Tag: rosie jay

Devizine Launchpad at DOCA’s Festival of Discovery

So, you’re joining us at Albion Place on Sidmouth Street in Devizes this weekend, right?! Don’t say I’ve not told you about it once it’s over!! There’s so much going on for this Festival of Discovery and DOCA have worked tirelessly to provide an amazing FREE weekend, but I’m here to tell you a little bit more about who we have playing in the Devizine Launchpad area….

You can download the program HERE and find some amazing things going on throughout all three zones; amazing things I’ll likely miss because I’ll be with sound engineer Simon Stockley, Ian James of Light & Sound, and these amazing young and talented singers, songwriters and musicians:

I’ll start with Saturday and bring you news of Sunday tomorrow…..

Saturday 17th October

11:30: Stan Jenkins

Stan is a thirteen year old singer-songwriter and guitarist from Trowbrigde. A student of Bath & Wiltshire branch of The Rock Project, Stan joined the Trowbridge Town Hall Youth Board and with friend Oliver Clark recently sold out Trowbrige’s Old Town Hall organising a teen open mic evening.

I’ve not seen Stan perform myself yet, so get here early and let’s kick this off together in style!

https://www.tiktok.com/@stanj.music

@stanj.music

forgot to post anything from the open mic night #backtoit #music #bass #drums

♬ original sound – Stan Music

12:05: Sienna Wileman 

Sienna is a singer-songwriter and actor from Swindon. She began writing and performing aged ten, and released her debut single Petals in 2022 at fourteen. Her style is dark folk-rock to pop, with progressive accompaniments. Sienna vocalised for AuralCandy, and is inspired by her father, Richard Wileman of Karda Estra. Sienna is currently studying at BA Musical Theatre in Winchester.

Though I’ve not yet met Sienna in person, we’ve been covering her singles for a few years, and she contributed to the second 4 Julia’s House compilation album with Petals.

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12:45: Braydon Lee

Braydon Lee Jones is a fifteen year old solo acoustic singer-songwriter from Calne, and is rapidly becoming one of the South West’s most exciting young artists. Despite performing live for just over a year, his incredible stage presence has already landed him on major stages like the Bristol Harbour Festival and the Phoenix Festival in Cirencester. Blending a diverse mix of well-loved covers with a growing catalogue of country-infused original material, Braydon-Lee brings a fresh, high-energy performance that appeals to music lovers of all ages.

It has been a massive breakthrough year for the young artist, who was recently featured on BBC Introducing in the West and is currently shortlisted in the Top 5 for three separate awards, including Best Male Artist, Best Newcomer, and Best Original Track for his hit single, Endless Summer.

Unfortunately I missed Braydon at CrownFest this summer, but I did catch him for the first time at FullTone Festival a couple of years ago!

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13:35: Jodie Lauren

Image: willhenneymedia

Jodie is twenty-three, a Cheltenham UGC travel creator, musician and vlogger.

With over 103k followers on Tiktok, Jodie creates aesthetic content to showcase hotels/airbnb brands in a natural and relatable light. She’s worked for Tiktok Live, and has experience in social media marketing. Jodie also regularly busks and brings her own spin to popular covers.

That’s where I first saw Jodie, busking in the Devizes Brittox!

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14:25: Ed Dowdeswell

Ed Dowdeswell, a level 3 music student, is an emerging grassroots singer-songwriter and musician based in Devizes. The stepson of Jamie R Hawkins of The Lost Trades, he’s learned from one of the best. Ed also fronts Chippenham band Olympiad.

Ed is often found at open mics, I first saw him at The Fold’s open mic in Devizes.

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15:15: Rosie Jay

Rosie Jay is an indie folk-rock-alternative professional singer-songwriter from Salisbury, currently studying music at Bath Uni. Rosie writes her original music and creates haunting and memorable lyrics and riffs that capture the world around her, creating a captivating experience for the audience an evening of walking in her shoes. She won two Wiltshire Music Awards last year, runner-up in a third!

So impressed with Rosie’s singles, we become friends a few years ago, and I first saw her performing at The Crown in Bishop’s Cannings.

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16:05: Emelia Houchin

Emelia is a singer-songwriter from Marlborough, currently studying for GCSE’s. With a passion for storytelling through song and performance, Emelia’s last performance at MantonFest blew me away, along with everyone else watching!

Emelia is a regular at MantonFest and RamsFest and also enjoys musical theatre, performing in school performances, and has previously performed professionally at the Watermill Theatre in Newbury.

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16:50: M3g

Meg Hoy, or M3g, is an original singer-songwriter of indie-folk from Chippenham. With numerous local appearances from The Pump to Swindon Shuffle to Minety and Chippenham Folk Festival, her self-penned songs are uniquely poignant experiences. Influenced by artists like Florence Welch and AURORA, she has been performing live since age 14 and has built a notable local presence, including winning The Neeld’s battle of the bands, and opening for Frank Turner at the Bristol O2 Academy. Her music is celebrated for its emotionally transparent, unique lyrics, which she roots deeply in her personal experiences and her autism.

I first met Meg when my daughter Jess was doing work experience with Devizine, and she interviewed Meg. We’ve been friends since, and no matter how many times I’ve seen her perform, she always takes my breath away.

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I’m so pleased Meg is headlining our Saturday, and everyone else who is playing; I’m more excited then they are! But, we’ve another day on Sunday, same time same place, and don’t think for a second I’ve put all my eggs in one basket, because Sunday is going to blow your mind; I’ll be back tomorrow to highlight who’s coming on Sunday!

You; Lucas Hardy Teams With Rosie Jay

One of Salisbury’s most celebrated acoustic folk-rock singer-songwriters Lucas Hardy teams up with the Wiltshire city’s upcoming talent who’s name is on everyone’s lips, Rosie Jay, for a charming Sunday morning ballad called You…..

Ah, newfound love, I remember it well! That ray of peerless positivity, like a sunbeam which cannot be clouded; nothing can spoil your mood now you’ve found that certain someone. Many artists have tried to capture it, many overthink it, but You is simply saccharine, and captures the concept beautifully.

This is staring out of a window of a moving car on a sunny Sunday morning music, contemplating when your longing will be over and you’ll be in the arms of your soulmate again. There’s nothing negative here, no hidden concern like many such songs, it’s blissful and an the ideal harmonious coupling we’d love to hear from. Check it out! 

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The Oak Festival; The Best Thing to Hit Pewsey Since…..?!

Yet to witness it myself but heard on the grapevine, the blossoming liveliest place to be in Pewsey at the moment, is, apparently the Royal Oak. Wiltshire Music Events, who brought us CrownFest in Bishops Cannings and sold out Devizes Corn Exchange with The Marley Experience, has been at the forefront of furnishing the pub with gigs from the growing wealth of talent on their books. Tempted to drop by and check it out asap, but if all else fails, Saturday July 5th sees them holding a debut mini-festival, which is double-underlined on my personal calendar……

The Oak Festival is an all dayer boasting seven bands, food and outside bar, but it’s the lineup which will really wow. Three, no, thirty yeses from me, to The Marley Experience headlining, being smitten with Bob Marley & The Wailers since day dot and after much deliberation, these guys recreate their music and vibe with such unprecedented precision it’s unmissable.

There’s also a lively Irish folk element to the festival with The Tipsy Gypsies, and Pouges tribute, The Phogues, both I’ve yet to tick off my must-see list, but they also dive into indie with the blues edge of The Leon Daye Band, and our favourite-most indie-pop masters Talk in Code, who need no introduction here neither further praise; forget sliced bread, they’re the most electrifying exciting local act we have.

There’s two acoustic singer-songwriters too, Lucas Hardy who I’ve heard only good things about, and Salisbury’s Rosie Jay, who with her poignant writing and exquisitely unique delivery overnight clocked into our all-time hall of fame here at Devizine!

Early bird tickets at an extremely reasonable £25 are available until 1st Feb, HERE.

Later the price goes up but only slightly, to £32.50, which, once you’ve seen The Marley Experience, you’ll realise the ticket stub was worth it just to see them alone, and why I’m all excited about this one!

It could be the best thing to happen in pea island since carnival, since the coronation of Alfred the Great; trust me on this one!!

Salisbury’s Rosie Jay Releases Debut EP

Salisbury acoustic singer-songwriter Rosie Jay released her debut EP today, taking its title from her first single from June this year, I Don’t Give a Damn. Thing being, I do, I give much more than a damn about Rosie’s musical outpourings, because this doesn’t sound like a debut EP from a nervous teenager warbling immature ruminations. This sounds like an accomplished artist who’s been with an agent, producer and mainstream record label for eons, and established a name for themselves by acquiring the skill to balance a hook and identifiable narrative, and compose them into a beautifully stylised sound….

Rosie’s been working with producer Joylon Dixon on these four tunes, and it shows. Likely a perfect match, for this is faultlessly fresh, like Kirsty MacColl in her prime; a comparison I’ve used before for Rosie, and though a high accolade, it’s fully deserved. For there is nothing to dislike here, the mood is breezy, the prose is thoughtful, both reaching out to her generation, while maintaining the classic template for acoustic folk rock for all to appreciate.

Beginning with her heartfelt breakup song, I Don’t Give a Damn, the opening has this easy to sing along to chorus, but defines the potent melancholic and ironic thought pattern of the victim of a relationship breakdown in its verses. Akin to Sinead O’Connor’s Nothing Compares 2U, and just as expressly delivered.

For Rosie’s voice is magnetism, flowing gracefully and earnestly, but the whole composition suits this, perhaps with no better example than the second tune, also the second single released, Sing Another Love Song. As it sounds this is a flowing, more positive angle yet while there’s still a clever hook, in so much as McCartney’s ironic Silly Love Songs conveys the opposite effect.

If I preferred this song from the debut at the time, the next two, so far unreleased tracks, proves Rosie though beginning with a firm base, her songs will improve each time. Mind Fuckery is her magnum opus, but only to date. Isolation and affliction brought about by addiction is spelt out in the imperfections Rosie compares within herself and her generation. Again, we’re sneaking through an open door into Rosie’s mindscape, and it’s a poignant landscape of intense pensive and evocative prose.

The measure of a good singer-songwriter is when a listener feels like they bring a little subconscious of the artist back with them, the notion they identified and made a friend through their performance, as if they knew this person all along. I had been reviewing Rosie’s singles for a few months before finally meeting her. When I did, it was exactly like this, it felt as if I had known her for ages, because even at this young age she projects herself, her thought processes and emotions so utterly exquisitely through this beautiful music. The final tune, well, despite all that’s been before, Carry Me, is the most graceful yet.

The final song is angelic, and steeped in astute metaphors Rosie faces her “personal battle,” it is, just as the other three songs, an emotive treasure wrapped in sublimity. There’s something standalone in the simplicity of person with guitar; the stripped back diploma for a musician, the final exam, and Rosie passed with flying colours. She should be setting the exam rather than taking it! What an amazing start.

Just as I’ve seen the careers of profoundly talented local artists like George Wilding, Tamsin Quin, Kirsty Clinch and Jamie R Hawkins progress from first reporting on them, I have high hopes for many of our aspiring newcomers, from Ruby Darbyshire to Meg and Harmony. Rosie Jay is high among these others, and based on the excellence of this EP I see no reason not to compare her to the likes of Elkie Brooks, The Beautiful South or Cerys Matthews. You simply have to allow yourself a quarter of an hour to take this in, released on all streaming platforms and as a CD. Follow Rosie on Insta. TikTok. YouTube. There’s an EP launch party at the Winchester Gate in Salisbury, tonight.

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How High’s The Crammer, Mamma?

A month since the UK came to terms with the consequences of drought, understood the significance of a raindance and why Johnny Cash asked…

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Rachel Sinnetta & Rosie Jay at the Crown, Bishops Cannings

Must confess it felt somewhat odd to return to The Crown in Bishops Cannings for my weekly ration of live music. The only pub in the village has been closed a short while, since verbal pitchforks and torches from a crotchety minority who wanted the tavern to be little more than a museum artefact drove the previous landlords out…..

Prior it was a bustling community hub run immaculately with gusto and enthusiasm, hosting a variety of events and raising funds for charities. Seemed crabby witches and even a lord of a manor were prepared to gang-up, lie to police, and misquote Devizine when we failed to appeal to their better nature. It backfired, they didn’t own one, but let’s not dwell.

New landlords are in, pleasant and keen to maintain the pub’s reputation amidst the prying Karens. Sarah, the new landlady praised her new chefs, and the pub hosts an open mic every first Thursday of the month, Tuesday evening quizzes, and intends to begin a men’s mental health group and possibly a football team.

Tonight, however, will be the new owners first live music night, and they’ve wisely hoisted in promoters Wiltshire Music Events to organise it. Though without much advertising unfortunately the crowd was slight. Never the simple accomplishment it may seem when established venues have the monopoly through a regularity of gigs, to sporadically host will require endless bashing about it on social media. It is, however, easier with the increased 49 bus service, that a night bus will drop into villages enroute, of which you should take note.

I’m in attendance not only to support and encourage the importance of entertainment in villages, save the thought of losing your local watering hole. Rather it is because Wiltshire Music Events is hosting two new acts on their roster, one who’ve yet to explore outside of their Salisbury circuit. A wise choice being the neighbouring church is a mini replica of the cathedral to make the bishop feel at home in the Cannings, or at least so the myth goes!

Firstly, in support, young singer-songwriter Rosie Jay, one I’ve been dying to meet and see live since fondly reviewing her first two singles. Rosie didn’t disappoint despite the pedestal I’ve put her on. Her self-penned songs are rippled with the poignancy of the classic template acoustic wordsmiths who made it big will follow; concentration on the hook, something even more essential with the attention span of the Tik-Tok generation.

Her voice is rich, affectionate, and she delivers songs with passion and blossoming stage presence. An interesting choice of covers from a young artist, often, she explained to the audience, inspired by their usage in films. Okay, Elvis’ Can’t Help Falling in Love is timeless romantic, and The Cranberries’ Zombie is most formulaic, but Dylan’s It Ain’t Me Babe, is a cynical rare choice to pull from her magician’s hat. Though it relates in theme to Rosie’s first song, I Don’t Give a Damn, and her general subjects. Rosie nailed them all, beautifully, with particular evocative expressions in the reclusive and heartfelt jaundiced emotions of Dylan, and likewise her own intelligent compositions.

Currently pursuing a Level 3 Diploma in Music at Wiltshire College and University Centre, Rosie told me of her work on local radio, and was enthusiastic about her forthcoming EP. Part of the growing Wiltshire Music Events family now, as Joylon Dixon has worked with her to produce it. And Joylon accompanies the next performer, the incredible Rachel Sinnetta.

Renowned for a two-year stint supporting Gerry & The Pacemakers, singing to Prince William and recording with Pete Townshend, Rachel intended to tour a  “Wuthering Heights: The Music of Kate Bush,” project which unfortunately fell through.

Music teacher Rachel  set to tour this tribute extensively throughout the UK; that’s what the blurb told me. All I know is Kate Bush is the vocal epitome of singularity, the individuality debatably overlooked in today’s pop industry, as the penchant to sound akin to Whitney Houston seems paramount.

Just like Dolly, Cher, Tina Turner, Stevie Nicks, Tom Jones, Alanis Morissette, even KT Tunstall et al, you need a seriously powerful vocal range to convincingly take on a Kate Bush cover. And Rachel did, sublimely delivering Running Up That Hill, and popular hits of all the aforementioned. Seemingly having her own deal with god, Rachel naturally reaches the notes with ease, her husky yet divine rock voice is the eloquence and faculty able to adapt to take those powerhouse ballads on with such precision and poignancy, particularly with the female giants. She even rinsed Arthea Franklin’s Natural Women, and left me tingling, Chaka Khan’s Ain’t Nobody too simply wowed. Proud Mary in the key of Tina Turner; who would dare attempt them in an intimate gig such as this?! Rachel Sinnetta made them look childsplay.

Sassy with Tom Jones’ Kiss, joyful with Erasure’s A Little Respect, covers came thick and fast, coupled with the secret legendary Jolyon Dixon without rehearsal was a match from heaven, and the whole shebang was utterly blissful; shame only us, a few regulars and their dogs were there to witness it. Such is the uphill struggle for new landlords to plant their establishment into a local music circuit, partially my reasoning for doing this blog.

So, take heed now, especially everyone in Pewsey; this wonderful formula, Rosie Jay followed by Rachel Sinnetta with Jolyon Dixon will be continued at the Royal Oak, in Pewsey, with a free gig from 8pm, next Saturday, the 19th October; they are in for a treat.

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Flora Fiora Kicking the Tyres

Chedworth, Gloucestershire; proud village soloist, songwriter and model Flora Fiora is kicking the tyres and smashing windows in with a new single, and it’s about…

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Sing Another Love Song with Rosie Jay

Second impressive single from young Salisbury singer-songwriter Rosie Jay is released today. Sing Another Love Song; a sound of the summer…..

Her debut breakup track I Don’t Give a Damn, had an interesting hook, this has too, but is far more optimistic, and eternally beguiling. It is, technically, the better of the two, revealing a potential for eminence in its confident and outstanding delivery. 

If it hints of connotations the infatuation of the theme is one-sided on the part of the author, it’s open-ended for interpretation; maybe the love interest simply doesn’t share their passion for a good love song?! That’s their issue! 

For that’s what this is, breezy and cool, acoustic and pop-folky, with the perfect flowery scent of Kirsty MacColl in both theme, musically and vocally. Such is the magic of local producer Jolyon Dixon, to filter the inner superlative of an upcoming artist and nurture it to the forefront. And in such you’ll hear a similarity with Rosie to his duo Illingworth with John Smith, should you’ve caught them on our live music circuit. Then again, the whole gypsy-esque vibe, there’s hints of Irish, and I’m awarding the Corrs as another comparison; as with MacColl, these are high accolades indeed!

Here this now, it’ll brighten up your day. Yet, gorgeous as this song is, with the blossoming potential it displays, I believe it’ll be rudimentary in a short period of time, and the best of Rosie Jay is yet to come. You need to be here to hear it when it does. 

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Rosie Jay’s Debut Single Doesn’t Give a Damn!

With a rolling hook in the chorus, piano riff over acoustic guitar and a heartfelt narrative, here’s a promising debut single from Salisbury’s young singer-songwriter Rosie Jay out today. I’m getting Kirsty MacColl vibes here, and if you think that’s a pretty high accolade, you’ll just have to have a listen and decide for yourself!

“Who are you trying to convince” folktronica break-up song, ironic Against All Odds in theme, earnestly expressed. Rosie has the confident and steadfast vocal range, with accompanying angelic backing to make this work, and it does with cherries on. It was recorded at Jolyon Dixon’s home studio, if you know Jolyon you know I need say no more.

….but I will, because I have a tendency to waffle, but for all the right reasons, this is a beautiful song. I believe we’re on the verge of discovering another talented local musician here, and I think there’s something greater to come too; we look forward to hearing more, Rosie, this is a winner from me! 

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