White Horse Guitar Club - Clay Pigeons [ Blaze Foley ]

 Given that our old ‘office’ used too be The White Horse pub in Oxford my ole muckah Phil will doubtless find this one really funny! I know I did! Why, we’d still fit right in!

Clay Pigeons - White Horse Guitar Club

This time of year always feels like a turning point. The light fades, the evenings close in, and people start to gather again around the fire. In Ireland, that was always the heart of the home the place where stories were told, songs were shared, and the world outside could wait for a while. The threshold and veil between us and another world is said to be closer and and we face into winter and harvests are gathered in hibernating preparation for a renewal. Maybe that’s where we are at right now.

That’s the feeling we wanted to capture here. Just a few of us around a fire, no fuss, no lights, just the sound of the flames and a song between friends. Clay Pigeons feels like the right one for it. A song by a troubled soul, Blaze Foley ,probably seeking his own renewal and facing into his own winters with his own struggles. A song about starting over, finding something extraordinary in the ordinary, taking a walk, meeting people, saying hello, feeling part of things again.

There’s a sense of renewal in it, the same kind you feel sitting by a fire at the start of November, when the year is turning. Maybe that’s all this is really a small gathering, a few voices, a quiet reminder that we’re still connected if we’re open to that. And as we stand on the edge of renewing the second leg of the Sos Beag tour, we’re looking forward to gathering again with all of you around the glow of the songs. In some ways, that’s our fire. Each night is a chance to reignite that spark, to strip things back to what matters most, the music, the connection, and the shared warmth that comes when people gather for something real.

So here’s to renewal, to finding our rhythm again as the year turns to its end. We can’t wait to see you out there -starting in The Pavilion Theatre Dún Laoghaire - next Saturday for a nights of songs, stories, and simple celebration. As the nights draw in, may we all keep that little flame alive. Joe Philpott

I of course first came across this Blaze Foley classic from our John Prine wot we wot of . . . .