May 9, 2008
Barnaby Taylor on BBC
The first of the BBC programmes called "Wild China" for which Allan´s son Barnaby wrote the music will be broadcast on Sunday 11 May on BBC 2 at 20.00 hours.
For our German friends, the programmes have been edited to two one hour programmes and will be broadcast on Sunday 11 May and Monday 12 May at 21.45 on ARD 1.

April 26, 2008
Allan Taylor's Piano for Sale

Allan is selling his piano – a Schimmel (from Braunschweig, Germany) that he had shipped over from Germany around 20 years ago. It’s an over-strung piano made in the mid-sixties and is in perfect condition. On this piano Allan wrote the songs:

A House by the River
Notes from Paris
Pearls and Wine
A road too long
Provence (to be recorded on the new CD)
Winter (to be recorded on the new CD)

The reason for selling – Allan needs an electric piano that has the facility to be played with head phones (Allan very often works through the night on his music) meaning he will not be keeping anyone awake while he works.
If anyone is interested, please contact us on: piano@allantaylor.co.uk

Allan at home with his Schimmel piano.

April 26, 2008
Photos from Hans Theessink Birthday Concert

Allan with Hans Theessink	Allan with Vlado Kreslin from Slovenia
Allan with Donovan and Sean Cannon (of the Dubliners)

Radio Scotland

On Wednesday 16 April Allan recorded a programme for Radio Scotland, “Iain Andersen’s Fine Tunes”, choosing some of his favourite tracks from CDs. Check Radio Scotland for broadcast times.

Doncaster Gig

On March 31 Allan had to cancel the Doncaster gig because he had bronchitis. This has now been re-scheduled for June16.

DVD & CD

The DVD of Allan’s concert in Hoeillaart Belgium in 2007 is almost finished. A shortened version will be shown at the Munich Exhibition of Hi-Fi equipment in May.
As for the documentary about Allan’s life on the road, Allan will be in Brussels on 25 to 27 April for the final filming sequences. Editing will then start and hopefully the film will be ready for the Autumn tour.
After the Venne Folk Festival (1,2,3,4, May) and two gigs at Augenweide in Muenster (9 and 10 May), Allan will be recording his new CD at Stockfisch Recording Studios in Northeim, Germany from 12 to 16 of May.

Old Friends-New Roads Review

OLD FRIENDS - NEW ROADS – Allan Taylor (Stockfisch SFR. 357.6047.2)
Allan’s one of the key songwriters of our time, a true professional as much respected by fellow-musicians as by his loyal audiences. Over some 40 years, he’s produced a large number of intense and significantly enduring songs, and his own recordings of many of those most frequently requested remain obstinately (though unavoidably) unavailable, languishing on long-deleted LPs and CDs (and yes, there’s three of Allan’s albums that I’ve never even owned on disc myself!). With this in mind, Allan has chosen to go into the studio and re-record a dozen of his best songs which fall into that unfortunate category. Yet considering its status as a collection of songs from different periods of Allan’s writing career (spanning the quarter-century from 1970 to 1994) and its originally-intended function as a kind of stop-gap pending Allan’s next album of brand new material, this set works fantastically well as a strongly unified offering in its own right which highlights both the mighty consistency of Allan’s writing craft and the unstintingly high quality of his singing and playing. It also points up the stature of Allan’s own continually evolving interpretations of his earlier material, by presenting the songs in stripped-down settings (just voice and guitar or piano) which in most cases are radically different from the original recordings. This method permits an altogether closer focus on the vocal nuances of Allan’s increasingly mature renditions, which embody what I can only describe as a more conversational delivery that brings a more intimate expression of the emotional climate and extracts further (hitherto unacknowledged) subtle insights from the lyric. The unadorned new settings serve to retrieve the essence of the songs, meaning which may over the course of time been lost in indifferent or over-cosy cover versions or buried beneath inappropriate instrumentation. The incredibly heartfelt simplicity of Now You Know still speaks emotional volumes, as do other oft-requested songs such as Flower In The Snow and For An Old Friend. Priceless observational pieces like Urban Love Song glisten like freshly-polished jewels, while the reflective Chimes At Midnight (one of three songs on which Lutz Moeller’s grand piano takes the place of Allan’s guitar) also gains much from being shorn of its late-80s full-band arrangement). Yes, Allan, at the present moment you very probably “couldn’t possibly play and sing any of them better than (you) have here”: snapshot in time though any recording inevitably is, I’m strongly inclined to agree. It shouldn’t be so easy to temporarily lose count of just how many great songs Allan’s written, but I suspect that even his biggest fans can be guilty of doing just that – so this immensely rewarding new CD will provide a further salutary reminder.

-David Kidman, Folk Roundabout (147), NetRhythms website – the direct link is http://www.netrhythms.co.uk/reviewst.html#allantaylor

John Wright Tribute Concert

Details for the John Wright tribute concert have been finalised (see Tours page) for September 5th, 2008 in Newcastle. Artists appearing with Allan are: John Wright’s Band, Kieran Halpin, Steve Knightley, Maartin Allcock and Troy Donockley, Thom Moore, Robin Laing, Ray Hearne, The Rolling Home Shanty Choir from Holland.
A special CD is being prepared of songs John had recorded and had not released plus songs from live performances. Also, Allan is working on putting music to three poems John recorded shortly before he died, and Wendy Wetherby will be playing the cello on these pieces.

Barnaby Taylor, BBC programs: “Wild China”

Allan’s son Barnaby has been busy working on six programmes for the BBC about China, called “Wild China”. The programmes are now finished and will be broadcast on the following dates at 9 pm.:

BBC2 - Sunday, May 11th at 9pm:
P1 - Heart of the Dragon (Phil Chapman) -Sunday 11th May
P2 - Shang-ri La (Kathryn Jeffs) - Sunday 18th May
P3 - Tibet (Gavin Maxwell) - Sunday 25th May
P4 - Beyond the Great Wall (George Chan) - Sunday 1st June
P5 - Land of the Panda (Gavin Maxwell) - Sunday 8th June
P6 - Tides of Change (Charlotte Scott) - Sunday 15th June
It has been mentioned by the schedulers that the time may change to 8pm so keep an eye out in the tv guides but hopefully it will stay at 9pm.

For excerpts of the music, check out Barnaby’s website, www.barnabytaylor.com and go to “new commissions”.

Photos of Allan’s recent tour of Austria will soon be posted.

March 9, 2008
Danish Tour Photos

Allan has returned from the Danish tour. It was with mixed emotions that he played the tour after John Wright's tragic death a week before the tour was due to start. For each concert, Allan requested that on the stage there should be a table with candles and a glass of wine. As on the previous tour three years ago John and Allan always had a table on stage for one to sit when the other played a solo song, and Allan felt that for this tour, somehow, John's presence should be aknowledged. Many thanks for the support so many people offered to Allan during the tour.

There will be a tribute concert in Britain and Holland later in the year for John Wright - details will be posted on this website and on John's when they are available.

Allan will be in Switzerland for the next two weeks working on songs for the new CD.

Allan on stage in memoriam John Wright. Photo by Anders Mikkelsen.	Allan at Strib Festival, Denmark - February '08. Photo by Anders Mikkelsen.

February 14, 2008
Update on Danish Tour in Memory of John Wright

All the clubs have enthusiastically agreed to go on with the planned concerts in the hope that sales of John Wright's CDs will benefit John's family, with the exception of the Kulturhuset organizers in Arden, who have decided to cancel. Please show your support for John by attending one of the other concerts, to be found on the Tours page.

February 9, 2008
Danish Tour in Memory of John Wright

Allan will be in Denmark for the Strib Festival on Thursday 14th February.

The series of concerts originally booked as the "Allan Taylor and John Wright Tour" starting on 20th February will continue as planned, though now as a tribute to John who died on 7th February. To help John's widow, Barbara, through these hard times Allan will be selling John's CDs and DVDs.

The funeral arrangements for John Wright will be posted on his website: www.johnwrightmusic.co.uk as soon they have been decided.

February 8, 2008
Tragic News of John Wright
Allan heard this morning (8th February) that his dear friend, John Wright, died last night of a stroke. A proper tribute will follow.
Allan and John were due to tour Denmark in 10 days' time. The Danish agent is currently contacting all of the clubs to establish whether each club wants to continue with the booking. Allan wants to do the tour as a tribute to John. As soon as we know we'll post the news on this site.

February 4, 2008

Allan went to see Tom Paxton at the Lowry Theatre in Salford. Tom told Allan he had written an Allan Taylor song – “It’s about cafés and bars in Paris” – those of you who know Allan’s songs know that so many were written in cafés and bars, some in Paris, so this a friendly and funny remark from Tom. The song is called "And If It’s Not True" and is on Tom’s latest CD Comedians and Angels– Appleseed Recordings APR CD 1105.

Allan has been in the studio recording demo versions of the new songs for the new CD to be recorded in May.

The travelling troubadour is on the road again … here’s hoping for another good year.

Allan leaves for Denmark on 13 February for the Strib Festival and then for the tour with John Wright (see Tours page). Allan’s concert for the Festival is on Thursday 14th, and Allan will stay at the Festival for the weekend to meet up with his fellow troubadours – Neils Hausgaard, Bruce Guthro.

Allan with Tom Paxton at the Lowry Theatre in Salford	In the studio.

January 18, 2008
BBC Radio 2 Interview, Tom Paxton Concert Jan.22

The Mike Harding interview with Allan for radio 2 has now been broadcast. If you would like to hear this, check the BBC website:
www.bbc.co.uk/radio2.
Allan has been in Switzerland for a couple of weeks, during which time he has been working on the new songbook and the new album (to be recorded in May, in Germany).
On Tuesday, January 22, he’ll be at the Tom Paxton concert in Salford – check out Tom`s tour schedule. As Allan often says, in our genre of music there is no better songwriter than Tom Paxton.

December 28, 2007
End of Year Message from Allan, The Living Tradition Review, British Tour Photos

From Allan:

Thanks to all of you who came to the gigs throughout the last year. Looking back on a year of travelling and performing I can’t think of any gig I didn’t enjoy. I still think I’m fortunate in being able to tour different countries – I’ve always met with great hospitality and friendship wherever I go.

I’ve already started on projects for 2008. The first is the new songbook (Volume 2). I’m gathering the stories behind the songs by looking at the original drafts (sometimes just two lines on the back of an airline ticket or a hotel mini-bar list!), and I’m searching through my boxes of photographs of “life on the road” for those that would fit with certain songs. I hope to make it as interesting for non-musicians as for those who want to learn the songs, much the same as I did in Volume 1.

Another project is to prepare songs for the new CD, to be recorded in May at Stockfisch Studios. I already have 12 and there may even be more by the time I come to record.

The final project, for which I’ve done all that I have to do, is firstly a film of the concert I did in Hoeilaart, Belgium last July (07) and secondly the documentary film about my life on the road. The first is being edited now and work for the second will start in January.

As always, when we have details they will be posted on this news-page.

Best wishes to you all for the New Year, and as we travelling troubadours say, “see you on the road somewhere.”

The Living Tradition

As mentioned in the previous update, the folk music magazine, The Living Tradition, published a glowing review of Old Friends New Roads. It is now quoted here in its entirety.

Unlike almost every other branch of the music business, the arrival of digital technology has not facilitated the massive re-availability of deleted back-catalogue. There are many reasons, all of which reflect the happenstance of the label for which one recorded: large companies may consider their one-time “folk catalogue” not worth issuing (at least one major is known to have lost all its master tapes); smaller companies may not have a reissue policy or have simply vanished from the face of the earth; or one’s back catalogue may be in the hands of a company with no interest in making it available.

The fact that a large number of Allan Taylor’s albums are not available on CD (variously for all of the above reasons) has led to frequent enquiries as to where they can be bought. Hence this album. In two sessions at the end of last year and in March of this, he went into the studio and re-recorded some of these key lost songs.

Initially seen as a stop-gap before his new album to be recorded next year, the results were clearly too good to languish as a a limited-availability release.
This startling collection is a genuine “best of” (as opposed to a “best known” or “greatest hits”) performed in versions which consistently surpass the original version: the brilliance of Allan’s song-writing benefits from the maturity of his skills as an interpreter.

The accompaniment is sparse – simply acoustic guitar or piano – and several of the performances are significant reinterpretations. Chimes at Midnight, the opening track, sets the pattern: originally recorded with band and backing singers (on Lines), here it is performed, minus its folk-referencing fourth verse against a stately grand piano and emerges as a definitive statement by an essentially live performer on the iPod / Podcast generation.

The remaining eleven tracks span Allan’s career from The Morning Lies Heavy (The Lady, 1971) to Urban Love Song and The Meadow (Faded Light, 1995). What is most remarkable about the CD is its ability to transport you through performance (rather than pastiche) to the mood and feel of the original – there is a real sense of rediscovery in every performance and a depth of emotion which makes for a richly rewarding listening experience.

Mention must be made too of the perfect quality of the production. This may have begun life as a stop gap but there is nothing here which makes one recall that fact.
In short, this is an album which one does not want to take off, in every respect the best of Allan Taylor. As it plays yet again (I have lost count of how many times), the words of the refrain of Now You Know (Win or Lose, 1984 – written in 1980 for his daughter Jenny) seem to sum up the spirit of the project:-
    If I forget to say I Love You
    It don’t mean I don’t

Nigel Schofield, The Living Tradition, December, 2007.

British Tour Photos

Photo of Allan taken at Ashington folk club by Alan Lund	Allan and Tom McConville at The Davy Lamp folk club in September 2007. Tom has recorded Allan's songs "Firefly" and "Roll on the Day" so Allan asked Tom to join him on stage to sing these two songs. Photo by Alan Lund.

November 29, 2007
Old Friends New Roads Reviews
The new CD, Old Friends New Roads has received two great reviews: The Living Tradition, to be published in December and Folker (www.folker.de), the music magazine in Germany.

Allan was recently interviewed by Mike Harding for the BBC radio programme "Folk on Two." This will be broadcast sometime in December and will also be available on the internet - details to follow.

November 21, 2007
Latest Tour Photos

Allan and Ulli Boegershausen on stage at Luebeck during Allan's German tour in October.	Allan, Bap Kennedy and Brendan Murphy backstage at Downpatrick, the last of three gigs in Northern Ireland.

November 10, 2007
German Tour Complete, Film, New Covers

Allan has returned from the German tour. Many thanks to all who made this tour one of the best in recent years. Every concert was good and special in its own way, from the smallest and most intimate to the largest. The new CD seems to have been accepted by all as a worthwhile addition to the Allan Taylor catalogue, although everyone is waiting for the new CD to be recorded, with the new songs Allan has been performing on his recent concerts. A provisional date for recording has been set for May 2008.

As for the film, although all of the filming has been done, editing has yet to begin, so it will definitely not be ready for Christmas this year.

There are some recent cover versions of Allan’s songs; Sibylle Milde (www.smb-verlag.de in Hamburg, Germany) has recorded "Lullaby In G;" Tom McConville (tommcconville.co.uk/) has recorded for his CD, "Firefly" and "Roll On The Day;" and John Wright (www.johnwrightmusic.co.uk) has recorded "Close To The Edge."

Juergen Dittwald from Germany has compiled a complete discography of Allan’s recorded output and found releases that Allan knew nothing about. He has also compiled a collection of all of the known recorded versions of Allan’s song, "It’s Good To See You." There are now sixty-two versions, in ten different languages. It also is the festival song for Skagen Festival in Denmark and Venne Folk Freueling in Germany.

Towards the end of November Allan will be recording an interview for Folk on Two with Mike Harding.

The tour schedule for 2008 will soon be posted on the Tours Page.

October 12, 2007
German Tour in Progress

Allan has just completed the first third of the tour of Germany and has a couple of free days in Venne before starting on the next leg of the tour. All is going well with the tour. It started well with the "Lange Nacht der Poesie" - and a long night it was as Allan´s great friend, German songwriter Helmut Debus, helped Allan celebrate his birthday along with the various poets and musicians of that evening´s concert.

During the two concerts at Kanapee, Allan met up with the Irish singer Geraldine MacGowan (who is on a tour of Germany at the moment) at the Irish Pub that she used to own a few years ago before moving back to Ireland. The Irish Pub was the scene of many great nights, one of which was when Allan jammed with Chris Jones through the night. This resulted in a lasting friendship and musical collaboration until Chris´s death two years ago. For old time´s sake, Allan and Geraldine sang a few songs in the bar.

Please note: The concert at Osnabruek on Sunday 28 October will start at 18.00 hours.

Allan has introduced some new songs into the repertoire - check out the Tours page for concert details.

Allan at "Kanapee" in Hannover (www.kanapee.de) Photo by Erwin Schütterle (Kanapee, Hannover, Germany)

The German Hi-Fi magazine AUDIO has made Allan's new CD, Old Friends, New Roads, CD of the month (September). Also in Germany, Allan's CD, Colour To The Moon was voted as the best CD of the last five years by Stereo Audio Magazine.

Allan is recuperating from his operation and will be ready for the autumn touring schedule, starting at Dorking on September 5th (see Tours page).

The film about Allan is being edited and will be ready for Christmas.

The well known and popular Scottish singer, Tich Frier, has recorded Allan's song "Land Of The North Wind" (also recorded by Dick Gaughan) on his new CD. Check out: Shanghaied CMCD089 - Celtic Music, P.O.Box 182, Harrogate, North Yorkshire, HG2 7XD.

August 1, 2007

During the summer break Allan has sifted through the photos of the last few months of touring throughout Europe – here are some of the scenes:

The filming team: Patrick Ferryn, Director. Michel Baudour, Cameraman. Allan. Gunter Pauler, Owner of Stockfische Records and sound recordist for the film.	Allan with Isabella and Marisa of Triocomtempo (www.triocontempo.com) at the Folkest Festival in Spilimbergo, Italy.
Allan and his son Barnaby in the Sierra Nevada on a horse riding trip.	See news of Barnaby's latest music project below.
Allan at Café Epicure. During the Austrian tour Allan revisited the café in which he wrote the last verse of “Some Dreams” in Klosterneuberg, just north of Vienna.

Barnaby Taylor has written the music for three programmes about the Ganges river in India for the BBC. They will be broadcast every Sunday at 21.00 hours on BBC 2, starting on 5th August.

June 27, 2007
Old Friends - New Roads Released

Allan has just returned from the Italian/Belgium trip. The filming went well and is now finished. The next few months will be spent editing the film to two versions: one for sale on DVD (approximately one hour and twenty minutes long) and one for television transmission (approximately fifty-two minutes).

The new CD, Old Friends - New Roads is now available, either from Stockfisch Records or soon from this website. If you order through this website and want the CD signed by Allan, mention this on the order.

Photos of the last two month’s hectic touring will be posted on this site soon.

Allan will be in hospital for an operation on his knee from 17 July to 23 July.

Recording News:
The new CD is finished and should be available within the month. It is a solo CD – Allan plays and sings solo, and sings three songs with Lutz Moeller, who plays piano. There will be twelve songs in total, all of which have appeared on previous recordings. However, these interpretations are newly arranged and recorded. As Allan says, " Going back to record these songs again was like meeting up with old friends." The songs are: "For an Old Friend," "Chimes at Midnight," "Urban Love Song," "Now You Know," "The Meadow", "Let Me Be," "Homestate," "Syracuse and Albany," "Lady Take Your Time," "Like I Used to Do," "The Morning Lies Heavy," and "Flower in the Snow." The CD is called Old Friends – New Roads and will not be on general release – it will only be available from the Stockfisch web-site or from this web-site's Orders page.

Book News:
More copies of the book Behind the Mix have been found in the archives at Stockfisch, which means that there are around 30 copies of the book and CD available, on which there are "out-take" songs with Chris Jones. Also there are some songs where Allan sings with Derroll Adams, and there are a couple of songs featuring Alex Campbell. These have been in great demand so contact Stockfisch as soon as possible if you are interested.

May 1, 2007
Allan Plays Special Concert for Guide Dogs This Saturday, May 5th.
The concert on 5th May in Newcastle promises to be a special night. The two charity concerts for Guide Dogs for the blind that Allan played were so successful that the organisation has promoted this concert as a thank you to Allan. To start the evening a short section of the film made about Guide Dogs will be shown, and accompaying the film will be the song Allan wrote especially for the DVD, called “Good Friends”. For a taster of the song go to the Road Ahead website::

The organisation will be making DVDs of the song and the opening sequence of the film for people attending the concert. Contact Dave Lucas at: dave.lucas@roadahead.tv for further details.

February 11, 2007
Special Wengen Concert, Wengen Songwriting Workshop, Allan With Tom Paxton in Parliament, Songbook Available, New CD, Islington Re-Scheduled

Special Concert in Wengen, Switzerland:
Allan has been asked to play a special concert in the beautiful village of Wengen, Switzerland on Saturday March 17, 2007. The concert will start at 21.00 hours, finishing at 23.00 hours and will be in the Hotel Brunner. A special package at the hotel will be offered; evening meal, concert and overnight stay. For the concert alone the ticket price will be 20 CHF. (brunner@wengen.com – Tel: (0041) 033 855 2494). Please note that access to the village is by mountain railway (no cars are allowed in the village) and cars can be parked in the valley at Lauterbrunnen station. Journey time from Lauterbrunnen to Wengen is 20 minutes. The last train from Wengen to Lauterbrunnen is at 00.30.

Wengen is one of Switzerland’s most beautiful ski resorts with access to many pistes. There are also many hiking routes in the area. Details for tickets and prices will be posted soon.

Songwriting Workshops in Wengen, Switzerland
See update as of May 2, 2007, above.

Allan Attends Tom Paxton Reception in Parliament & Joins Tom at Royal Festival Hall

The reception for Tom Paxton at the Houses of Parliament was a great success for Tom Paxton and all of those involved. It was attended by many Members of Parliament, many of whom were keen amateur guitar players who had learnt the guitar playing Tom's songs. After the reception Allan went to the Royal Festival Hall with Tom where Tom was playing a concert. For the last three songs, Tom called upon Allan and Ralph McTell to join him on stage.

Songbook Available Online
The reprint of the songbook is now available. Please go to the Orders page where you may now order online. The books are selling well at Allan's concerts. Some of the stories have been updated and there are a few new photos. It is now called Volume 1 because during the summer Allan will be working on the new songbook.

New CD
Allan is hoping to complete the CD he is making in Germany in March - it should be available by mid-May. It will be a solo CD with voice and guitar or voice and piano and will be a collection of his older songs, re-arranged and re-recorded to the highest Hi-fi quality, for which Stockfisch Records are renowned.

Islington Re-Scheduled
The gig at The Horseshoe in Islington (London) was cancelled on Thursday 9 Feb. due to the bad weather. Allan and the organiser, Bernard Puckett are trying to reschedule the gig - as and when it is decided the details will be posted on the website.

Martin Guitar Sold
Allan's Martin D18V has been sold to Michael Lloyd. Mike attended Allan's songwriting weekend in Germany last year, and as a result is now writing his own songs. It seems he is more than delighted with his new guitar, which as Allan says, is possibly the best Martin he has ever played.

January 16, 2007
Tom Paxton to be Honored in Parliament

Allan has been invited by Tom Paxton and Alan Keen, MP, to a reception at the Houses of Parliament on Monday 22 January honoring Tom for his contribution to songwriting. As Allan has often said, there is no-one better than Tom for continuing the great tradition of songwriting in the world of acoustic/folk music.
Check out Tom`s website: www.tompaxton.com

January 2, 2007
On the Mend

Allan has had the operation on his finger (left hand) and it was a success. He will be able to start practicing by the second week of January to be ready for the gigs at the end of the month.
 

Allan. at Augenweide, Muenster. This was the last gig of the long Autumn/European tour

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