Writings and pictures
newest posts at the top
-
Magische Mühle
Tonight’s show was in the Magical Mill in Einbeck. The mill was built originally in 1752 and renovation began in 2000. So far, they have created a lovely social room for meetings and opened up the main area for a stage and seating. The acoustics in this space were perfect for Ray’s music. While Einbeck…
-
Sail On By
On Tuesday, Ray’s friend Thies arranged a special event including a days’ sailing, a meal and a concert at the harbourside cafe. The sailing was on the Albin Köbis, a wooden fishing boat converted for group sailing. The captain has owned the boat for some six years and it operates between March and October, taking…
-
In the land of fables
Tonight was a house concert in a garden. A magical atmosphere with candles, a small PA, music and an appreciative audience. Wangelnstedt is a small rural farming village in a broad river valley with a population of around 200 people and more cows in the area than people. Karsten, our host, held a concert for…
-
Treff 10 Bad Bentheim
Treff 10 is a community centre in Bad Bentheim with a bar, a small social room and a larger function room. Last year Ray played in the social room and it was very full. This year, more tickets had been sold and so they put the show on in their theatre. The venue is very…
-
Winsen Tidenhub
Last night was Ray’s first public show on this tour. Last night he played a private concert in a cattle barn on a farm. As we unpacked the electric keyboard, I had to shake out the straw from the case. This show was hosted by his friend Farmer George in the function room at the…
-
September rolls around again
It’s now time for Ray’s annual September tour in Germany. Ray toured there last year, I toured with him in the UK in November 2025. This September, we return to some favourite venues and I visit some new ones. The picture above shows the places we will visit. There is one missing. On Tuesday 15th,…
-
Trio tour recap
The musicians on this tour were John Jones, Ray Cooper and Al Scott. Read John’s reflections and stories from the tour on his Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/johnjonesoysterband This may be a long read but there are quite a few photographs … Being Tour Manager for a trio and touring in England is very different from touring…
-
The music of Jones Cooper Scott
Having rested after 3 weeks on the road, and before I write about the tour, I want to write some comments on the music. I only came across Oysterband around 2005, on their Big Session tour when I went to see Show of Hands, their support act. I was immediately captured by their music and…
-
A Step Up …
This next tour is geographically but not politically over Europe’s roads (but we do hope that both may become true again in my lifetime). John Jones has asked Ray and Al Scott to join him to tour as a trio. See www.johnjonestrio.org and they asked me to be their tour manager for the UK tour…
-
Café9 Sheffield
There is a lot of driving when on tour and sometimes it becomes a pleasure. Today, we drove along the winding roads with view of the hills in from the Welsh border, then across the Pennines and into Sheffield. I’d only ever seen Sheffield before when driving north or south on the M1 so it…
