I trust you all had a jolly time over the Christmas break.

It all began in earnest on the 19th at the Footy Club.  You were probably all too drunk to remember – but the Hairy Photographer was amongst you gathering the evidence with the stealth of an illuminated charging rhinoceros!

So, in the style of an evictee from the Big Brother Jungle X-factory, here are your best bits…

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There was a familiar face in the line up for last week’s guest spot. We’ve met Skeet Williams before. He has graced our singer’s nights on a couple of occasions recently with his exquisite fingerpicking and wowed us with some of his self penned numbers.

It is barely two years since Skeet had a chance meeting with Liverpool singer/songwriter Gary Edward Jones at a festival on the Wirral.  They jammed. They gelled. They hooked up with  freelance bass player Oscar South and the Gary Edward Jones Trio was born.

Gary is an extremely accomplished writer of original songs containing beautiful meaningful lyrics.   He has a warm, honey-soft voice and a relaxed easy listening guitar style.  Skeet’s effortless mastery of the fretboard adds intricate and delicate riffs which together with Oscar’s solid and steady bass line, perfectly compliment the main man’s own guitar skills. Rarely do you get three musicians that gel together so effortlessly.

The three have just released their first album, The Cabinet Maker, which is being officially launched at a special event in St Georges Hall, Liverpool on November 15th.

The album is good. Very Good. And unlike many artists, it is not all down to sound engineering wizardry. Their live performances are every bit as good!

What we experienced during their performance at the club sounded just like the immaculate, professionally engineered recordings but with the added multiple dimensions that you only get when listening to music live.  No pedals. No effects. Just one voice, two guitars and an acoustic double bass in perfect harmony.

Their two 45 minute slots included many of the songs off the album and a couple that were a sneak preview of what we can expect from the second album next year.

We heard one of my own personal favourites, Free Falling, and Dreaming which was the very first song that Skeet and Gary jammed on their first meeting.  They performed a varied set which even included a “folk reggae” number!

Gary’s girlfriend Elizabeth added a touch of glamour to the stage, providing some  lovely backing vocals, taking some time off from performing in her own right as part of the duo “Grace and Danger”.  When I asked Gary if she was Grace or Danger, he told me with a wry grin that the clue was in colour of her hair!

Many of the club regulars performed between the two slots  and a really nice touch, appreciated by all who played,was that Gary, Oscar and Skeet remained in the audience, attentive and appreciative during our performances.

It truly was a magical evening of music.