We Shall Overcome 2017 is six short weeks away, and it is a sad indictment on the state of this country that we are needed more than ever.

Poverty among the poorest and most vulnerable in our communities is simply getting worse despite the changing rhetoric from government. Benefit sanctions, targeted to attack those least able to fight back, have created hunger and homelessness and claimed the lives of hundreds of people; and while the political landscape is certainly changing, and anti-austerity policies are being drafted in Westminster offices by a resurgent opposition, we can’t just sit back and wait for another General Election when the need out there is so acute.

And it will get worse.

2018 sees the national roll-out of Universal Credit, which experts say will likely cause a huge spike in poverty and a potential homeless crisis. We aim to be where there is acute need, highlighting the issues surrounding this and hopefully shaming the government into a change of policy. Enough is enough, austerity has failed and our communities can take no more.

As for this year, well, I’ll be working my socks off trying to help. My gig list looks knackering even at this distance, so no doubt by mid-October I’ll be fit to drop; but big problems need big responses and I’m not ducking my responsibilities regardless of the miles ahead.

Here goes.

I will be singing or speaking (or both) for We Shall Overcome at the following places.

SEPTEMBER
19th LOUTH– Labour Party Meeting
29th HUDDERSFIELD– Ukrainian Club

OCTOBER
1st DURHAM– People’s Bookshop (Teatime)
1st STOCKTON-ON-TEES– The Golden Smog (Evening)
5th PORTSLADE– The Railway
6th SCARBOROUGH– L’Amour
7th LEEDS– The Grove (afternoon)
7th STAINFORTH– Pit Club (evening)
8th WARSOP– Black Market Venue
15th BRADFORD– Malik House

Then on Sunday November 12th I’ll be recording with The Hatfield Brigade for our next Christmas release to raise money for the community Hardship Fund. All are welcome and the event itself will be a We Shall Overcome gig. That will be at Central Club in Stainforth and it will be filmed by Michael Lee Toas for the music video so bring your glad rags.

Speaking of Michael, he’ll be travelling to selected WSO events over our weekend and compiling footage for a documentary film on the movement. We are very excited about this as we were let down by another film company in 2015 and we feel what thousands of ordinary people are doing out there to alleviate poverty in their communities needs to be recorded for posterity. It matters. It is inspirational. Hence why that gig list is as long as it is. I just love to get out there and be a part of what happens.

I hope you will too.

See you out there x

The Hatfield Brigade lost one of its shining lights a few days ago as Sandra Lanaghan, wife of Mick and mother to Karl and Kerry, lost her long battle with cancer. Sandra worked the soup kitchens during the Miner’s Strike, and she did this having learned she was pregnant the day before the Strike Ballot. Her support and guidance, her love and her friendship have meant so much to so many over the years, and that is obvious in the stories being told in her memory over the last few days.

Mick asked me to sing at the funeral last Thursday and I wrote a song especially for the occasion which I released on Saturday August 5th as a download. All funds raised from the song will be donated to helping open a new family room in Ward G5 of Doncaster Royal Infirmary, so women suffering have somewhere to spend a few hours in peace and dignity with family and friends.

The song is called ‘Keep The Faith’ echoing both the Northern Soul all-nighters that Mick and Sandra frequented in their younger years, and the Strike motto from 1984/85.

You can download it at:

https://joesolomusic.bandcamp.com/track/keep-the-faith-2

and the song is set to ‘Name Your Price’ so if you can spare a little more toward the cause then please do, as every penny raised will help.

Here’s the lyric:

Just back from an incredible 36-hour whirlwind visit to Belfast to play as part of an International Brigade Commemoration Committee event marking 80 years since Jarama.

Cannot thank Lynda Walker enough for asking me over and for the hospitality, I was well and truly looked after by her and Ernest. Amazing people. Great to get a tour of the city mural-by-mural and a potted history of The Troubles street-by-street. Truly incredible place to spend some time.

Big thank you too to Dooley Harte for taking me to Belfast City Hall to view the Spanish Civil War window, a stained-glass artwork like nothing else in the world, and something you have to see to comprehend the beauty of as a mere photograph does it no justice.

We laid a wreath at the International Brigade Memorial and I sang ‘No Pasaran’ in Shankhill Road library as part of a lecture on political activism in the 1930’s. From there I had a night gig at the Sunflower Pub with terrific support from Eoghan O’Neill. Great spirit in the crowd, and a right racket was raised. There is talk of a trip to Dublin in 2018 so I’ll keep you posted there, and hopefully I can return to Belfast soon as I loved every second.

After a cracking weekend playing first Hull Folk & Maritime Festival and then the truly brilliant Tramlines Festival in Sheffield, my next stops out there on the road are two capital cities- London and Belfast– and I can’t wait!

First up is London on Sunday July 30th. I’ll be playing a couple of short sets as part of the Betsey Trotwood Summer All-Dayer– one poetry and one music. Both will be pretty early as I have to be back on a train north well before closing time, but if you are in the area and fancy me getting lyrical on yo ass (See! I’m in the mood already!) then the day kicks off at 2pm and my first set will follow soon after. Then my music set is from 6.30pm. In between is a feast of rhyme and para-rhyme and outright-rejection-of-the-conformity-of-rhyme, and I’m proper looking forward to soaking it all up.

I fly to Belfast the following Friday for my first Irish date in 20 years. It’s a city I’ve never had the pleasure of visiting so I’m looking forward to taking it all in. My gig is at the Sunflower pub that night, and it would be great to have your company.

So having spent the last 30 years getting to gigs by automobile, I’m finally adding the planes and the trains!

All in all, 2017 appears to be getting madder by the minute. With the next album being built behind the scenes, and the hard yards of organising We Shall Overcome a daily challenge, it feels a little like being a feather in a hurricane at the moment.

Sometimes the only thing you can do is wait and see where you land.

Two capital cities in 6 days. I have never done that before.

Proper excited.

We Shall Overcome 2017 is taking shape steadily as we build for our third year of a raised fists and helping hands. So far 107 events are confirmed up and down the UK and beyond, and many more are in planning. With the anti-austerity movement growing in momentum, and the government’s shocking abuse of the poorest and most vulnerable in our communities being criticised from all angles, we are hoping to hammer the final nails in their coffin and end this sickness once and for all.

For the uninitiated, We Shall Overcome is a grassroots movement of ordinary people out to protest against austerity while doing something pro-active to ease its burden on our streets. We run events to raise food, cash, clothing, bedding and furniture to help feed and house people the system has left behind. We have organised well over 600 gigs now, lighting our fires in 135 towns and cities across 9 countries on 3 continents; and our collective efforts have raised an estimated £230,000 worth of assistance to those who need it most. We are what Socialism looks like when you put it into practice and look out for each other.

The beauty of our events is that the help raised stays in the town which raised it, keeping a direct connection to the community; yet at the same time you feel part of something much bigger, much more meaningful than handing over a few quid to a charity, and a very real and very powerful force for good. Being a part of WSO empowers people.

As in previous years we will be selling t-shirts via Philosophy Football who donate all profits directly to our chosen longer term national causes. We have so far donated to Shelter, Child Poverty Action Group and People’s Assembly. This year’s design will be available from next week, so get saving those pennies.

If you can bring your town to the party message me at joesolomusic@hotmail.co.uk and I’ll help get you started. Dead easy, all you need is a venue, a cause and the energy and enthusiasm to put a gig on to help others.

We are 107 gigs strong for #WSO2017.

Let’s make it 200!

Fantastic weekend on the campaign trail, with a trip to the Big Meeting to march with The Hatfield Brigade up in Durham on Saturday followed by a haul over the Pennines to play a We Shall Overcome event in Wigan.

The 133rd Durham Miners Gala was pretty special. Last year there was an estimated 150,000 there and that was EASILY eclipsed yesterday. I would say closer to 250,000 judging by the lack of room on that field. The man of the hour was undoubtedly Jeremy Corbyn, of course, but there were plenty of fantastic speeches, especially the one given by Matt Wrack of the FBU, emotionally-charged in the wake of Grenfell Tower, and really hammering home the struggles faced by our firefighters and their incredible bravery in the face of overwhelming odds.

Great to meet up with The Hatfield Brigade again. I’ve got our next song written, and will be recording it in demo form soon, so watch this space. Had to wear my Official Brigade Bard t-shirt for the occasion……would have been rude not to!

A nasty case of sunburn aside, it was a cracking day.

Sunday saw me haul over the Pennines to a We Shall Overcome gig at The Old Courts in Wigan. Full marks to Bard Company for organising this one, and a fantastic turn-out to raise much-needed funds for the local food bank struggling to keep stock on the shelves. Two great performances from Laura Taylor and Simon Widdop before I did my bit, and there was a real community spirit in the room, testament to the organisers and the sense of togetherness and empowerment WSO represents. So good to see Ste Goodall, the Great Originator, in the front row wearing that look.

If he has another idea, RUN!

He’s ruddy dangerous.

Next stop Redcar on Saturday.

Can’t wait.

Hard to know where to start, but suffice to say Glastonbury 2017 was 33 hours of the most incredible music, friendship and solidarity and I will remember it as long as I live.

Whether it was the company of my comrade and friend Tony ‘3Ts’ Wright; the truly amazing family that is the Leftfield Stage team; the soaring performances I witnessed; the electricity that crackled in the air as Jeremy Corbyn walked on stage; the new friends I made; the old friends who came along to the gig or sent messages of support from back home…..or maybe a combination of all of these, and more, I don’t know; but I loved every second and Leftfield is branded on my heart.

The gig itself was 90 minutes of pure joy as Billy Bragg, Louise Distras, myself and Oh Pep! sang in the round, and the staggering quality of the performances around me gave me such a lift I could hardly fail. Just beautiful. Such an inspiring set to have been a part of, and in an atmosphere unique to Leftfield, something approaching perfect.

There were many highlights- trading songs with Paddy Nash, Diane Greer and Zoe West around the campfire on Saturday night; talking 7″ singles with Billy Bragg and Daniel Rachel on the Sunday morning (Note to self: Get ‘Tumbling Dice’ on vinyl and play the B-Side loud…..a Bragg recommendation); meeting John McDonnell backstage; becoming Rhoda Dakar‘s official ‘Sleeping Bag Roadie’; saying hello to Phill Jupitus PROPERLY instead of walking into him as I rushed offstage post- ‘Tom Paine’s Bones’ at The Adelphi in Hull two years ago and being so confused I lost my tongue……all of this was ace, but four moments stand out.

Firstly, Beans on Toast was absolutely incredible. Jay was on fire. I have never seen so much love and joy fly off the stage (literally toward the end) and come back at a performer a hundredfold. Beans was made for Glastonbury, and Glastonbury for Beans. A perfect match.

Secondly, the legend that is Ralph McTell, whose version of ‘Streets Of London’ was so moving there was hardly a dry eye in the house. He introduced it as having a new poignancy in the aftermath of Grenfell Tower, and it has. Absolutely stunning. Ralph’s voice, weathered to perfection by the years, delivered his masterpiece with an ache of longing that reinvented a now folk standard, and we were swept away by it. As it neared the conclusion and he had the audience sing the chorus, he paused to ask if only the ladies could sing. Any other song, and any other artist, and this would have been a cheesy slice of seaside showbiz, but at once the somewhat rowdy singalong morphed into a choir of angels, a fitting and deeply moving tribute to those who lost their lives just a few days ago. Incredible stuff.

Thirdly, the atmosphere in the Leftfield tent as, packed to the rafters, the crowd waited for Jeremy Corbyn. The air crackled with expectation and the Labour leader did not fail. He blew the roof off. The now trademark ‘Oh Jeremy Corbyn’ song rang out around Glastonbury whenever there was silence, and it is hard not so see him now as a Prime Minister in waiting, such is the love for the man. This would go to the head of someone younger, whose ego might run away with them, but Corbyn warns at every juncture that this movement, this tidal wave, is not about him it’s about US and what WE can bring- the ideas, the energy, the vitality- and of course, that just makes everyone love him more. Last year the result of the EU Referendum was announced at Leftfield and the atmosphere was darkened, stunned; so much has changed over the last few weeks that the most worn t-shirt was not a Radiohead, or a Foo Fighters, or an Ed Sheeran– it was Jeremy Corbyn. As Billy said, last year Leftfield was a corner of Glastonbury, this year Glastonbury WAS Leftfield. The times are indeed a-changin’.

Lastly, a moment I will treasure forever. During our set, Louise, Oh Pep! and myself shared something very special as, after singing all weekend, poor Billy Bragg‘s voice finally gave up and he managed to gasp out the words…..”I wrote this 30 years ago, but you’re going to have to help me with it.”……and he began to play ‘A New England’. The audience sang it as Billy strummed. Every last word. Including the Kirsty MacColl verse.

 

So that was my Glastonbury. I loved it. Every last second. And I cannot thank everyone who got me there enough, from Tony and Billy, to Sarah and the Leftfield Team; to Grant and everyone on sound and security; to Paul and Catherine for sending sugar and caffeine backstage; to Vicky and Craig and Colin and Angela and Lisa and all my other Facebook friends who came along to the gig when there was so much going on around the site; and to all of those at home who sent messages of good will which almost set my phone alight on Sunday. You all rule.

I have no management, no agent, no record company, no PR guru…..none of the machinery that gets people places in the music industry. When I get to play a gig like this it is because of the amazing people who speak up on my behalf, who share and who comment and who turn up at gigs on wet winter Wednesdays and then tell all their friends. In short, I was on that stage because you lot lifted me up there and I will never forget that.

Thank you x

Photographs by Peter Dunwell, Vicky Blake, Tony Wright, Paddy Nash, Hayley Neil, me and if I’ve missed anyone I massively apologise.

I would like to wish all Labour Party candidates the best of luck as Britain goes to the polls. The campaign has been inspirational, certainly the finest in living memory, and I truly believe the manifesto to be the most exciting political document of my lifetime.

The incredible work-rate of Jeremy Corbyn is unsurpassed in modern times, and having sung at these events and attended others as a member of the crowd, I can honestly say the atmosphere has been electric as people rise like lions from their slumber and are reminded how to roar.

Pablo Neruda once wrote:

“They can cut all the flowers, but they can’t stop the Spring.”

And it is my belief that, whatever the result tomorrow, something has changed in Britain and we are witnessing the beginning of the end of the neo-liberal stranglehold that has choked our communities for far too long. I think the energy and inspiration Mr Corbyn has taken out into the country has planted seeds that will continue to grow. I believe this will be his legacy; that all those miles, all those speeches, will inspire hundreds of thousands of young people who go on to change the world; and I believe he will be remembered by the Labour Movement as the greatest of them all.

He has taken politics from the Westminster elite and given it back to The People.

I have loved playing a small part in this campaign from the songs and the gigs and the internet posts to the simple act of handing out stickers in town. Every last second has been a joy and I have met so many incredible people whose passion and commitment has in turn driven me to work harder and shout louder.

This is the Britain we can build. One where each inspires the other and we work together for the many and not the few.

Speaking of which….

and lastly…..

I would ask you PLEASE go out and vote tomorrow. Whatever the weather; whatever your mates say; whatever lies the papers have told you; whatever the propaganda on the telly says; PLEASE put your cross in that box and #VoteLabour.

This is a turning point in history.

The future needs us now.