Songwriters’ Circle at Graffham Empire Hall
Singer-songwriters Ed Blunt, Daisy Chute and Jim Cozens combine to offer a Songwriters’ Circle at Graffham’s Empire Hall on January 20 for its first concert evening of 2024.
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00:00 Good morning, my name is Phil Hewitt, Group Arts Editor for Sussex Newspapers. Lovely
00:05 this morning to speak to Ed Blunt, who has family in West Sussex in the Pepworth area.
00:11 And Ed, you are doing a songwriting circle at Graffam Empire Hall on January the 20th,
00:16 isn't it? Now tell me, what is a songwriting circle? How does it work?
00:21 Yes, so a songwriting circle is sort of, it comes from the Nashville songwriting tradition
00:27 where you're all sitting around a campfire and you're sharing your songs in a very organic,
00:34 relaxed way. And we're basically taking that format to Graffam and there's going to be
00:40 three songwriters, including me, and we're going to be sharing our songs, but crucially
00:46 we're going to be sharing stories behind the songs as well.
00:50 So it's kind of the process of writing them.
00:53 Absolutely. And so the songwriters I'm doing with are the fabulous Daisy Chute. She's a
00:59 great folk singer, songwriter in the Americana and folk genres. And also Jim Cousins, who
01:08 is just over the border in Surrey. And he's a fantastic guitarist and storyteller as well.
01:14 That sounds brilliant. And do you do lots of these songwriting circles? Is it an established
01:20 format?
01:21 Well, yeah, it's one I haven't done a lot of myself, but I've seen a lot of people in
01:26 my network doing them. And I've always found it a really cool way to share songs. And because
01:32 it's, you're hearing the perspective behind the song, which is sometimes more interesting
01:39 than the song itself, to hear the inspiration behind it.
01:41 Yeah, I think in any life, it's always so interesting when the performer speaks, isn't
01:47 it? You don't want someone who's just going to stand up there, bang, bang, bang, deliver
01:50 the song. So you want the context, don't you? As a memory, at least.
01:54 Yeah, and that's, yeah, that's the special thing about the live connection, because music,
01:59 music at its core is really about human connection. And particularly in today's digital world,
02:05 it's so important that the artists and audiences meet in the live space. And so I'm very excited
02:12 about it.
02:13 It sounds a brilliant thing. So Grafham Empire Hall then on January the 20th, isn't it? Well,
02:19 Good luck.
02:20 Hope it goes brilliantly.
02:21 Thank you.
02:22 - Thank you, Phil.