Summer of Events, FutureFest, More Music Courses and TV Shows

It’s been a fun summer attending a few wonderful cultural events and festivals including Wimbledon and a 1940s weekend for the Seagull Theatre in Lowestoft where I got to dress up in vintage attire. I had a fab (see what I did there!) time seeing the new Paul McCartney exhibition “Eyes of the Storm” at the National Portrait Gallery. It was so cool viewing his intimate, never-before-seen images which offer a personal perspective on what it was like to be a Beatle at the start of ‘Beatlemania. More recently, it was great to be back at Latitude Festival after a few years – so many music highlights: Impressive new talent at the Inbetweeners Stage from Access Creative and amazing sets by Metronomy and Pulp. Last weekend I went to Primadonna Festival for the first time in the beautiful surroundings of the Food Museum, Stowmarket. So much creativity there with fascinating workshops, panels and talks on writing and music. It was lovely to meet JB Gill from JLS, now a children’s author and farmer, after a talk and signing of his children’s book and a real highlight was meeting the brilliant Miki Berenyi from Lush who was there to discuss her highly acclaimed memoir ‘Fingers Crossed’

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Lisa Redford at First Light Festival

In June I had a busy “two gigs in one day tour.” It was lovely to perform at First Light Festival in Lowestoft for the first time – such a warm welcome and great atmosphere. It was also wonderful to share the night again with the fantastic The Weeping Willows as part of their UK tour. Thanks to Grapevine for Music for hosting such a special night, Jason French for joining me on sublime banjo and fiddle, Chad Mason for gorgeous sound, and Katie Harris for this live photograph below.

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Lisa Redford and Jason French live at Grapevine for Music, Norwich with The Weeping Willows. Picture by Katie Harris.
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Lisa Redford at FutureFest 1.30pm

For my next gig I will be supporting my friends at Future Radio, performing at the inaugural FutureFest – a vibrant celebration of community, music and fun – to raise money for local charity Future Projects. Future Radio will be taking over The Brickmakers Pub on Sunday 6th August, featuring live bands on three stages, food trucks, kids activities, and DJs from midday until 11pm. Full-access tickets are just £10 (plus booking fee) and under 13s go free! Get your tickets here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/…/futurefest-tickets…
For more information, visit futureradio.co.uk/fest/ I will be playing a solo set at 1.30 as part of this amazing and eclectic lineup. All funds raised at FutureFest will go toward local charity, Future Projects.

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Ukulele Taster Session with Lisa Redford at Norfolk and Norwich Millennium Library for Creativity and Wellbeing Week

I May I ran a lovely ukulele taster session for #CreativityAndWellbeingWeekAdult Learning. It was so great to see some new and also familiar faces joining me for a fun strum downstairs at Norfolk and Norwich Millennium Library. Thanks to Norfolk Library and Information Service for having me.

Join me in September for some more fun group music courses. I will be teaching ukulele for beginners and improvers again as well as guitar for beginners and there will also be more singing for well-being sessions. For further information and to enrol, please visit the Adult Learning website: https://www.norfolk.gov.uk/education-and-learning/adult-learning

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Ukulele courses for Adult Learning, Wensum Lodge, Norwich
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Guitar for Beginners Course with Lisa Redford at Wensum Lodge, Norwich
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Ukulele Taster Session with Lisa Redford

Always exciting seeing filming projects I’ve worked on finally make it to the TV. Back on Netflix recently was Catching Killers – try and spot me playing a TV reporter in season 3. All episodes of brand new series Mother Undercover are now available on HULU in the US, and on Disney+ in the UK. In this inspiring series I was excited to play a photographer.

“This Fine City” Lisa Redford and Friends – Fundraising Single for Future Radio Out Now!

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This Fine City artwork by Gwenda Killick

So excited that fundraising single “This Fine City” was released on Friday ~ a heartfelt, anthemic celebration of #Norwich that I have written especially for Future Radio featuring a whole host of talented friends and musicians: Ecky Limon from the Blue Joanna (name checked in the song!), Scott Mathieson, Andrew Todd (amazing production!), Owen Sennitt, Yve Mary B, Callum Morgan from Morganway, Chad Mason, Hannah White, Russell McNamara and Teresa Gibbon.
Thanks so much to all the talented friends and artists – including many Future volunteers – who were a part of this very special project. Huge thanks of course to all the hard working team at Future Radio.
Please listen, donate and share the Bandcamp link below – all funds raised from the single will help Future to relocate to a new home – let’s help them find a new studio!

https://futureradio.bandcamp.com/releases

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Article in the EDP newspaper. View online
“This Fine City” official music video

Already been receiving lots of great press for the single. Was lovely to be Story of the Day at Folk Features – Uplifting stories for Norfolk and Suffolk, brought to you by Emma Outten:

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Article at Folk Features
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I’ve also written a column for my friends at All Things Norfolk about the making of “This Fine City” read the article here

So lovely that the song has already touched people and really resonated. Here’s a beautiful review from Richard Shashamane for his Norwich: Music City, UK Blog:

Immediately upon my first listening to this rousing celebration of Norwich and hope for the future I felt renewed optimism as well as being quite moved by the heartfelt love of the city so sincerely expressed in song. Joyous and triumphant in its hope.

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This Fine City video still

There has also been some lovely BBC airplay for ‘This Fine City’ over the weekend! Thanks to BBC Music Introducing in Norfolk and BBC Music Introducing in Suffolk plus the single was played on Stephen Foster’s BBC Radio Norfolk and BBC Radio Suffolk show on the week from 6pm. Listen via BBC Sounds. I have been recording a few interviews including one with Good Health Radio in Australia. This will available on Monday October 19. I have also been doing some interviews for local television including That’s TV East – video here Also this Tuesday October 20 Ecky Limon and I talked about the single on ITN News Anglia and played a snippet of the song outside the Blue Joanna.

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Interview on ITV News Anglia
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Playing “This Fine City” outside The Blue Joanna, Norwich with Ecky Limon on guitar

Been doing lots of radio interviews to promote the single and it was lovely to chat to David Eastaugh for arts and culture show Platform, all about the inspiration for the song. You can hear the interview at: https://futureradio.co.uk/futureplayer/mixcloudplayer/3632

Huge thanks to Jamie at Grapevine Live Magazine – remember performing for the Grapevine Live stage at Ipswich Music Day – for a lovely interview all about the single here

As you know, I love to have my songs remixed and it’s been wonderful to work again with Neil Timbers who has done a brilliant electronic remix of ‘The Edge of Love’

Listen to the audio here on SoundCloud

Fundraising Single for Future Radio, Collaboration Projects

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I’ve been busy with a few creative projects and excited that I have written an original song for Future Radio in Norwich. The photo above is from a video shoot for the #fundraising single release. “This Fine City” will be released to coincide with #LocalRadioDay & features a host of talented friends and artists from Norfolk. More news soon!

I love to collaborate on music projects and also to perform other artists’s material – it really inspires me and my own writing – so I’ve really enjoyed interpreting this lovely, heartfelt song written by Kate Raison, a talented songwriter who I met during Chris Difford’s Songwriting Retreat last year. Here is also an acoustic demo of the song that I’ve recorded: https://soundcloud.com/user-466575967/dont-tell-me-that-you-love-me-tonight-demo-sung-by-lisa-redford

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Thrilled to be in the beautiful new video by artist Megan O’Neill for her single Fire with Fire — a powerful and amazing celebration of women and women in music – alongside incredible female artists, please watch: Thank you Megan for this incredible message

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“heartfelt lyrics, beautiful vocal harmonies & a gentle melody. Lisa brings out first class lyrics alongside haunting string instruments & scenic visuals.” Huge thanks to worldwide platform Music Crowns for a brilliant review of Edge of Love:

Really enjoyed the recent Sheryl Crow BBC Radio 2 #livefromhome #festival performance ❤️🎵  always loved this fantastic song of hers “Sad Sad World” from a special edition of her self-titled album released in 1996.

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Not long before #lockdown my CD’s were made available to buy at HMV Norwich – check them out now and support #liveandlocal brilliant how they’re supporting local independent artists.

PledgeMusic Project – 69% Raised! In the Studio. London Show. Radio DJ!

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Some gorgeous #dobro #slide being recorded in the #studio love #recording #newmusic thanks to the amazing Noel @aldenpattersonanddashwood #producing #music #country #Americana #song #original #acoustic #special #songwriting #guitar #aldenpattersonanddashwood #guitar #roots #folk #newmusicfriday #countrymusic #live #session #nashville

A post shared by Lisa Redford (@lisaredfordmusic) on Oct 19, 2018 at 1:04pm PDT

Hi guys! 69% has now been raised for my PledgeMusic project! Beyond grateful to you all. I’ve already started recording and here’s an update from the studio! https://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/lisaredford/updates/101647

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Great day in the #studio thanks to @mark_howes_guitar_tuition for some amazing #guitar #music #musicmonday #recordingstudio #americana #country #singersongwriter #nashville #countrymusic #original

A post shared by Lisa Redford (@lisaredfordmusic) on Nov 5, 2018 at 11:40am PST

The mug has gone! there are many other goodies still available including a mouse mat, set of concert posters, signed set lists and my back catalogue. Take a look here:

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Looking forward to some lovely gigs including Norwich Arts Centre on November 30th opening for the brilliant Morganway and making my debut at the award-winning Green Note in Camden as special guest for No Coward Soul on December 4th. Stepping up to the microphone! Great session at excellent local community radio station Future Radio in Norwich learning the studio techniques for hosting a music show.

Hygge Festival, New Videos, Chris Country UTAT Radio

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Following my recent acoustic session for Whispering Bob TV, it was lovely to have one of my live tracks “I Just Can’t Forget” included on a great playlist on UTAT Radio, Chris Country.

I also recorded a live session and interview for Park Radio, a lovely community radio station with an eclectic playlist. There’s been such a great response when I performed for the live feed that there have been orders for my releases! Thanks so much to all of those of you who have listened and ordered my material.

More live videos have been added to my YouTube channel including “Carolina Rain” live from Norwich Waterfront:

Had a lovely time performing at Hygge Festival in Burnham Deepdale. Playing a cover of Tom Petty’s “I Won’t Back Down”

Looking ahead, am really looking forward to performing on the EarBelly acoustic stage at Ramblin’ Roots Revue. Included on a lovely Americana playlist on Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/embed/user/noelcornford/playlist/3vq3jB9qukf6rsY4QNT6ba%3Fsi%3DH4cBBsMIRHuN1vHV5KfqCA

And in July I’m excited to be performing at Stradisphere festival. Included on their Spotify playlist which includes headliner Badly Drawn Boy:

https://open.spotify.com/embed/user/bingo794/playlist/1vdLb3vnYWGZxhko6hCDY6%3Fsi%3D_Ijt1jT8SYi_GzCPt0wmsg

Recent Shows, New Live Videos, Upcoming BBC Radio Interview

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Had a great time playing two successive lovely Americana nights. I performed at Grapevine for Music at The Guildhall, who host regular showcases of great folk and country artists, and then on the following night supported I support the excellent duo, The Worry Dolls at OPEN, fresh from their recent AMA UK Award nomination. Also playing were the fabulous Morganway doing a special stripped down set.

“An easy and engaging manner between songs and wonderfully evocative, melancholic, wistful stories within them.” Thanks so much Richard Shashamané for this great review in his excellent Norwich music blog here. Superb photos too as always.

Full video of Lucinda Williams cover “Still I Long For Your Kiss” performed at OPEN. Love singing this great song:

Thanks to Connor Bannon for this cool photo from The Guildhall show:

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Following on from my recent Future Radio People’s Playlist show, where I played and talked about my favourite songs, I’m really looking forward to being the Tuesday Guest on BBC Radio Norfolk next Tuesday, 21st November between 6-7pm. I’ll be chatting to Matthew Gudgin about my career journey and all-time favourite music. Just going to be hard to whittle down my choices to only 6 favourite songs! The show link is here

Two new live videos from my recent show supporting Tom McRae. “Live Your Life” from this year’s beautiful charity compilation “Postcards for Peace”:

“Time to Grow”