Francis Campbell: News/blog

Well summer appears to be well and truly upon us once more and very welcome it is too after the long cold winter. After a lengthy dry spell on the old guitar tune writing front new ditties are now sprouting up all over and some kind of Newcastle themed bunch of pieces appear to be taking shape. This will probably culminate in a 3rd CD outing from yours truly in the near(ish) future. Watch this space as they say!
Looking forward to camping out at Brampton Live 2010 with the family in July and especially looking forward to Capercaillie!
That's it for now, cheers, Fran

I had a great time at Shepley folk festival & particularly enjoyed Denny Bartley & Chris Sherburn, Belinda O'Hooley, Lucy Ward and Jigawatt as well as Martin Simpson & Show Of Hands.
I recently traded in my Collings D1 for a Collings OM-2H guitar and have started playing plectrum style as well as fingerstyle for a more rhythmic sound.
Am off to Beverley folk festival in June with my 2 eldest kids (both of whom just qualify for under 12s free entry!)

I recorded a couple of my new batch of tunes yesterday and have bunged them up on the 'Listen' page for your (hopefully!) listening pleasure. I'll be recording the rest over the coming weeks - there are about 15 in all - if, that is, the delightful builders over the road give me a moments peace! ;-) If you hear any saws, drills, hammering, etc. in the background you know where it's from only don't tell the guys over the road in case they want royalties!
Cheers for now,
Fran

Well we're off en famille to the above folk do this weekend. Seems we're gonna need our wellies from the forecasts. Looking forward to Michael McGoldrick (one of the founder members, with Sarah Allen & Brian Finnegan, of maybe my fave folk outfit 'Flook'), Tony Benn and John Shuttleworth. And seeing Beverley Minster. The perennial Martin Simpson is there and Martin Carthy & Norma Waterson are playing too. Most importantly there is a varied bill (Buzzcocks & Chumbawumba) and lots of activities for the kids!
I've written a few new tunes recently which'll be appearing on this site soon 4 sale as MP3 files for download by purchase. They're planned to be all 'one live acoustic guitar' type jobs but I haven't ruled out doin a few tunes with a fiddler or piper.
I'm kind of realizing that folk music isn't a scene as such at all and more of a hotch potch/loose collection of various acoustic and folk/'traditional' influenced styles. Keeping it fresh is good I reckon :-)

Fran

I recently traded in my Gibson SJ200 for a lovely 2nd hand Collings D1 dreadnought. So far I haven't been disappointed! It's a different beast to the Gibson but is great for folky fingerstyle tunes. new material is coming along. Going to the Beverley Folk Festival in a couple of weeks with the family and looking forward to seeing Martin Simpson, Michael McGoldrick and others. That's all for now.

After a recent family holiday to the lovely Scottish island of Islay inspiration has struck and motivated me to dust off the old acoustic guitar and start doodling in a celtic stylee. Watch this space for news of new music :-)