‘Hitting the Ground Running ‘ is the title of the new While & Matthews Album released on the 27th September last year.
We put together a really lovely band of talented and thoughtful musicians for this our 7th studio album.

Howard Lees (Guitar) is one of my oldest friends and someone who I adore as a musician. He brims with enthusiasm and ideas, always smiling, often laughing out loud in the studio! I first met him in 1980 when I was playing the folk circuit with my ex husband Joe While. Howard was in a duo at the time called (John) Hobson & Lees, incredible guitarists both, playing primarily gypsy guitar music and Berlin type standards with a few of their own compositions thrown in the pot for lovely measure.
When Joe decided to stop playing music live, Howard and became a duo for a while. This was one of the most rewarding musical times in my life and I made a friend for life.
I think Howard has only missed playing on two of our/my albums in all these years. It’s not the same without his magic touch.

Neil Fairclough (Bass). I fist met Neil when he was in the band e2K with Kellie (my daughter) and loved him right away. He’s the most positive person I’ve ever met in my life bar none! When he plays with you he is committed one hundred percent to the project in hand and wants it to be as good as you do and, well he plays like a dream.
The thing about Neil is that you always feel better just for having been in his company. He’s so funny, really he’s the most hilarious person I’ve ever known and his energy just lifts you.
He played in my band two years ago along with Joe Broughton and Tom Chapman and I think we were the happiest band on earth. He also played on Rosella Red my latest CD and the Last two W&M albums. You can hear Neil every Sunday on Weekend Wogan as the bass player in the Elio Pace Band.

Bryan Hargreaves (Drums). When Neil Marshall, our regular drummer went to work on the big ships around the world we asked Neil Fairclough to recommend someone that maybe he had worked with that would fit in with our particular style and vibe. He said that Bryan was the man for the job and would love to do it.
So the first thing he said when he arrived at the studio was that he loved the lyrics to the songs and that it would be a pleasure to work on the album. We still hadn’t heard him play. We knew that he had worked with Snake Davis and the Nearly Dan band so he must be technically excellent but would he fit in with us?
We need not have worried because from the moment he started to play our music we just looked sideways at each other and smiled, all was good…..he’s fantastic!

So we had a talented, enthusiastic and sunny natured band to work with, what could go wrong?................nothing!

We also asked Joe Broughton (fiddle) to play on some tracks, he always comes up with the most fantastic arrangements and extra players too. Paloma Trigas (Violin, Urban Folk Quartet) plays on a couple of tracks and so does Emma Capp (Cello, Folk Ensemble).
Uilleann Pipes player Troy Donockley (The Bad Shepherds) plays on the epic Rock of Gelt.

Party On The Lawn

Well of course we wanted to play with band again so PTOL was the perfect opportunity.
We had three days rehearsals in Joe and Rob’s Barn at the farm, long hard days but perfectly rewarding, then Saturday came around.
We had to wait all day to play having decided somewhat in error that our fans would want to see lots of different acts instead of us in the afternoon also, it turns out that they would have liked to have seen more of us so we’ll put that right next time.
Anyway it was worth the wait, we had an exhilarating gig with the lads and Kellie joined us on backing vocals, talk about the dream band!
It was over too soon so we are taking this band out with us this year in April.

Dates on the W&M website

Back home