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Thanks to all of the great folks who battled rain and high winds to bring life to the Off-Grid Festival near Cheddar... a true community effort, and thanks particularly to Phillip Henry for his incredible dobro playing.

From Cheddar we dragged ourselves across the country to Peterborough for the Randall Rootz fundraiser for the Sue Ryder Care home. From Bluegrass to Punk, all tastes were catered for and a good time was had by all. thanks to Lin and the team for all their work.

This weekend, Master of Space and Time, Nye Parsons and myself will be joining a vast array of fantastic performers playing at The Small World Festival in Kent. It looks like it's going to be the perfect end to a summer of festivals and fun. Small world solar Stage seems to have become my default home over the past few festivals and I'm looking forward to playing for everyone on home turf.

As soon as we're finished in Kent, I'll be stashing the car and heading back to the Balkans to record an album with Jordan Kostov, Krume Stefanovski and hopefully the elusive international fiddle maestro of mystery, Zoe moffat. The one and only Jukella Orkestar. I'll be putting up some dates for Autumn shows back in England when they're are fixed. Happy Travels to one and all.

Posted: 2010-08-24 | Contact

Over the next couple of weeks I'll be reuniting with The Roving Blades to play some full band shows after a long period of solo rambling from country to country and festival to festival.

From TV in Istanbul to playing at the Glastonbury Festival, it's been quite a summer so far. Now it's good to be back with the Blades on home turf. We've got some big vocal harmonies to unleash, among other things, and they're just itching to get out.

We'll be playing at The Lamplighter in Northampton this Saturday, August 7th after shaking our stuff at the Umbrella Fair. It'll be a great day for music and revelry all over the town.

On Friday the 13th we'll be back at Mama Liz's Voodoo Lounge in Stamford for a full night of singing, dancing and perhaps a little more revelry.

Saturday, August 21st brings us to Charters in Peterborough to finish off a day of fabulous music at the Randall Rootz Festival, in aid of Sue Ryder Care. There will be a veritable smorgasbord of styles, from the Pop sounds of the Candle Thieves and Whisky Jax, to the rollicking bluegrass of the Duffy Brothers capped off with late night punk from Filthy Lucre. There's sure to be something for everyone, so come along and help us raise money for a good cause.

Since I last wrote, I've been and played in so many places and with so many bands that it seems slightly daunting to recount it. I shall try, in the hope that it may interest somebody.

After arriving in Macedonia and spending a merry night of music making and enthused ranting with the inimitable Krume Stefanovski and Jordan Kostov, I was lucky enough to spend an evening at a recording session of their new band, Starovski.

Seemingly led by oud and tambura virtuoso, Dejan Spasovic, and glued together by Jordan's sublime accordion playing and Krume's mastery of the beat, they weave traditional sounds into a modern cocktail ranging from Macedonian folk to Kraftwerk. The only band I know featuring two singers called Truth, (the delightful Verica and Verica) they are well worth listening to.

After catching up with all the Skopjites I could find and drinking a few rakias for old time's sake, I headed on towards Bulgaria, meaning to end up in Kjustendil for Ederlezi, the Romani feast of St. George.

On the way I went to Kocani, home to the Gypsy Brass bands who've made such a stir around the world with their raucous synthesis of styles and funky beats. I meant to just pop in to look for Naat Veliov, the leader of the Original Kocani Orkestar, but ended up getting caught up in this fascinating little town.

Famous since ancient times for its rice and its opium, Kocani lies at the head of a wide valley surrounded by shear hills overlooking the rice-paddies. The view from the top of the hill where the Gypsy section of town is situated is breath-taking. The red and gold of the Macedonian flag fluttering over the green of the paddies and the crimson poppies, backed with snow-capped mountains on a blue sky.

When the Ottoman empire retreated after 400 years of ruling the Balkans, they seem to have left the brass instruments of their military bands in and around Kocani, in much the same way as happened in New Orleans after the civil war. Once the local Romani people got hold of these instruments, they created a sound as inspired and unruly as the jazz of the 1920s. A synthesis of Macedonian, Turkish, Bulgarian and other Balkan stlyes, played on big battered horns and pounding drums. It truly takes your breath away.

After getting into town, I set out to find the Romani quarter, know as a Mahala. On arriving I was asked what was in my case... always the best way to start up a conversation, and on opening it I was encouraged to play a tune on one of my curious little instruments. After a rendition of Rory Mcleod's Miner's Picket Dance (thanks again Rory), which I was assured is Balkan Salsa, I found myself with a place to stay and about fifty new friends.

Principle amonst these is saxophonist King Bejsim Shakirov, known as Pajo, leader of the Kobra Orkestar who I plan to bring over to England to unleash some of their Balkan Funk on the festival circuit. Despite the language barriers we became firm friends and I started what promises to be a long and joyful association with the town of Kocani.

It's there, in the lovely home of Pajo, his wife Vadge, and daughters Jansu, Terchan and Jeda that I will leave you for now. Sipping on sweet coffee and Soc Gazoz.

More tales from the road to come. Happy travels to one and all.

Posted: 2010-08-05 | Contact

As I sit here watching the dawn and listening to the birdsong I'd just love to say thankyou to all of the wonderful folks who've made the last couple of months of wandering and endless gigs what it was.

After having my flight cancelled due to the volcano, I decided to just get on a train and leave the angry tourists behind. "What is Gordon going to do about this?" was ringing in my head and I knew it was time to get to sea.

After a couple of days hanging around Paris, waiting for a train, I was on route to Munich and Ljubljana to visit Laura, Katjusa, Tilen and Tine for a few days of recharging and lounging about. Then it was off to Sarajevo for the first time. A beautiful city, full of positive people who are rebuilding the city both physically and culturally. Unfortunately after three days of trying to find some local music, all I had found was Turbo-folk or covers of the Cranberries and Californication, so I took a bus to Pristina, or tried, at least.

From Sarajevo to Novi Pasar was the first step, weaving in and out of the (sometimes recognised) Republika Srpska through villages with churches, villages with mosques, villages with both and wondering why people are always so surprised that there's trouble when people in hotel rooms draw lines on maps without having experienced the local topography first hand. I arrived in Novi Pasar, known by some as Little Sarajevo, only to find there were no connections to Kosovo. After consulting google maps I managed to get on the bus to Rashka, and from there just managed to get on a bus to Kosova Mitrovica. I was getting close.

I was told that from Mitrovica it's only possible to get to Pristina from the other side of town so I walked across the bridge, past the U.N. guards and asked the way to the post office to make a phone-call. If I were to repeat this exercise I might try to avoid asking questions in Serbian on the south side of that bridge. I was just a stupid man with a guitar and a smile after all, but it didn't seem to go down too well. After finding the post office, I got through to Rudy, who was kind enough to offer to pick me up.

As I walked back across the bridge, I received an incredulous "what the **** are you doing?" look from the U.N. people, but I could only return it, as after all they were the ones who were standing in the middle of a bridge in another man's country carrying M-16s.

So I enjoyed a couple of days of touring around Kosovo with Rudy, eating fantastic feasts from all cultural persuasions and having a great wander around one village which still has orthodox, catholic, muslim and roma quarters... a rarity nowadays.

Rudy and some of his friends were heading to Greece for the weekend, so I got a lift down to Skopje and was home again. I met up with Krume Stefanovski and Jordan Kostov and we proceeded to stay up all night recording music and drinking Rakia, which tends to be the norm. That was when I last posted my progress on facebook, from a sunny balcony on a similar dawn to this one.... which is where I'll leave you for now.

Posted: 2010-06-15 | Contact

Thank you to all of the wonderful people who've given us such a warm reception over the past few weeks of shows. It's been fun. Great to see so many old faces coming out of the woodwork, and even better to meet all sorts of new ones for the first time.

This weekend, The Roving Blades will be mounting a full frontal assault on Glastonbury town. We play at The Assembly Rooms on Friday April 9th, supported by the lovely Hayley Palmer and the legendary Gareth Austin. Doors open at 8pm and we'll be there to entertain you until we get kicked out.

On Saturday there will be an extra show for those who just can't get enough, featuring the infamous Spatchcock Twins and their musically tainted brethren. We'll be announcing the location on Friday at The Assembly Rooms.

Apart from roundly whipping the band in a frenzy of six hour rehearsal, I've been working on recordings for my forthcoming album. Check out some of the rough demos and some recent live tracks from the full band on the tracks page, on myspace or reverbnation.

After returning from Glastonbury, I'll be packing my bags to head off on another ramble around the Balkans. I'll be meeting Canadian violin-master, Cam Neufeld and the delightful Billie Zizi in Istanbul in order to tour our way back through Romania, Bulgaria and Macedonia. Cam and I will fly back to England to reunite with the Blades for a hometown show at King's Cliffe Village Hall on Saturday, June 12th and after a couple of shows in the west-country we'll be back off to France for Djangofest.

Keep checking the websites for summer dates as and when they are confirmed. Looking forward to seeing you all somewhere down the road.

Posted: 2010-04-07 | Contact

As Spring tries to spring through the frozen ground, my new band, The Roving Blades will be out and about bringing you all some of the joy we've been getting into in the past few weeks. We've got a few solid sets of fiddling funk, acoustic reggae, feisty folksongs and non-biblical bluegrass. It's quite a cocktail.

Expect fiery fiddle, smoking harmonica, silky double bass and sweet harmonies.

On Saturday, March 13th we'll be back at The Voodoo Lounge in Stamford to get the party going and bring you the full force of the Roving Blades, for the first time in Stamford.

On St. Patrick's Night we'll be playing at The Barley Mow in St. Neots.

Saturday, March 20th will find us back to old haunts playing a fiddle-frenzied Paddy's weekend gig at The Ship Inn in Oundle. Special deals on Guinness and good times for all.

On Saturday, March 27th, we'll be taking the show to The Lamplighter in Northampton, and on Friday, April 9th, we'll be heading all the way down to Glastonbury to headline a rocking show at The Assembly Rooms. There are more gigs coming in all the time, so check back here or on the myspace page to find one near you.

I hope life's been treating you all well. See you somewhere down the road.

Posted: 2010-02-01 | Contact

As the snow starts to melt and the sun starts to peak through the clouds, new things are afoot.

Over the past month I've been putting together a band called Jez Hellard & The Roving Blades, partly due to the fact that we're widely spread and somewhat elusive. Our first show was at The Angel in Yarwell on a frozen night just before Christmas. As always, Nick and Di provided a warm welcome. Thanks to all the good people who braved the snowy roads to party with us into the wee hours.

This Saturday, January 23rd, we'll be playing at The Voodoo Lounge in Stamford. Described as "High octane folk, roots, funk and reggae; dueling fiddles, smoking harmonica, silky double-bass." it's sure to be a great night of dancing and revelry.

If you're in the area, come down and check us out.

Posted: 2010-01-18 | Contact

Festive greetings to all corners of the world! After another year spent on the move, I find myself back in sunny England, hunched over this computer, trying to make sense of it all. It's been quite a journey.

It's hard to believe that less than a year ago I was in Taiwan, rushing from gig to gig and rambling around the mountains of the Taipei Basin on my trusty old Yamaha. Since then I've been in about fifteen countries at the last count, played a hundred or so gigs of all shapes and sizes, and made a whole host of new friends. As Robin Williamson puts it so sweetly in his "Love Song to my Wife Bina",

"God knows, it's been one of those years,
Earthquakes, planes and tears,
And miles of road."

From Taiwan, I headed to England to rehearse for the Dana Wylie Band's tour of the UK and Canada. We put in some great work and ended up with a tight set of new material which went from strength to strength as we took to the road. Starting on May 1st, we put on 12000 miles and 56 shows before we finally wrapped it up in London on August 27th.

That was my cue to take my leave of that stellar band (the heart and soul of my being for the last five years) and head off on adventures of my own. Who'd a thunk it?

From England, I took a train... well a few trains to be honest... and ended up in Macedonia for the wedding of my great friends Wolf and Sara. On the way I was lucky enough to run into friends, new and old in Brussels, Munich and Ljubljana, and was treated to an incredible tour of Slovenia thanks to Laura and her associates.

Arriving in Macedonia, somewhere I've been itching to visit since the turn of the century, I was treated to the best hospitality I've ever encountered. After a week-long group honeymoon on the shores of Lake Ohrid, I was fortunate enough to join Skopje's premier world music band, Kalevala, for 16 shows and two recording sessions in three weeks(no time to rehearse), thanks to Sara's cunning paring of me and Krume Stefanovski, puppet-master extraordinaire. "You will stay with Krume", she said, "He's a musician and you will get on well." She's always on the money.

So time came that I had to get back on the road and I raced back via new-found friends in Belgrade, Budapest, Vienna and Heidelberg, to Glastonbury, where I made it with half an hour to spare before my show at the Assembly Rooms, thanks to a fortuitous ride from Karlsruhe to Ipswich and the tireless efforts of master of space and time, Nye Parsons.

Singing Jay Bennett's reworking of Woody Guthrie's "Remember the Mountain Bed", ("I've crossed many states just to stand here now, my face all hot with tears") was the perfect end to the journey, as was the after-party jam with the lovely ladies of Ember, Gaz, Matt, Nathan and Nye.

Since then I've been dividing my time between Glastonbury, Bristol, Dorset and Northamptonshire, developing an intimate relationship with National Express buses, and working on a variety of new musical projects.

In Glastonbury I ran into Hayley Palmer, a deep voiced, soulful songstress from Romford, at dinner one night and managed to rehearse a set in four days for our first gig, which went down a treat. In Bridport, The Spatchcock Twins (Gareth Austin and myself) were born one November morning and will be playing our second gig on Dec. 16th. In Stamford, the hastily assembled J,D & Bloke seemed to go down well opening for the Legendary Rhythm Methodists, and in Bristol I found a whole host of talent through the good folks of Capadien and Modachic, the makers of this website.

All in all, it's been quite a year. I'm looking forward to getting all of these shows on the road and finding my way back to the Balkans in spring for another dose of Gypsy soul. Keep your eyes peeled for gigs as they are confirmed, and why not come down to The Angel in Yarwell on Saturday December 19th for a good old festive knees-up with myself, Nye and a few special guests.

Well, I hope your Yule spins smoothly... see you somewhere down the road.

Posted: 2009-12-08 | Contact