Who are you? Well, I’m Rich Clough, a musician, system architect, partner of Carol and custodian of Cozumel the wonderdog. I live in Northwich, Cheshire, was born in Nantwich, and have lived in Manchester, Yorkshire and Tyneside at various times.
What do you do? I play music using acoustic and resonator guitars and stompbox. I fingerpick, strum and stamp, and sing of course. It’s pretty much all original and as entertaining and fun as I can possibly make it. I’ve been doing it for a few years – had hair when I started.
What kind of music? They’re acoustic-based songs, played solo and mostly original: funny, tragic and everything in between. I do a few covers live, usually from songwriters on the British folk scene over the last few decades.
What have you been doing recently? Well for most of 2019 and early 2020 I was recording an album whilst doing relatively few gigs and live slots. It was recorded at Neon Palms studios in Northwich, with the owner Gaz Dupes engineering. We recorded one evening every week or two, one song at a time and experimenting with approaches to songs and it ended up very pure and simple – just a guitar and voice recorded at the same time, trying to catch the energy of the performance. Some evenings we got it, some we didn’t, and I had to take that particular song back to the drawing board or just practice it a bit more. It was a really nice relaxed way to record – and Gaz has a superb pair of ears. I’m really pleased with the result – and I’m pretty picky to be honest.
What’s next? Well given that I’m a bit of a late starter in album terms, I’ve already been working on writing the next one during the lockdown…and I’m looking to play live as much as a I can as soon as things start returning to normal – I’ve missed it.
