Whatever your opinion on protest singers, sometimes you just get to thinking 'this aint really ever going to change anything'. It's no secret I love Bob Dylan - i guess he'd be the first 'protest singer' to pop into anyone's mind - but this song just came out of an expression of helplessness I suppose, that unless we use force it's pretty useless trying to change the world. And force is no good either. From my album 'Sonnets and Singers' (2007).

How You Get Things Done

I've always been fascinated by the darker side of life. Subjects like prostitution, drugs and murder crop up time and time again in my songs...I guess for me these songs are about people facing an immense struggle in their lives. There's a terrible sadness there, especially in the tales of girls forced into prostitution. This is from my 2007 album with Mississippi Records - 'Sonnets and Singers'.

Good Girl

Another track from my 2011 release Adults Are Stupid, this opens with a vocal by Suzie (backing vocalist on Adults). Written from a woman's point of view, it's about the pitfalls and continuing heartache of living with a man who drinks. At the time I was writing a lot on piano, in a friend's house in the country. I recorded this on an old wooden upright in a Bristol basement studio.

Hard Drinking Man

I recently introduced this song with a topical story about social inequality. In 2017. When I wrote this it was around 2009...
Very sad to say nothing changes. In Bristol, like any big city, we have our share of homeless problems, and the drug problems that often come with it. This song explores what happens when a person's life starts out that way, it's to do with being bitten by the life you're born into...

Walk With Kings

Suzie (backing vocalist on Adults Are Stupid) did a great job of the backing vocals in the chorus here. This song is I guess quite simply about moving on - literally and emotionally. There is always something romantic and nostalgic about trains anyway, so this song has a sense of nostalgia as well as the more obvious sadness of coming to terms with a relationship break-up.

A Man And A Train

This is a true story about a conversation I had with a real taxi driver in Bristol one night in the early 2000s. I still wonder if he ever found his son

Me And The Taxi Driver

Cold 2013

My first recording of my most popular song 'Cold', written about caring for someone with Alzheimers disease. This is my most requested song and I've already recorded it twice at different points of my career.

Sonnets And Singers

Cold (The Alzheimer's One)2010

FOR FURTHER INFO: sarellmusic2016@yahoo.co.uk

Thankyou for listening. I have been overwhelmed at gigs lately by comments and messages of support for my music. One day I'll learn to promote myself online! 

A no nonsense, honest British songwriter, I am inspired by the extremes in life - from the darkest, grubbiest corners to the most shimmering, life-affirming stories. My songs therefore range from songs like 'Me and the Taxi Driver' about a man searching for his missing junky son night after night, and 'Hard Drinking Man' which, told from the woman's viewpoint, deals with the difficulties of living with an alcoholic husband - to songs like 'Music', the song which won me the Bristol Songwriting Competition a couple of years ago, and is an uplifting, celebratory song about the healing power of music - to 'Blessing' a simple love song told honestly. I don't necessarily always go for the obvious and l am often attracted to giving a voice to a story not often told -   it occurred to me once that looking after somebody with Alzheimer's disease was about the most loving thing you could do because you were giving without expecting anything in return - i then wrote the song 'Cold' which is essentially a love song about caring for a partner with this kind of condition. 

I've written hundreds of songs. Sometimes I try to write them all down and count them, but as I tend to write more each week almost, this has become a really difficult task. I write in crowded places - at the bar, on the train... I also like to write in my camper van when I'm on my travels.

Over the years I've worked with a lot of great musicians and sound engineers, including Portishead's Jim Barr, and I've co-written with some great London songwriters. Currently I'm working with a great, country 'Emmylou Harris' style singer in a duo called Larkham And Hall (www.facebook.com/larkhamandhallmusic)

All of my albums can be found and purchased from i-tunes, CD baby and Bandcamp.

Much as I enjoy performing, my great passion in life remains writing songs, and I'm now looking to place my songs in the hands of people who know where they would work best - in film, advert or TV, or even to be covered by established artists.

For more information please get in touch with me, I'm always happy to have a chat about music.

‘A rough, gruff and tumble voice that pulls away at lyrics this good is the kind of daydream we need in England to reignite a spark for credible new songwriters.Fans of folk, poetry and rock ‘n’ roll should pay attention to this wholly earnest and breathtakingly awe inspiring rogue' alex lee thomspon NME london

'Remember the very first time you heard Tom Waits and you thought: "No way"? It's like that with Elliot Hall of Bristol . All is shot through with a rare honesty - never do the subject matter or lyrics feel phony. Hall is what Ray LaMontagne pretends to be. He is heroic and compelling'. venue magazine

elliot hall

Popular tracks