Atkinsongs

  ATKINSONGS - THE STORY

Time held me green and dying though I sang in my chains like the sea.
From Fern Hill by Dylan Thomas, pastel.

I call it my very own book of life,
My Autobisongraphy.

I think of myself as a song-catcher, not as a songwriter. The songs are already there, I reach up or in or out for them and, yes, apply some craft to the catching and releasing. I've more than 470 songs, some 280 recorded, the majority at home, initially on quarter-inch tape, then cassette, latterly digitally. There are 22 albums, including 2 compilations and one of covers of Atkinsongs by other artists. Latterly, I have moved away from my own writing, learning others' songs to sing, working to support other songwriters (as in the Chester Songwriters video andTimeless Talent album left), and writing piano transcripts of my own and other tunes for others to play, sometimes as accompaniment to me. It feels as if all this is opening up new musical landscapes outside me, a contrast to the limited landscapes of life within me, opened up by my own songs.   

My music has raised over £2,000 for various good causes.This owes much to the discovery that early-1970's vinyl LPs Atkinsongs and The Beggar and the Sand are worth £100s as 'rare vinyl'. Mister Wulf's cover of A Reason in the Rain has has passed 40,000 streams on Spotify, contributed to £473 raised for West Cheshire Foodbank a local cause which I support whenever possible, most recently helped by the good people at St Columba's Church. Chester. Artists such as Bob Dylan, Kris Kristofferson, Leonard Cohen, Joni Mitchell, Jackson Browne, gave me a template and set me on my way, but more than the 'stars', the people who matter are those who have listened to me, encouraged me, sang my songs, played them on their radio shows, streamed them, bought my CDs and vinyl, and featured - knowingly or not - in them. My songs open a window onto the person, the place, the moment, that generated them, yet the best are not anchored there: they live again as life goes on and they reflect new moments, relationships, experiences. Perhaps that landscape of life opened up by my songs is within me and without me after all.

What They Say...........
"I like very much your music, your lyrics, your performance, your simplicity and beauty in your works.""The essential is there: songs that go right to the heart......he has taken particular care to scribble the history of each song, their date of genesis.....we measure the long path travelled to arrive at this secret and intimate realisation". (The Beggar and the Sand)

"It's the best folk/SSW album (First Take) I've heard in along time. I'm so happy to have this album!!! The price was expensive but the pressing is top notch (it's rarely the case nowadays). It is worth every penny"."I bought one, and I'm hooked".  (The Beggar and the Sand)

"I put your 5 CDs in the player....and Wow!....I was floored by how consistently excellent your songs are.....right up there with my favourite songwriters."

"Your music was the perfect soundtrack for a long drive to Scotland”

"Great work Dave, I will continue play and enjoy it for many months".

A bit like the Folk Club with its guest performers, we have special guests on this website. Above, Andy Harding with a song about the young Bob Dylan's visit to Woody Guthrie in hospital, a meeting featured in the biopic A Complete Unknown starring Timothy Chamalet; then, Suzanne Harper's wonderful Frost on the Fields, with her lovely photos, which also grace my This Time Round, on the Listen page. Third, fellow-Chester songwriter and good friend, John Every, with 3 songs,