10 December 2022 saw The Southbound Attic Band reunited to open for Ian Prowse and his fabulous Amsterdam band at the O2 in Liverpool along with Babybird,
Barry and Ronnie opened the proceedings and enjoyed a crowd singalong like no other! The sausage choir were in great voice as can be heard, and seen on this video taken by Ian Knight, a friend of the band. Header Image by redtopimages
Image by Tony Donaghey
All the Covid lock down shenanigans were put behind us as Folk On The Farm reconvened after a three year hiatus. Based at Tyddyn Mon on the lovely Isle of Anglesey, Barry opened the Sunday evening proceedings on the Main Stage just before the Jon Palmer Band and the hugely talented Henry Priestman and Les Glover, patrons of the festival and all round good eggs! Ronnie wasn’t well enough to make the gig, so Barry played a full solo slot in front of an appreciative audience in what must be one of the most picturesque musical settings in the country! Evidence here courtesy of Simmo, the hardest working videographer in the Folk music scene. Many thanks to Jon Hippy, Festival Director.
Hopefully this entry is self-explanatory; Barry has produced a small collection of poetry in what used to be known as a poetry pamphlet, following on from the success of his First Prize in the Liverpool Irish Festival Writing competition 2021 ( I know!!! Who’d a thunk it! Pretentious! Moi?) 11 poems illustrated with sketches and photographs, see below for a sample.
Copies are available for just £2 including UK Postage and Packaging from Barry via contact page.
Better late than never, a “best of” collection celebrating the first ten years of The Southbound Attic Band!
Remarkably enough it’s now available as a lovely Lansing pack CD, featuring the artwork of Ken Martin, artist, architect, former proprietor of the sadly missed View Two Gallery, and as a digital download from Bandcamp.com . CD is available from this website, just message me via contact £11.50 including UK postage and packing. Digital version £8 via bandcamp
Worth waiting for? You betcha!!! Barry & Ronnie xxx
With the continuing pandemic restrictions Barry and Ronnie have been unable to rehearse and record together, but Barry has produced a further solo EP, called A Broken Heart (For Cynthia). Review Four solo acoustic songs with a theme of ghosts. Tracks are A Broken Heart (For Cynthia), Lost Resort (featured below), Nancy, and The Woolton Fox. For advance copies contact Barry through the site contact page. x
Siobhan Mulrooney has a podcast called Formby Podcast which remarkably enough, is a podcast which operates in Formby. (who knew!) After a chance serendipitous meeting in the week, she has added The Willows Suite in full to an episode, which you can listen to at your leisure. Comprising readings from The Wind In The Willows by Kenneth Grahame, followed by original songs written by Barry and featuring, Barry, Ronnie and Geoff Hall, the original short-lived Southbound Attic Band lineup. We’re very grateful to Siobhan for this and hope you get a chance to listen to it and some of the other content. x
A Barry Jones original song about Formby-by-the-Sea, a proposed new seaside resort 12 miles north of Liverpool, UK, around the end of the 19th century. All manner of developments were proposed including a new branch line and train station. A few buildings remain from that time but mostly the sand has reclaimed the land for adventurous walkers to find the trail of the Lost Resort. And maybe a ghost!
Within easy walking distance of my home, this wonderful, mysterious landscape has been the principle route of my daily walk, especially beneficial since March 2020!
Barry xx
March 2021
Sad news of the death of Gerry Marsden aged 78. Barry took this picture of him in 2006! Great singer songwriter, performer and scouser! Legend!
John Lennon would have been 80 years old on 9 October 2020 and my Dad would have been 95 on the same day! I wrote this song after a chance meeting with a fox one wet night on my way to Mark Reader’s songwriters night at The Victoria Pub, Woolton.
Strawberry Field, Liverpool is just around the corner. Reopened just 12 months ago, they have introduced a feature called Strawberry Lane where the border of the path to the front gates is laid with commemorative stones which can be purchased from the website.
My brother Peter and I wanted to have a small memorial for Mum and Dad following Dad’s death in 1993 and Mum’s last year, and with our love of The Beatles and fascination with the John Lennon story in particular, and the fact that we both went to school 100 yards up the road, we agreed to have a stone laid on Strawberry Lane. One of the photographs I’ve included in the video is my (very) tenuous link to the Lennon story! In the 1960’s our next door neighbour was John’s best friend Pete Shotton’s brother, Ernest. He was a merchant seaman and went to live and work in Peru. Ernest went first and his wife, Pat, and daughter Carol, sold the house and followed on later. Once they’d sold the house, they couldn’t leave straight away so they came to live with us, Mum and Dad giving up their bedroom in a 3 bed semi for Pat and Carol for a few months I think although I can’t be sure. That’s the kind of people they were!The photo at 1:13 shows Mum and Dad and me, with Carol, aged 5, in 1966, at Liverpool Airport while we saw them off on their journey. Carol did say that she was going to come back and marry me, but so far, no sign! If you’ve got this far thanks for reading, I hope you like the video! Thanks to Val Colvin for the photo of Ronnie and me! Strawberry Fields Forever! Happy Birthday John and Dad! xxx
One of our favourite haunts for the last 8 years or so has been Ian Prowse’s Monday Club at the Cavern Pub and Cavern Club on Mathew Street, Liverpool UK. It’s an open mic for original songs only, on the most famous music street on earth (fight me!) and we’ve made many great friends there. It would have been the Monday Club 9th Birthday around now, but Coronavirus means no live shenanigans. I wrote Hide The Sausage (Thanks to John Ford for this 2018 recording from 100 Club, Oxford Street, London UK) specifically for the club and here is another song inspired by the 300 plus lovely nights! Ronnie and I are still unable to record together, so this is a solo recording for now!
Leaving Monday club in the early hours of Tuesday I would often see the white underside of gull’s wings fleetingly caught in the streetlight, and to me seemed to be the spirits of those who had played in the most famous music street in the world. I wrote this song with that in mind, my homage to Monday Club and the Cavern. You may even see yourself there! With love! xx
Southbound Attic Band 