Back home again in Malmköping after a great two months away and thirty shows played. First a solo tour in Germany, then, after a few days at home I was in England rehearsing and touring with Oysterband and June Tabor for their Long Goodbye Tour. This was intertwined with my own solo Even For A Shadow Tour of England and Wales; every time they had a few days off, I carried on with my tour manager Tom and played altogether an additional eleven solo dates.

It was great to see so many old friends again, not just in the band but also in the crew and the audience. I liked being back on the big stages and having space for the sound to fill the big halls. The new version of Oysterband was great to play in and it was something of a relief to be playing only cello. The contrast between the the tours could not have been greater: the biggest Oyster show was the sold out concert at London’s Barbican to 1943 people, the smallest was a private house concert in Honiton a couple of days later to 15. I don’t find it difficult to adapt though, for me a show is a show. I finished with a great run of solo gigs in the last week in Otley, Leamington Spa, York and Rhayader.

I liked the intensity of this touring period and I felt my voice improving as time went on. There were some nice collaborations too. In Barnoldswick Arts Centre I had a double bill with Merry Hell’s singer Virginia Kettle and her band Rolling Folk. She sang the duet ‘Going Underground’ from my new album with me and I joined her band for her lovely song ‘Falling’. In York, there was a double bill with White Sail and They all joined me for my song ‘My Compass Points To North’ and I played cello on their song ‘Was It You’. It was nice to play with a harpist (Sara Dean), what an interesting sound. Only afterwards did we discover that their song was about the Antarctic and mine was about the Arctic.

So now I am back to the peace and quiet of Malmköping, quieter now that the wolf activity has died down. The authorities say they have killed the rogue wolf that has been eating all the cats (including ours). Anyway, none have been sighted in the village for a few weeks now. I guess they have gone back deeper into the forest to howl at the moon. It will be interesting to see if there are any footprints on the lake later on when the ice comes. I skate every winter with a long distance skating club and when there is a light dusting of snow over the ice you can see all kinds of animal footprints.

I am quite glad to have an extended period at home and some time to work on things in the studio. The next tours are not until 2025 May (Germany), then September (Germany again) and November 2025 for the next major UK tour. There will also be some summer festivals that will be announced at a later date.

Thanks to all the people who turned up and to the promoters who believed in me, I had a great time. And I will be back.