A round up of last year then... My one resolution was to make progress with another CD, which I kind of did, releasing a "live" band recording as a digital download, but there was no great movement on another "album". I'm resolved to get one finished this year, just for my own satisfaction, but I may not bother "releasing" it if I do (and I'm not hopeful that I will). I don't really feel like someone who writes songs any more, and anyway the morass of crushingly shallow "folk" music that's popular at the moment is too annoying to think about, let alone trying to wade into. I blame the sheer number of smug blogs with weak puns for names. Or maybe I'm just getting old and every generation is far too easily impressed with itself when let out into the world. Either way, that's a lot of quotation marks in one paragraph.
I actually managed more solo playing than in 2011, possibly due to not being away all the time, and a couple of them were great. I think my favourites were the annual band one, supporting Chris T-T and supporting The Dawn Chorus, all at The Portland Arms. The gig at The Leper Chapel was probably the one I was most excited about but I decided to play entirely songs that I'd not really tried before, despite knowing full well that people respond to confidence rather than songs. A very pretty venue.
I also played keys for Annie at some nice places. We're doing a bit of a tour at the end of January which I'm looking forward to. We've just finished making her EP which sounds great if I do say so myself.
I got a little bit of international travel done ( Copenhagen, New York, Crete, Paris) and added one country (Denmark) to my world tour of McDonald's restaurants.
I only saw 48 different bands this year, and a lot of them seem to be people I know. There weren't many things I was interested in - 2012 was not a good year for new music. There were some highlights though (as ever, I thought they were pretty good unless I say otherwise):
The Cornshed Sisters, JayMay, Kevin Devine and the Goddamn Band (brilliant), RM Hubbert, Bill Wells and Aidan Moffat (gig of the year I think - just incredibly good), Lucy Wainwright Roche (lovely), My Sad Captains, Julie Doiron, Shearwater (good but Thorless), Kyla La Grange, Jinder (quite the raconteur), Sophie Jamieson, She Makes War, Chris T-T x2 (wonderful), Zeus, Dan Mangan x2 (and great both times), Scanners, Beth Jeans Houghton and the Hooves of Destiny (the emperor's new stupid costumes), Alabama Shakes, Tellison (everything I was hoping for), The Staves, Los Campesinos! (brilliant), Benjamin Francis Leftwich (boring), Dry The River (boring), Billy Bragg, Keb Mo, The Unthanks (had their moments), Nanci Griffith (hugely disappointing), Clannad, The Proclaimers (lovely), Greg McDonald (still great), Anais Mitchell (won me over at last), Nic Jones, The Dawn Chorus (wonderful), Paul Kelly, Alyssa Graham, Lester Allen (still great), Dave Gerard, Jamie Lawson, This is the Kit, Sharon Van Etten (wonderful), Jay Brannan, The Robbie Boyd Band (urgh), The Mutton Birds (wonderful), Craig Finn, Patterson Hood and Will Johnson, Hope and Social (brilliantly joyful), Emily Barker and the Red Clay Halo, Jason Collett.
Resolutions this year: Finish one last record. Learn to drive. Blog more (it's been a bit half arsed for a little while). Cross at least 2 bands off of The List (I managed Bill Wells and Aidan Moffat, Sharon Van Etten and Tellison this year).
The List (bands I've never seen but want to): The Front Bottoms, The Gin Blossoms, Bruce Springsteen, Brand New, Say Anything, King Creosote and Jon Hopkins, Margot and the Nuclear So and So's, The Retrospective Soundtrack Players, Swans, The Wrens.