Take these woodpeckers and bluebells

Store them in a song

For when your heart feels empty

And the days seem so long

Drink from this beaker of memories

As you wander over the hills

And hear the distant woodpecker

Sing to me of bluebells

Singer-songwriter John Meed hails from Lancashire, but is now based in Cambridge. When The Music Ends is this third CD, following The Children Of The Sea and Powder Of The Stars. He cites his songwriting influences as being Christy Moore, John Lennon, Ray Davies, Eric Bogle, Bruce Springsteen and Roy Harper. Moore and Bogle I can detect here more than the others. I would describe Meed as writing very much in the contemporary folk vein, classic folk club material. He writes well in this tradition, spinning tales and contemplating life and the world.

John's vocals aren't great, to be honest, but the instrumental backing is a definitely a strong point, with lame soft rock and inane percussion mercifully avoided: John on guitar and piano, Lester Lloyd-Reason on lead guitar, Cliff Ward on violin. I like the violin, particularly. John and Cliff produce.

The track listing is: When The Music Ends, Red Caravan, Rainbow, Queen Mary, Waiting For The Argonauts, The Clarendon Road, The Empty Nest Song, The Woodstock Rest Home, Every Day, Woodpeckers And Bluebells, Flatlands, Hold On, With Those Eyes, Queen Mary (Stu Hanna remix), Rainbow (Stu Hanna remix).

Plenty for John's fans to savour.

Count me out, count me in

Count the reeds, count the wind

Who knows what might begin

When the music ends

www.johnmeed.net

Writer: Rychard Carrington