With songs of cruel beauty in the wide open spaces of love, JP Sampson explores workaday heartbreak tangled in haunting melodies for broken dreams and the lives we passed by.  Aided and abetted by the riotously talented 'Delilahs' on drums and violin the collective have released a stunning new 5-track EP titled 'Rearview'.

Gently understated, plaintive yet defiant - songs that keep us walking toward the horizon.

Absent Sons are an acoustic blues duo covering classic and modern blues. We play songs from a range of artists including Son House, Big Bill Broonzy, Robert Johnson, Keb' Mo' and Lightnin' Hopkins. 

The band features Matt Corrall on harmonica and lead vocals, and Luke Davies-Cooke on guitar and backing vocals. 

Between them, the members of Absent Sons have a number of years' experience playing live, and available for gigs throughout London.

Creating Music. Transforming Futures.

Set up in memory of Lady Taylor of Gosforth, the wife of the late Lord Chief Justice Peter Taylor, the Irene Taylor Trust ‘Music in Prisons’ (MiP) has been working at the forefront of arts and rehabilitation since 1995, bringing music to men and women of all ages in custody. 

The individuals that MiP works with are some of the most socially disadvantaged and excluded. Many have faced a range of challenges including abuse, violence, addiction, mental health issues, exclusion from school and homelessness. 

MiP delivers intensive, high-quality creative music projects in prisons throughout the UK to provide positive experiences which help the forming of life skills such as teamwork, communication and perseverance. By allowing prisoners the freedom to create and perform music, MiP raises their aspirations, enabling them to play a positive role in their communities. 

This ability to inspire and make an impact on individuals’ lives has also been proven via rigorous academic research; an evaluation by the Institute of Criminology, University of Cambridge demonstrated that positive outcomes of MiP projects include increases in self-confidence, social skills and in the motivation to participate in educational activities, as well as decreases in incidence of self-harm and offending behaviour whilst in prison. 

From 2012 onwards, the Irene Taylor Trust has embraced a new strategy to take its reach further than ever before, with the development of the Sounding Out ex-prisoner programme (see http://soundingout.net ) and Making Tracks, targeting young people at risk in the community.

More information about MiP, including how to attend prison and community performances, is available on the website www.irenetaylortrust.com

Of course, another result of our projects is that they generate some amazing original music, which you can now hear here on soundcloud!

Followers of Absent Sons