I am Barry Lane. I live in Bristol, UK where I have a home studio and work as a Counsellor and Meditation teacher.
I was in a musical family and got into writing at the age of 14. I remember walking the dog around a local park while reading aloud Oscar Wild’s Ballad of Reading Gaol. Somehow a tune arose and that was the start of an exciting and fulfilling life of songwriting.
I was lucky to grow up in the UK when the folk rock scene was blooming with people like Paul Simon, Ralph McTell, Bert Yansch, Joni Mitchell and many other fine songwriters touring the clubs and inspiring us all to climb on board and see what we could do.
The rest is history. I have been in many bands along the way, playing festivals and clubs across London and the South West. Even now, at the tender age of 71, I sing and play guitar in a folk rock band just recovering from the Pandemic and getting ready to return to live gigs in 2022.
In Bristol, we live in a community where there are a lot of musicians and this city is known for it’s vibrant music scene. Along the way, I have met many very talented songwriters and enjoy putting on local music festivals where this talent can be enjoyed by others.
I have run quite a few ‘music retreats’, usually in the countryside or by the sea, bringing together bunches of writers in ideal conditions for songwriting to happen.
I have always felt mystified and intrigued by the process of songwriting. I must have 3 or 4 hundred songs in files all over the house, a large pile of CD’s, and a scrapbook full of ‘ideas for songs’.
But where does this songwriting ability really come from? I am really curious! Is it a ‘gift’ only some of us have, can it be taught or learned? What makes a melody or line of lyrics shape up in us then burst out in the form of a song?
I’ve always wanted to investigate this further and, as I begin to move toward retiring from my 25 years of work as a Counsellor, I have decided to spend some time setting up and running this Podcast.
The plan is to interview songwriters I know about how they go about songwriting, what inspires them, what conditions they create to make songs happen, working with others or alone, trying to get published or, perhaps, just being content to write?
The podcast will be published in all the usual online podcast directories and, hopefully, will attract a growing audience of fellow songwriters across the world collaborating in an ongoing, maybe sometimes risky, conversation.
I’ve never done this before, so it is technically and practically new ground and a steep learning curve, but this is the first podcast episode and, hopefully, I will begin interviewing some other songwriters in the next few months, taking us into 2022.
Along the way you will find new interviews listed here, and each will contain contact information and links to our guest’s websites, social media and news of forthcoming events, gigs, recordings etc. Hopefully you can then, if you choose, continue the conversation directly with those you listen to.
I have a few ideas for future podcasts; such as a collaborative songwriting session where 3 or 4 of us can take a topic and brainstorm creating a song live online from scratch? Lots of ideas bubbling.
If you are interested in being interviewed yourself, or want to know more about this Podcast project do get in touch by email:
iwishihadwrittenthat@protonmail.com
If you want to be notified about episodes as they are published please subscribe.
And to finish, a special thanks to our band’s guitarist Richard Godfrey who wrote and recorded the theme for this podcast; Resilience, named after our last CD.
Thanks for your interest so far by listening to this and I look forward to sharing this ongoing conversation about the craft of Songwriting in the coming months.