In fact, with the outpouring of emotion and inner torment that I was going through the words just flowed out of me. And what a relief to be creative again. By now Colin had moved to Bath, just a wee bit to far away to commute to. Luckily a neighbour of mine introduced me to a friend of his called Ryan Sharp. Like myself, he was a devoted, one might say, fanatical admirer of Bob Dylan. He also played Guitar and Harmonica. We began work on my new material and it went rather well. I found him very easy to work with and very much on my musical wave length. We had actually spent some time in the studio working on some demos, when I was introduced to a guitarist/producer called Darren Hurst. The long and the short of it was that we agreed to work together and he would produce my next album. The promise being that 'It would take three months, not two years'. He also wanted his producer’s fee up front, and like a fool I paid it. An error of judgement that I have since learnt to regret! The templates of fourteen songs were laid down in his studio in December 1999. It is now the spring of 2005 and the project still awaits a satisfactory conclusion! A great shame, because I thought that the material that I had written was the strongest I had ever done, and early indications were, that to date, it might well have been the best recordings that I had ever done. However! Along came the gremlins! Darren relocated his studio, first up north, and then to Los Angeles! Plus, in the middle of all this he was struck down with a very serious illness which left him unable to continue with the project. As was usual with me when things go wrong, my version of 'Churchill's Black Dog' struck. And I thought that it would never be completed. As a creative artist I found this extremely frustrating to say the least, and for a time I lost contact with Darren.

They do say that out of every dark cloud there is a silver lining. Joining Ryan and me in the studio while we were putting those demos together was a young girl called Rebecca Larter. She had discovered a studio in Stotfold that I didn't even know existed. It all looked rather promising, so in 2002, and armed with a handful of songs, I trotted along to introduce myself.
Six weeks later, I had recorded my first 'Country Music' album called 'Summertime'. Ryan guested on the album with three of his songs. Rebecca also did a vocal duet with me. John Saltwell ran the studio and the musicians that sessioned for me were his band 'Alter Ego'. At last after all the bitter disappointments and frustrations over the Darren Hurst project, I now had a good recording to promote. I sent a copy to the country music paper 'Country Music Round-up', where it was reviewed most favourably. This led me in turn to Jim Silverthorn who runs the 'Country Music Trade Fair' every year in Keynsham, near Bristol in the West Country. I was invited to perform as a song writer in August 2003. This year I will be returning with Alter Ego, things can only get better!
June 2004, and things are moving at a cracking pace. Alter Ego and I have completed more recordings and have plans for an album of new songs later this year. John and his mate Paul have been kept busy building these two web sites for me. I am definitely on a roll! For me one of the most interesting things that I did in 2004 was to work with my old friend Brian in Tewkesbury adding the finishing touches to a song that Rob and I wrote and recorded in Texas in 2001. Oh, Happy Days!