I had the great pleasure of playing at Smugglers Festival yesterday afternoon. Broken finger, grey skies and a current antipathy to gigs in fields not withstanding, all the weight I feel like i’ve been carrying recently fell away. Half way through my set it started raining and the faithful crowd threatened to leave so i quickly played Sunny Side of The Street whereupon the rain stopped and sun came out. I am claiming 100% credit for that. The rest of the afternoon was one amazing act after another, Hot Feet playing cracking new songs, Cocos Lovers bringing the house down, but my personal favourite was a the duo of Max Baillie on violin with Sura Susso on kora. I hadn’t seen Sura’s brother Modou (also an incredible kora and djembe player) for nearly 8 years since we played some pretty bizarre Manu Chao style west african/spanish reggae with El Pato Band in Bristol (yes it was as odd as it sounds). All in all, a wonderful time to see old friends and be reminded how much this is a community that we make, we share, we’re a part of. Big love to everyone at Smugglers Records and Onwards!