It was our first time in Winchester, a beautiful medieval town nestling within the County of Hampshire. Once the Capital of England prior to the Norman invasion, its winding streets have remained unchanged for centuries since Alfred the Great altered the original Roman street plan.
Not having a huge amount of time we merely wandered the twisting ways and meandered through the beautiful architecture, enjoying the quintessential Englishness of the place. A delightful second-hand bookshop was found and despite an attempt at resisting temptation I failed to not purchase a hard back edition of Gabriel Garcia Marquez's 'Love in the time of Cholera' and Dostoyevsky's 'The Gambler'. Emma bought 'The History of Western Music' and 'An Illustrated History of Religious Chanting'.
The evenings show was at the Railway, just off Clifton road, an uncanny parallel to our home-towns Railway Hotel. Organised by Ancient and Modern, the gig was in the upstairs room of this bar, an intimate and warm space which created a homely atmosphere conducive to relaxed music making.
We were playing in support of Nathan Salsburg the American guitarist / songwriter who is a curator of the Alan Lomax archive. As suggested by his job, his music reached back into the American folk / blues tradition, but with a freshness. His on-stage anecdotes and behind-the scenes Grammy Awards insights were very well received, as was our Brighton sea debris collection. If it was practical we would probably return for this:
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