AS the post-Christmas-back-to-work depression slowly evaporates and the spectre of 1975 slinks out through the back door, is there anything on the horizon to brighten up this gloomy scene?

The short term answer is yes – the John Martyn concert at the Carlisle next Friday¹. But beyond that the picture at present is a grim one – just one concert, that of Wooden Lion on January 24 at the Pier, arranged for the music-loving (?) people of Hastings.

We live in constant hope of further shows being fixed-up and can only keep our fingers crossed that they will be, and that if they are, enough people go along to make it worthwhile.

Anyway, on to things with the news this week that John Martyn will be accompanied not only by his wife, Beverley, but also by Danny Thompson² – one of music's great bass players who previously played alongside Pentangle and Ralph McTell to name but two.

The importance of this concert has been dramatically increased with John saying that he plans to go into semi-retirement, as far as his work in this country is concerned, to concentrate more on Europe and the States. So it would not be stretching it too much to suppose that this may well be one of his last ever shows in Britain. Tickets for this memorable occasion can be bought at the Carlisle, the Lord Nelson and the Disc Jockey.

John will be putting out another album in a couple of months³ and at present he is co-producing an LP by his wife⁴. Numbers from both these records will be played at the concert.

sitenotes:
¹ The Observer issue hit the streets on Saturday, placing the John Martyn concert on Friday 9th January 1976.
² The presence of Beverley is rather unusual and unconfirmed. Danny Thompson was there allright.
³ Not clear whether this was an actual project. One World was recorded summer 1977.
⁴ No further details about what became of that project.

The article featured a picture of John performing. Material and info kindly provided by Alan Esdaile and Sarah Harvey.