Thistle Cottage Recordings was created as a way to present my various music and art projects.  I sing and write songs and music, making home recordings for several years, and play acoustic and electric guitar, flute, occasionally a bit of mandolin and glimpses of subtle and ancient sounding keyboards.   I'm also a visual artist (watercolour being my foremost artwork medium), amateur historian, lover of antiques, book and record collector, etc...After amassing numerous songs, recordings and paintings over time, I devised TCR as an online home and gallery for these pieces.

I have many musical influences,  Scottish, English, Irish, Welsh, Breton, French, Scandinavian  folk/ folkrock/ traditional music; 70's rock/ progressive rock, baroque, medieval music...  Too many musicians to name, but the biggest impact has been that of Ian Anderson & Jethro Tull, I cannot commend them enough for amazingly well-crafted songs and music and I've long considered Ian Anderson's writing to be of a seldom matched intelligence and standard that has been an influence on my writing.  Al Stewart is another great songwriter/musician whose work I admire greatly. 

My intent is for all the recordings to be integral albums, with all elements harmoniously combining; from the original lyrics and music through to the artwork.  All music recordings feature specifically created paintings and designs in the packaging.

Over time a pattern has developed with the manner in which I assemble songs, making each album have an overall theme or atmosphere.

My music is intensely personal,  usually derived from an expression of interests, ideal landscapes or environments, devising of scenarios and stories, and so on.  My intention has always been to write music with reasonably intelligent and coherent lyrics that evoke timelessness; being unfettered by the latest modern views, current affairs or fleeting fashions, gathering inspiration from various sources, be it history, nature, literature, music, even delving into books of quaint folklore and countryside rusticity.  These ideas brew inside my imagination until I'm compelled to develop them and begin pressing the record button, sequestered away with the multitrack recorder, instruments and notes and pages of lyrics, striving to create a semblance of the complexity of the vision in my mind and what I want to produce.  Sometimes I nearly come close to it!

I strive to attempt to make these works of authentic artistry glow with charm, possessing an often warm, woodsy, more natural, analogue sound, free from slick studio trickery or boffin wizardry! 

Some things I like:  

Music, Musical Instruments; Singing; Songwriting; Record/cd collecting; Painting and Drawing; Books; History; Art, Traditional Crafts, decor and design; Antiques; Antiquaries; handsome old architecture; carved wood; cosy old cottages and houses; theatre;  stained glass lamps and lanterns;  teapots & tea; wooden cabinets with little drawers; pottery; earthy colours;  beauty in nature (countryside, flowers, birds and birdsong, hares, horses, owls, trees, meadows and woodland, the sea, wind and rain, the gloaming);  homemade bread and soup; Travel; Museums;  England, Scotland, Shetland, Orkney, Wales, Ireland, Brittany, France; ........

On Recording:

In the early days when I began to record, I simply plugged a rather unimpressive microphone into my stereo system and recorded myself singing with acoustic guitar onto tape; of course this did not produce the desired sound, but was a start.

  Not long after, I progressed to my trusty Tascam Porta 7 four-track tape recorder  (multi-tracking for the first time was like magic), wearing out two of them in the next few years.   Other instruments followed, including flute to add to the mix.

Eventually I upgraded to the Fostex MR8 Digital Multitracker, which has been a rather good piece of equipment to use, progressing the recording process and newer instruments include electric guitar, a twelve-string acoustic and a delightful synthesizer which makes a bewildering array of sounds , favourites being an assortment of rather authentic sounding pipe organs.

 Intention is to upgrade to more advanced recording equipment in the future, progressing the overall sound, yet still keeping it naturalistic.

I tend to record nearly everything and it is my focus, as I enjoy the whole process of constructing a complete song from nothing, building up the layers of sound and the progression of the tracks. 

Playing live isn't something I've felt particularly drawn to, it's rather tricky since I play all the instruments and that makes it impossible to recreate songs,although working with other musicians is something I would like to do in the future.