Jess Morgan's Webpage

First visit to Cambridge Folk Club on Friday! The open-stage nights take place at The Golden Hind pub conveniently just off the A14, everyone was extremely friendly and there was a lot of talent floating around up there. I'd definitely like to go back.


The next morning I drove down to Crawley for my set at Crawley Folk Festival. It was nice to be able to play a longer set and I really enjoyed myself there - playing stuff off the album and dropping a few newbies in there too. Again, lots of nice people and a really well organised festival. I made a mistake in opting to trade my food vouchers in for a bit of a grim hog-roast ...and the bread and olives lady was a bit of a swindler too. Oh well, thats festivals for you.


Sat Nav and I had a bit of a falling out on the way home as I ended up in the short-stay car-park at Heathrow Airport. Eventually I made it home in time for an episode of Desperate Housewives, phew.


Spent a lot of Sunday helping out at 'Acle Open Gardens' selling tickets out of the boot of my wagon. Got a few songs down though - no slacking!


That night the Norfolk Surf Lifesaving Club hosted an open water swim up at Cromer, so I headed down there to see if I could swim a mile along our North Sea shore. I did it, very pleased, hope it becomes a regular thing.


Now its back to the admin - but some really really interesting gigs coming up as July begins. Please do take a look at my gigs list x

Hallo friends,


Fab weekend. Lets begin with Friday. I drove over to Leicester to be a part of the Big Session folk festival for the first time. 

Thanks to Craig Lewis form The Jitty for the snap and for being my guide for the evening. Read his write up here: http://www.thejitty.com/articles/jess-morgan-interview


We saw Cara Dillon straight after and it was the strangest thing... the ooohing and ahhhing of the football ground separated by paper-thin walls didn't for one mili-second ruin her show. I've never seen someone perform with such grace before... I'm afraid she made me feel like a tomboy from an enid blyton novel!


Managed to meet her after the gig too - hooray for the green room!


Now then, Saturday I was back at DeMontford Hall to watch my good friend Gren Bartley play - and he played a fab set of originals and traditionals with his good pal Tom Kitching.


Up early and on the road. Thanks Gren for doing all the driving. We headed up North to Beverley. Now this is a folk festival I'd been dying to get into for some time. Its crazy to think that having spent the formative years of my singer-songwritering life in York, that I haven't ventured further North than Lincoln for about four years! It was great to see some old faces and friends from the vibrant and thoroughly genuine music scene that I was lucky enough to briely scratch the surface of all those years ago. 


I played my set in a beautiful tent decorated in draped and cushions and buzzing with people collecting for the Teenage Cancer Trust. Gren and I were even privillaged enough to get to perform again (Thanks Miles) at the sort of informal finale bit in the wee small hours. Killing time in the green room we met u with Nashvillian duo Jeni and Billy. Meeting them was possibly the highlight of the day for me. Lovely lovely people and their CD is great!

So that was the weekend - I wish I could tell you more - but I've had about 5 hours sleep in 3 days so I'm not sure I'd do a great job on that.


'All Swell' has been getting some nice reviews lately and its great to know that some people are really just 'getting' the general vibe of the record. Though it won't all go to my head - it is music to my ears. 


Review from R2 mag thanks to Oz Hardwick
and a nice feature in EDP Norfolk Magazine (I wonder if Delia will read it!?)


The review from Maverick remains to be the proverbial fly in the ointment of my weekend! (** I'm putting this down to a bad combination of amateur journalism and mid life crisis ....just wish it wasn't smeared all over my pretty yellow record!)

Its been a little while since I last wrote a blog - thats not to say I haven't been busy... I've been clocking up the miles on my little Agila and many many more to go as Summer season opens up.


Friday night was my gig at High Barn down in Chelmsford. Its lovely to go to a venue with its own tea and coffee making facilities and get this - a full length mirror in the ladies loos! Met some lovely and enthusiastic people there too.


Saturday I have to say I spent mostly in a traffic jam on the M1. Thats what you get for listening to sat-nav - I saw the signs for Cambridge and it did cross my mind to go that way but instead i put all my eggs in my twenty-first-century basket and ended up in a big pile of trouble. Extremely frustrating joining the back of my very first motorway standstill - "with ten miles behind me and ten thousand more to go" - as Mr James Taylor put it. Luckily I had his greatest hits (this is not blasphemy as have v.small mp3 player) and The Whybirds 'Cold Blue Sky' to pass the time.


Finally crept up to Bedford and met the talented Mr Jez Brown for a brief photoshoot and pub-grub before winging it back east with Ken Bruce's guide to the Eurovision Song Contest. Arrived back at my place just in time to see some quality stage performances. Niamh Kavanah? I'm sure she was the one who sang Destination Anywhere ... you know on The Commitments when they're all sitting on that bus and Dean (Saxophone / Kim Basenger's nipple) starts blasting it out.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1_C4lC-wOc&feature=fvsr


Provided a bit of background music at the Great Yarmouth Beer and Cider festival - very nice too. 


Off for a pretty though extremely raining drive up to Fakenham in North Norfolk to meet Mr Mike Coombs for my first ever guitar lesson! I was stuck behind a tractor on the Acle Straight for rather a long time. Lesson was refreshing - left on a high!


Bank Holiday Monday - lots of practising, Wrote a song in open-G tuning, saw Sex and The City 2 and really enjoyed it! SO THERE!!!!!


I hope you had a lovely long weekend too.