take advantage of Early Bird Tickets then head over to the Songs from the Shedwebsite because it promises to be a fantastic weekend and you don’t want to miss out.
Find out more about Songs from the Shed here: