Bill talks about the "Blue Dragon" Album

The gestation period for this album was long. Many of the songs had been kicking around in my head for a few years before I decided to take the plunge and record. Due to other commitments, I knew the recording would take a while but I had no doubt where I would record it, and that was at Big Boys Studio in Witney, Oxfordshire.

Big Boys is run by a long term bandmate of mine, Steve White. Steve and I had played in a couple of bands back in the 90s and early 2000s and we’d recorded a few covers back then in an early version of his studio - Steve on drums and mandolin, Dan Sager on bass and me on guitars and vocals. Steve’s understanding of how things should sound impressed me then and still does today.

Once we’d agreed how to proceed, over lunch at a pub just outside Oxford, we laid down the guide tracks for the 10 songs we had planned - 6 of mine and 4 covers - and the process began. 

Let me talk it through track by track.

Blueshouse Boogie - A rocking opener that dates back to when Steve and I worked together in the 90s. I based this tune on the intro and format for a cover we did at the time. The band was Blueshouse and so calling it Blueshouse Boogie was a natural thing to do. I was thrilled one day when, listening to David Freeman’s Blues and Boogie on Jazz FM, he used it to open his show

Happy People Don’t Smoke - Despite what people may think, this is not an anti-smoking rant but a comment on my own struggle to give up cigarettes! There is always a reason to wait until everything is perfect and then giving up will be easy. Well, it isn’t!

Blue Dragon - The Blue Dragon Hotel was a strange place in my home town of Cardiff. There was a large bar and I was taken there by my cousin to see a band he knew. The place had a lonely and forlorn feeling with customers who looked like they were there for life. It was very run down and had the worst Trip Adviser reviews I have ever seen. It’s been demolished now.

You’ll Never Get Me Up in One of Those - a fabulous song written by Micky Jupp, a guy who should have been a huge star.

Depends on Loads of Things - Life is a strange thing and you can never really plan the future, but you can set a path and try to stick to it. This is my view on how my life should have been. Well-meaning people give you the advice that “music is fine but you must always have something to fall back on”. Trouble is, if you have something to fall back on, that’s 99% likely to be what you end up doing. But it’s never too late.

Fire and Rain - a James Taylor song, written when he was suffering depression and fighting drug addiction. If you think this isn’t a blues song, you don’t know the blues.

You Don’t Love Me - an often covered classic of the British Blues Boom of the 1960s. Written by Willie Cobbs and covered by so many, including Junior Wells & Buddy, John Mayall (with an early vocal from Peter Green), The Allman Bros and even a Jamaican Dancehall version by Dawn Penn. The version here is an upbeat shrug - You Don’t Love me? Well, I don’t care! 

Divin’ Duck Blues - another blues classic with more versions than I can recall. We give it a bit a New Orleans feel.

A King of Rock and Roll - I wrote this not long after Bo Diddley “joined that great band in the sky”. Bo was one of the pioneers of Rock’n’Roll and one of its kings. Why isn’t it based on the Bo Diddley beat? I don’t know really, this was just the way it came out. When we do it live, we segue it with “Can’t Judge a Book” and that gets the point across. But what was it he had in his pocket to keep a lot of folks alive? You’ll have listen to his I’m a Man to get the answer!

Need Somebody (To Hold Me Tight) - the world looked pretty dark when I wrote this but it seems to be darker now. Hold on to each other.

Steve White played all drums and added the Bop Bops on A King of Rock and Roll and I played everything else. I am so glad now I have been blessed with a fantastic band now and can just focus on guitar and the occasional vocal. 

Blue Dragon is available for streaming on Apple Music, Spotify and all major digital channels. You can purchase a download here from  Bandcamp.