Always welcome in the Highlands...

There's nothing better than driving to the end of the road in the remote Scottish Highlands and playing to a big responsive audience on a week night.

Thank you to the people of Poolewe for accepting us into your community for the evening!

Inspiration

People often ask where we get our inspiration for our lyrics from.

It's always from people we meet and places we've been. We like to keep our shows personal so that you feel you know us by the time you leave. There's no point singing about anything else… it won't be sung with anywhere near the conviction if we don't feel strongly.

The forthcoming album is about our love story with touring. It's about people we've met, it's about places we've fallen in love with and it's about our love for each other too.

Happy or sad experiences, people are interesting. Our interaction with people inspires us. Whether it's the drunk lady from the bar or the new family we met in Canada, each song, each person tells a story.

The moment we have a release date...we'll let you know. Pre-orders will be available shortly from our website.

Devon, Somerset, Pembrokeshire… Thank you!

We're just home from a wonderful tour!
What fantastic audiences and what great pre-sales for our forthcoming album, Behind The Wheel.

Village Hall concerts are some of our favourites. It's the chance to be part of a community for a night and often these are in rural areas. We work with Rural Touring for these shows. Their work helps bring music and much more into communities and to audiences who might not otherwise be able to get out to see live shows.



We had some lovely comments from audiences… this one being our favourite from a lady in Pembrokeshire;

"I am an ardent fan of Downton Abbey but it was so worth missing it to experience the atmosphere and musicality of "Red Dirt Skinners". I bought a cd from you - having listened to it I now would like to own the rest! "

We had a few days off in the middle of the tour to be tourists and to visit bits of Devon and Cornwall… and, of course, to have lots of big breakfasts…

We're back in the studio for a couple of weeks working on Behind The Wheel, but at the end of November, we're heading up to the Scottish Highlands and working our way back down through Yorkshire. You can find our tour dates… HERE

New album coming in 2016… watch this space!

We are so unbelievably excited about our new album. We've got 8 songs recorded now, and are rehearsing up the final two before we go into the studio. The album will be supported by extensive Canadian and UK tours throughout 2016.

Watch this space…

Please help us catch the b*stard

On the 31st March 2012, sometime between the hours of 6pm and midnight, we were burgled from our (then) home in Stonegate, East Sussex. 

The police dropped the case within weeks and the thief was never brought to justice. It’s something that still niggles away at us regularly.

Here’s our song “Mr Jones” from our second album, Home Sweet Home. 

Home Sweet Home is a collection of songs we wrote about the events of that weekend.

We wish we’d thought of the power of social media when we were burgled.  Maybe it’s not too late? 

The thief took computers, guitars (including a 12 string Fender acoustic guitar which had been modified by Rob and was therefore instantly recognisable) and a large collection of antique jewellery (some seen in the photo below).

We left everything in the hands of the police, and didn’t make any details public. 

We were worried that if we did, it could hamper the investigation. 

The police filed the case “unsolved” within months, so we’ve put together some pointers below... maybe you can help... and if you can’t ...maybe you’ll consider sharing this blog and this video. We sincerely hope you will help us, and thank you in advance for your kindness.

Here's some things about the burglary that just don't add up;

1. DNA evidence (a cigarette butt) of a man with a record was found at the scene. He was arrested but released without charge as he was one of twins (whose DNA is the same). We were not allowed to see a photograph of him.
2. Another man was arrested who they had suspected might be involved but was released due to lack of evidence.
3. The police dusted briefly for finger prints (only in the kitchen) and did not ask for ours in order to rule us out. We were told that they had found no prints at all.
4. We had only just moved in to the property. The previous Saturday, the letting agent called a flea exterminator to the house. He arrived in a beat up old red car. We were asked to leave the property whilst he dusted. He talked to us at length about our music, he asked the name of the band, and we naively told him that we were (at the time) out most Saturday nights. We were burgled the following Saturday. The letting agent kept no record that the man had ever attended the property. There was no evidence that he had done anything, and there were still fleas present after his visit. The police refused to follow this up due to it being “unlikely”.
5. We were told by the police that there had been a spate of burglaries in the area that night, yet there was absolutely no press coverage and when requested, we were denied the chance to be put in touch with other victims for support.
6. At the express request of the letting agent, we had just taken out contents insurance with a new company who cancelled our agreement immediately after the burglary.
7. The week before the burglary, a log was thrown through the downstairs window. It’s a very rural area and the police said it had been the first reported crime in 5 years.
8. We were told by the letting agent that the previous tenant owed thousands of pounds to the landlord in unpaid rent, and to many other people as well. He was not questioned, and nor was the landlord.
9. We discovered that a neighbour of the property, who had also been a previous landlord of ours, was selling lots of items privately on Ebay in the weeks after the burglary. We contacted one buyer whose comment had said that they liked the “antique watch” that they had bought, and told him our plight and asked if he could send us a photo of the watch just in case there was a connection. His response was threatening and aggressive. The police again refused to get involved and so did Ebay.
10. Very quickly, we were told that the “trail had gone cold” and any future attempts to contact the police on the matter were totally ignored.

OK... so maybe he’ll never be brought to justice, but the more sales we make of our music, the more we’ll recoup our losses and the more we’ll connect with our fans and meet new ones. 

You can find out more about us and purchase our albums at http://www.reddirtskinners.com 

Mr Jones was nominated ‘Song of the Year’ by UK Country Radio in 2013

The Red Dirt Skinners won “Instrumentalist Of The Year” at the British Blues Awards in 2014 and were named one of the top ten artists of the year by UK Country Radio

If, by any remote chance, you think you might have information that can help us, please email us info(at)reddirtskinners(dot)com

Of course you can make a profit on tour!

There has been a blog post going around recently and a general consensus from many folk, some of whom really ought to know better, that it simply isn’t possible to make a living as a musician in this day and age. More frustratingly, is the expectation that an artist is lucky to “break even” on tour, let alone make a profit. Such reports are sending talented artists scurrying back to day jobs that they loathe, to daydream about what it would be like if only the music industry wasn’t such a non-starter.

5 years ago, I made a decision, alongside my (now) husband, to give it our best shot to make a living solely from music. Now we own our own home in the South East of England and we have plenty of time on our hands to enjoy life.

Is it easy? I guess we’re lucky because we both live and breathe music but it really has been easier than you might think. Music is something we are both deeply passionate about and therefore it’s something we’re always thinking about. We never really switch off, but then... we never really want to either.

What bothers me the most, and what prompted me to write this, is the notion that you can’t make a living as a musician, and more specifically, whilst on tour. People pretty high up the chain say it just isn’t possible. You’ll probably make a loss, and if you’re really lucky, you might just break even. In fact, in a recent interview with a well known music magazine we were asked the following question; “how do you fund your touring?”

Our act is just the two of us, and most of what we play is our own original music. We don’t get anyone else involved. No manager, no PR Agent, no one to answer to and no one else to pay. We’ve learned as we go how to do everything. From booking and advertising to mixing, mastering and recording our own albums. In fact, the only time anyone else gets involved in our operation is for the physical manufacture of our merchandise (CDs and T Shirts).

I guess you could say we’re doing pretty well. 
The day jobs are a distant memory, we’ve won an award or two along the way and got some great press and airplay, which has helped spread our profile far and wide. We seem to be making waves in (generally) the right direction and spreading the word about our music. 
We're finding it easier to get well paying gigs. However, this wasn't our aim during our experiment.

The Experiment

We were so confused by the notion that you “can’t make a living on tour,” we decided to do a 10 day tour which involved cramming in as many gigs as we could. We also chose to book these gigs in Northern Scotland in order to really push the boundaries, raise the expenses and test our theory. Additionally, we made sure that we went to a tourist area out of tourist season to ensure we didn’t have any over-inflated audience numbers. 

We took *any* gig we were offered. Literally... anything. 

So on the 20th November 2014 we loaded up, got in our van and headed North.

Day one made us £80 from a pass-the-hat house concert. Day two made us £120 from a pub gig. The week continued with more poorly paid gigs and small audiences. 

The most we earned from any gig the whole tour was £190 plus CD sales. 

We gave each and every gig our all as if it were a stadium. On one occasion we played to 9 people and we sold 8 CDs. 
We connected with our audiences, we won friends and to be honest, we made a couple of enemies because we remained strict about the agreements we’d made over each fee we were given. Much as we love performing, it is still our business and occasionally you might find a venue that tries to take advantage. Particularly when playing the pub circuit.

Moving on to more positive points in the tour, we didn’t need to book a hotel in the whole time that we were away. We relied on the kindness and generosity of fans and venue owners and I think we’ve made some lifelong friends. 

Many venues gave us a free dinner as part of our deal and some offered us a room and breakfast. We bought one meal out in the whole time, and that was on our day off. Perhaps we were lucky with the kindness of offers of accommodation, but even if we’d paid for a cheap hotel every night, we’d still be in profit.

At the end of the ten day tour (which took in 9 gigs) we had turned a profit of approximately £1500 after expenses. 

Small change perhaps to some, but bear in mind that this was an experiment and we took literally *any* gig we were offered (guest at open mic night, pass the hat, low paid pub gigs).  

We ended up in profit, which was our objective.

By all means work that hard if you want to, the venues are out there, but my advice would be; be more astute and you can earn far more. 
You really can earn a decent living as a touring musician. Value your worth. Develop a business head. Get creative! Great venues are out there, and it’s often the alternative ones that pay the best, have the best hospitality for the artists, have the best merchandise sales and excellent mailing list sign ups. 

Think outside the box. For example, playing a show in the home of a fan can easily earn upwards of £500 if it's planned well.

There is something to learn from every single performance, even if it’s simply that you never want to do it again! 
Even the poor paying and poorly attended gigs can pay dividends in newly formed connections and experiences.

So, if your mum/partner/friend told you you can’t make a living as a musician, and then a bunch of important seeming folk-in-the-know reiterated it.. go prove them wrong... 

Unless you’d rather work the 9-5 and spend your life wondering ...

www.reddirtskinners.com

www.twitter.com/reddirtskinners

www.facebook.com/reddirtskinners

Bouncing back and moving forward

Today seems as good a day as any to start a blog. Why? Because today marks a big day in the Red Dirt Skinners journey. Today marks two years exactly since we were burgled.

Not usually something people would want to celebrate, but here's why we're celebrating;

We are currently planning our first US tour after numerous treks across the UK and Europe. After several critically acclaimed albums, including 2013’s Sinking The Mary Rose, which was funded by generous donations from fans.

However, in the best traditions of country and blues music, it hasn’t all been plain sailing. Our music career was nearly derailed two years ago when we returned home late one night after a gig to find we had been burgled. The thieves stole computers containing the masters of our first album Grass Roots and many ideas for our planned second album. 

There was six years worth of song ideas on those computers. We were back to square one. 

We were determined to carry on and not let it beat us and within a week of the burglary we had gone back to the drawing board and come up with 15 new songs, with much renewed inspiration!

After honing and fine-tuning, the concept album Home Sweet Home was released in 2013 and went on to pick up nominations at the British Blues Awards, the British Country Music Awards and the UK Country Radio Awards.  Every song on the album was inspired by the events of that weekend in March 2012, including a couple about the lousy gig we were playing at the time of the burglary!

It seems a lifetime ago that we were playing the sorts of venues that inspired the songs ‘Disgrace’ and ‘Painted On Smile’ and we’re eternally grateful to our friends and fans who have been our rock.

Home Sweet Home is available from iTunes or our website at http://www.reddirtskinners.com

Dear "Mr. Jones". Thank you for the inspiration.