Our folk music special: now available as a podcast!

Last Sunday, we sat down at half past eight with the internet radio tuned to Studio 109 Live and Online, ready to hear our very own radio show, full of a diverse range of talent from mostly local (one or two not-so-local) folk and folk inspired musicians. We live-tweeted the whole thing for anyone who was listening, and it was wonderful to see many of the artists featured tweeting to each other, and checking out each other's oeuvre. It's heart-warming to think that perhaps we've introduced some talented musicians to others, and possibly even helped people make new friends!

It was such a fun thing to put together, and we like to think that perhaps some people have a few new favourites now as a result!

If you missed it, the good folks at Studio 109 have kindly put it online as a podcast so you can listen to our show again in its entirety! We'd love to know what you think, especially of the first track, Ella Brown, which will be the lead single from our forthcoming album, Amateur Astronomy, out later this spring.

Studio 109 Live and Online - Folk Music Special - Moss and Jones by Studio109 Live And Online on Mixcloud

Our very own folk show THIS SUNDAY on Studio 109!

If you can, cast your minds back to December 2014, when our Christmas carol, A Song for Mary, was played on BBC Radio Merseyside and other local radio stations and podcasts, featured in the Liverpool Echo and even won a carol competition; one of the radio stations that played our carol was Studio 109. Studio 109 is a fantastic internet radio station for new music coming out of the North West and beyond. You can find them online, and also by using the TuneIn app on a smartphone.

Well, after they'd kindly featured our carol, the lovely folks at Studio 109 got in touch with us early this year and asked if we'd like to do a folk show for them. We debated whether or not it was something we could do; we'd never put together anything like this before. We were worried too; what if we asked for tracks but received too many and had to whittle them down, and risk disappointing or upsetting people? What if the musicians we did contact said no? How would we even go about putting such a show together? Of course, we said yes in the end, and decided we'd learn as we went along.

After researching podcasting, we learned that we could use good old Audacity to put together our show. We then set about looking for music to play. The only stipulations given by Studio 109 were that the music had to be original, and folk. Obviously, with a lot of music in the folk tradition being an artist's own interpretation of age-old songs, we've taken "original" in these cases to mean "an original interpretation". We decided that we'd try to make the show from local folk musicians where we could, but if we heard something amazing from further afield, we wouldn't leave it out. It made sense to include songs we listened to quite a lot at home; we also tried to make it so that the show had a wide range of instruments.

The show will be played this Sunday; the radio show itself starts at 8.30pm and our segment will start just before 9pm.

Musicians featured include:
Laura James and the Lyres
The Lost Lad
Elly the Folk
Under a Banner
Katie Rose
Pennman
Finch and the Moon
Derek King
Caitlin Gilligan
Merry Hell
Janey Turner
SheBeat
Laura & Claire

... and of course, Moss & Jones, with two tracks from our forthcoming mini-album, Amateur Astronomy.

We'd just like to say thank you to all the artists who agreed to let us use their tracks, and who got back in touch with us so quickly. We can't wait to hear your thoughts on the show this Sunday!

Be Lovely Day, January 17th, The Brink

Our first gig of 2015 was at an event organised by the wonderful Jodie Schofield (who trades musically under the name SheBeat), to mark the third Be Lovely Day. This annual explosion of good deeds and acts of kindness is Jodie’s personal project and we were honoured to be asked to play a part in it.

One of the events for this year’s Be Lovely Day was an afternoon of acoustic music in Liverpool’s TheBrink. Those of you who follow our activities will know that it’s a venue dear to our hearts; not only did we publicly announce our engagement on its stage (the classifieds column of The Times is a trifle déclassé, don’t you think?), but Ruth held her Hen Do there (and Marc the second of his Stag Dos), AND they did the catering for our wedding. Yes, it’s fair to say we’re Fairly Well Disposed to The Brink.

Planning for the gig, we were presented with a similar issue to January of last year (and possibly the one before): our most recent Big Gig, the one we’d worked towards and planned and practised for, had been a Christmas concert. And there is one fact about doing Christmas concerts: your repertoire evaporates after 1^st January. Thus we had a bit of work to do to get back into non-festive match fitness. However, after a couple of evenings’ rehearsal, we soon felt confident we could rock the (post-Christmas) house.

On the day, we were last on the bill, which meant we had the pleasure of watching the other performers before taking our turn on the stage. Sets from Kate Garroway, Cal Ruddy, Michael Bennett and our pal Derek King made for a wonderful afternoon’s entertainment, and it was great to see the acts staying around to watch each other play.

Our own set seemed to go down well, and we’d brought along an extra surprise for Be Lovely Day; the sheet music for Let No Man Steal Your Thyme, which Ruth had adroitly put together in Noteflight.

All in all a memorable afternoon – we keenly await next year’s events!

In the mix: Amateur Astronomy

Yesterday, after a slightly fraught early morning (the gas meter had eaten through the last of the emergency credit thus necessitating a slightly disheveled trip to the Co-op before we could even have a wash), we went to Catalyst Studios for our last session of putting our mini-album together.

Andy, as always, was helpful and knowledgeable whilst mixing the songs from our previous session, with lots of useful suggestions and some little tricks of the trade to tidy away the odd error or two.

Then, we went back to the songs from previous studio sessions. There were a few minor issues we'd spotted since recording which Andy was able to correct with cutting edge software. It's quite something to see how, using Pro Tools, a misplaced nudge of the ukulele can have its own waveform which can be made to simply vanish. We also added something very special to Millbrook which you'll have to wait to hear!

Ruth's son came in towards the end of the session after having spent the morning at his dad's. Luckily we'd had the foresight to buy him a puzzle book and a set of pens so he wasn't too bored, though he did wonder why we had to check everything so many times. We explained that it was because we wanted everything to be the best it could possibly be (but also, more candidly, that we had no more of the recording money & vouchers we'd been given for our wedding, so this was our last chance to get everything perfect)!

We came away with a CD with all of the songs for the mini-album on it, in the right order, so we can listen and decide how much of a gap - or not - we want between them all when mastered. The CD itself is just under half an hour long so we think it's possibly that bit too long to be reasonably called an EP, but that bit too short to be described as a full-album (hence us calling it a mini-album). We can't quite believe how fantastically this concept album hangs together; each song seems to fit perfectly, and they all sound sumptuous! There are so many instruments too in addition to our harmonies; this album has everything from melodica to psaltery; from violin to mandolin, from piano to bodhran... and more.

We've already worked on the cover art for the CD, but there are so many other things left to do before we can release it. We've decided on a single (digital release only) for the album, which will be Ella Brown, and have commissioned some cover art, to display online, from an exciting young mixed-media artist; having seen some sketches already we're intrigued about what she'll come up with for the final design. We're also awaiting the final mix of our b-side (folk classic Reynardine) for the single; unlike the a-side and the rest of the album, this has been recorded by one of Ruth's friends who is studying for a music degree.

We have myriad other i's to dot and t's to cross; signing up to PRS, getting the CDs printed and burnt, deciding how to get our music onto other platforms outside of Bandcamp, writing to various publications to request reviews, arranging the launch gig and mini-tour (a mini-album necessitates a mini-tour, surely). Naturally, we also have other responsibilities; we both have jobs and of course there's Ruth's son to parent and a house to run. We've been so lucky, though, that we could even do this at all; the kind wedding presents of studio time were such lovely, thoughtful gifts from friends for which we're incredibly grateful. It's so exciting to record an album together and hopefully, this won't be the only one.

We're also indebted to people who've helped us pre-promote the album so far; you Macramists are the BEST; sharing posts across social media, bringing friends to gigs and generally spreading the word. We'd simply love it if you keep it up now; if we can create a bit of a buzz about Amateur Astronomy in advance that would be marvellous! Thank you all. xx

We have finished recording... now for the rest of the to-do list!

Yesterday we went to Catalyst Studios, St. Helens, for our final recording session for our mini album, Amateur Astronomy.

We started with our version of Schiarazula Marazula, a mediaeval dance which probably originates in the Friuli area of Italy. Ruth discovered this tune last year and immediately thought it was perfect for us to cover. Our version stays the same tempo throughout, and we've added lyrics to one of the repeated phrases. As Marc bought Ruth a psaltery for Christmas, it seemed a shame not to use it; we also added bodhran, ukulele (plucked), descant recorder and some backing ahhs and oohs.

Ruth arranged it to have an additive nature; due to this and the way it builds, organising the different parts on the mixing desk was a bit of a challenge, so once Andy (the producer) had the basic structure down we moved onto the next song.

Our next song, Frosty Nights (When I Was Your Age), is a-cappella, with just two parts, one for each of us. Ruth wrote it for her son, and we've been singing it around the house so much that before we set off for the studio, Ruth's son was singing snippets of it himself! We hadn't originally intended to put this on the mini-album as Ruth composed it in mid-January this year, after we'd already planned a rough track listing, however, it fitted so well with the theme that we couldn't leave it off. You might have to look that bit harder for it as a result. We'll be giving away the sheet music free with our album so you can have a bash at singing it yourselves.


Last up was Marc's composition, the title track of the album, Amateur Astronomy. Over a year in the writing, the song has three distinct sections coming together to tell a simple story. Its lengthy gestation means it's ended up nothing like the song he started out with, but it's all the better for that. Utilising the tenor ukulele Ruth bought Marc for Christmas, in addition to piano, some soaring strings and backing vocals from Ruth, Marc handles lead vocal duties on this one.

After recording all three songs, that was it for the day; we've arranged to go back to mix everything on Saturday 14th February (yes, Valentine's Day; is there anything more romantic than spending time together in the studio?)

As usual, Andy was fantastic; he doesn't shy away from telling us, diplomatically, if we could go back in the booth and record something again better; he also makes an excellent brew.

Whilst we were in the studio, we finalised the track-listing for the mini-album. It has a loose concept running through it, so we had to think carefully about where everything goes. We've already designed the front cover of the CD; once everything is mixed, we have to sort out CDs, a launch, reviews, radio play, and the back cover of the CD, too. A friend of Ruth's is also recording us performing folk staple Reynardine as b-side for our first single from the album, which will be our folk-inspired song Ella Brown (you can watch us playing it live here).

We're very excited about having finished recording, but in some ways, that's only the beginning. Watch this space!

Welcome to our website!

One of our New Year Resolutions was to create and maintain a more professional-looking website  (and keep tumblr as a kind of scrapbook). Well, here we are. At any rate, here we start, as we'll be tweaking this thing regularly to make sure it looks nice, stays relevant and is easy to get around. We'll be adding various bits and bobs; a form for people to subscribe to our newsletter, an order form for people who want to buy CDs (when we have CDs) and other merchandise, and so on.

But for now, it's at least ready enough to show you all. What do you think?

Are YOU mentioned in our review of the year?

We’ve all known bands who we know have been going for about ten years but when you look in their biographies, it says “we met last Thursday in hilarious circumstances and have already put out our first single, EP, album and are planning a UK tour for next week”.

With that in mind, full disclosure. We first played in public together about two years ago now, doing some carols at an open mic with a cheap ukulele and an even cheaper (comparatively speaking) violin. However, in many ways, 2014 was our first year as something edging ever closer to a “proper band”. Actually, if we’re honest, it was in December of 2013 that we did our first proper full-length gig, so if you’re still counting, we think of Moss & Jones as having been going since then.

We started this year in the doldrums a bit. We were struggling to get gigs, and the places we’d played over Christmas weren’t really interested in booking us again so soon. Bands with more experience at this sort of thing told us that this was pretty usual; that the first part of a year was always pretty quiet, but it was still hard not to worry that we’d done something wrong. However, a few open mics (thanks, Liverpool’s the Brink and the Egg Café! Thanks, St. Helens’ Bar Java!) to keep our hand in and we didn’t feel quite so bad.



However, with spring came some amazing opportunities. The fantastic Bombed Out Church responded to our request to gig there (oh, we also asked if we could get married there, but more on that later) with not one but three gigs over the course of 2014! We also played a few local festivals (Rainhill, Victoria Park, Childwall Valley …) and got to be part of a wonderful Liverpool Acoustic event too at the View Two Gallery.

2014 was also the year where we first ventured into the studio together. A kind present from Ruth’s sister of half a day’s recording in a studio in Leigh led to this semi-live recording of our summery song, Shepherd’s Delight (It’s Not Time To Go To Bed). This led to our being played on the radio for the first time; Halton Community Radio and Radio Kaos Caribou. In fact, Laura who hosts the HCR show also played a beautiful set at one of our Bombed Out Church gigs with her band, Laura&Claire. Small world!

Probably our favourite gig of the summer, however, was opening for brilliant folk-indie-pop band The Beautiful Word, at Liverpool’s Sound Food and Drink. Ruth was more than a little star-struck as they are one of her favourite bands, and we were honoured to have been asked.

Of course, 2014 was also the year we got married (and played a set at our own wedding, naturellement) in the Bombed Out Church.



As we already have all our own furniture (admittedly, some of it broken and most of it second hand) we asked that instead of toasters and pudding bowls, if anyone wanted to buy us a present, they got us vouchers for local studio, Catalyst. We went in autumn for the first time and recorded a track for our EP (out next year) and an original Christmas carol, A Song for Mary. More on that later, too.

A friend of ours, himself a musician, suggested that on future recordings, we vary our arrangements a little more. We worked on that (in a live context too) and we feel it’s made a difference to our sound.

In autumn we also played another gig in Sound food and Drink, and were thrilled to be asked by Vikki at Friends of Victoria Park, St. Helens, to play not one but two sets at an event that they were holding. The second set would be as background music to a fire juggling act; that’s not something we would ever say “no” to!

In a lovely sequence of happy coincidences, Ruth was asked to compose and then perform a violin part for some music by St. Helens indie band The Loungs. The band hired a really rather beautiful violin for her, and it meant she was able to use that violin on some of our songs, too (including our carol).

With the approach of winter, we “dropped” our carol on Bandcamp. In terms of numbers of people listening, it’s done the best of all of our songs. And this little carol went quite some way! It was played on various radio stations - including BBC Radio Merseyside, as part of Dave Monks’ BBC Introducing show -  and podcasts, it made its way onto a wonderful Christmas compilation CD from Cherryade Records, it was included as part of an online carol service, had a write-up in the Liverpool Echo, and WON the Wirral carol competition! (Okay, yes, we live in St. Helens, but Marc’s from the Wirral, and most of Ruth’s Mum’s side of the family are that side of the water too, so it’s fine!)

Our second to last gig of the year was - certainly in terms of numbers - our very best so far. We played two sets (a folky set and a festive set) at the Domino Gallery in Liverpool and charged a small amount for tickets. We were very pleasantly surprised that so many people came that the venue owner, Felicity, had to get more chairs from the basement! The small space was packed and we played a wonderful gig to an appreciative audience.



Everyone said they felt festive after our Yuletide Yarns gig! Our last gig of the year was our first house gig on Christmas Eve. We received some money from the family which was very kind, so we gave a donation to Shelter, the housing and homelessness charity.

At the end of the year, we had some bad news about new EU VAT rules, and it looked for a while like we might have to take our music off Bandcamp, but just today we learned that Bandcamp will sort it all out for its users, so that’s great news on which to end the year!

What have we learned this year? 

We’ve learned that it’s fine to get off to a slow start. In 2015 we’re going to use the quiet time at the start of the year to write some new songs, learn our new instruments (a psaltery, and a baritone ukulele) and get back into the studio to record the final songs from our EP.

We’ve learned that it’s good to take advice, and to learn from other musicians. One of the most instructive moments for us this year was attending a Lightning Seeds gig in St. Helens. When Broudie’s guitar strap broke, the rest of the band carried on playing while it got sorted out. We put this idea to great effect at our Yuletide Yarns gig; while extra people arrived and the chairs were fetched from the basement we played a number of instrumental tunes that weren’t on our set list, just to fill the time while people chatted amongst themselves.

We’ve learned that although we can play in a number of contexts, we do seem to work best as an afternoon outfit with a family audience.

We’ve learned a lot about the English folk tradition and we’re realising that we’re probably best described as “folk-inspired”.

We’ve learned that it’s great to make friends with other musicians and listen to them play. Not just to support them in the hope they’ll support us, but to do it because we enjoy their music and we want to be part of an atmosphere where we do all support each other. We’ve also realised that open mics are great fun to play at but also just to attend without playing; in fact, there’s something wonderfully relaxing just about turning up to an open mic sometimes and watching everyone else! We’ve been so lucky to meet and listen to the music of some amazing musicians this year.

We have learned that it’s important to have everything practised to the max and arrangements written down in advance before stepping foot in the studio, in order to make the most of the time there.

What about 2015?

This next year, we plan to put our our first studio recorded EP/mini album. We plan not only to have it available to download on bandcamp, but also to have it on CD, and possibly on other digital platforms too.

We want to do more gigs with other bands and musicians.

We’d like to perform a bit further afield than Liverpool/Merseyside.

We’d like to do at least one “proper” (i.e. camping, longer than one day) festival in the summer.

We’d like to do a bit of busking.

We’re going to sign up for PRS in case we get more radio play. (We’d very much like to get more radio play!)

We’d like to get a few more reviews of our music.

We want to continue to perform most of our gigs in family-friendly venues at family-friendly times. This rather conveniently for us means we don’t have to think about childcare, but it’s also really important to us that the next generation gets a feel for live music. One of the best moments of the year for us came at the end, at our Yuletide Yarns gig. A couple had brought their just-over-a-year-old baby with them; we learned that this was baby’s first ever gig! To be a part of someone’s life in that way is probably the biggest honour of all. Long may that kind of thing continue.

Here’s wishing you all a wonderful 2015 and thank you all so much for your support, whether that’s downloading, sharing, retweeting, reviewing, playing on your radio station or podast, streaming, having us at your open mic, giving us a gig at your venue…  or however you’ve helped. It’s hugely appreciated! - Moss & Jones xx