UNDER ONE SKY 2008 TOUR STARTS NEXT MONTH

16/Oct/2008
John McCusker has invited John to write his view of the show, to be included in the album sleeve. He has agreed that we can reproduce his words here, as a taster. Please do come and see the show - it is quite brilliant. Read on.... UNDER ONE SKY The car took me to an unreconstructed part of Glasgow I had not seen before - a featureless street off the Clyde. I’d spent over twenty years to-ing and fro-ing about this heartland including the ordination of the city as European Capital of Culture in 1990 when, with ‘The Ship’, the great Phil Cunningham was my guide and guardian. I was directed to a door beyond which lay the most celebrated gathering of musicians it was ever possible to bring together in one small space. I knew them all for their specialisms and the iconic positions they held. Graham Coxon, sitting cross-legged on the floor tuning his Martin, graciously waiting his turn; the sublime Ian Carr, carefully placing time where time has never been before; James Mackintosh, putting just the right pressure on his panoply of percussion; Ewen Vernal, breaking hearts with his editorial instinct of choice; Emma Reid, working like a jeweller in her detail; Ian MacDonald, guru, shamen, the piper of all pipers - and in an envelope of peace the singular Andy Cutting quietly about his indelible role; Julie Fowlis, the voice of an angel singing in the language of angels moving easily between whistle and Gaelic song; gentle Jim Causley of the most beautiful Devonian baritone voice; Roddy Woomble, stalking like a feral cat delivering serial wonder - and me! What the hell was I doing here in this box of brilliance? In the midst of this with a wink of an eye or a gentle nod from his fiddle stood the reason we were all there – John McCusker. The unity the space engendered under John’s gentle guidance proved the point. There is only one sky and we all live under it. John Tams October 2008

WarHorse on BBC Radio 2, with Timothy Spall, Brenda Blethyn and Bob Hoskins....

16/Oct/2008
John Tams and Sally Ward have done the adaptation of WarHorse, at Michael Morpurgo's request. It will be broadcast on BBC Radio 2 on Saturday 8th November at 7pm. John has directed and John Leonard has produced. It stars Timothy Spall as Joey, and includes Brenda Blethyn, Bob Hoskins, Geoffrey Hughes, Jasper Britton, Gawn Grainger, Paul Slack, Angus Wright, Luke Treadaway, Paul Slack, Jack Leonard and Ben Adams. It also features John's singing alongside Coope, Boyes and Simpson and the stunning playing of John McCusker, Andy Cutting and Andy Seward. On hearing the completed work, Michael Morpurgo called it 'sublime'. Judge for yourselves.

Under One Sky 2008 tour and album

16/Oct/2008
John was part of this project, masterminded by John McCusker, and which premiered at Celtic Connections in 2007. Featuring twelve extraordinary musicians and writers it was immediately a festival success. It was repeated at Cambridge Festival last year and is touring England and Scotland in November and December. The show’s cast reads like a ‘Who’s Who’ including John McCusker, Idlewild’s Roddy Woomble, Julie Fowlis, Andy Cutting, Iain MacDonald, ex-Blur guitarist Graham Coxon, Emma Reid, Ewen Vernall, Ian Carr, James Mackintosh, Jim Causley and John Tams. Many of you have asked about the song John sings called ‘Will I See Thee More’. It was written with John McCusker for this project. The album of Under One Sky will be launched at the start of the tour. See the gigs page for the dates of the tour. - Read more

War Horse -SHOW SOLD OUT

02/Oct/2008
This show has just returned to the National Theatre. The original opening night show received stunning reviews, a standing ovation and the audience cheering long after the cast had departed the stage. The return of WarHorse in September was just the same. Of course this means that once again tickets for the show are pretty difficult to obtain - it is a sell-out until the end of January. John has worked as Songmaker on this world premiere production in the National Theatre’s Olivier Theatre. This new epic is based on the celebrated novel by the former children’s Laureate Michael Morpurgo. Actors working with magnificent, life-sized puppets by the internationally renowned Handspring puppet company lead us on a journey through this epic story of a farm horse sequestered into the army during the Great War. - Read more

Getting in touch - for Concert promoters and Folk Clubs

21/Sep/2008
If you are wanting to contact John regarding a concert or folk club appearance then would you use the following email address... sally at sallytams dot fsnet dot co dot uk (obviously it will work better if you replace dot with an actual dot and at with an @!!) It will be good to hear from you

Concerts for 2009

26/Mar/2008
There are already many concert dates in the diary for 2009. Do get in touch via the 'Contact' link on this website if you want to book Duo if the Year, Tams and Coope.

OLIVIER AWARDS - the theatre Oscars

10/Mar/2008
John was delighted to have been nominated in the Sound Category (in the absence of a music category)for an Olivier Award - considered by many to be the theatre equivalent of the Oscars. John shares the nomination with Sound Designer Chris Shutt and fellow composer Adrian Sutton. The nomination is for their work on WarHorse at the National Theatre.

John's Birthday Cake

18/Feb/2008
Saturday 16th February - John's nnnnnnth Birthday. Huge thanks to the organisers of Cheltenham Folk Festival. They surprised John with this fabulous birthday cake on stage following John and Barry's terrific set on Saturday night. Thank you to John Shorter, Joanne Heatley and all the great staff and volunteers at the festival. A remarkable event which deserves...and seems to receive massive support.

The Definitive Collection

18/Feb/2008
NEW to buy from this website are John Tams - the Definitive Collection and The Albion Band - Lark Rise to Candleford: music from the celebrated National Theatre production of the 1980s. Both are essential additions to your cd collection. - Read more

Clare Set re-issue

18/Feb/2008
The Clare Set (Free Reed), recorded by John, and Neil Wayne in the 1970s was described recently in the Sunday Times as the ‘must-have re-issue.’ Critic Stewart Lee wrote ‘these reissued results sound as strange, mysterious and exotic as anything John and Alan Lomax pulled out of the Deep South in the 1930s’ and concluded by writing that the diversity of approach within an essentially narrow field will astonish you.’ www.free-reed.co.uk/anclar-06 - Read more