A traditional tune, dating back at least to the Elizabethan era, played by Cameron Newell (fiddle) and myself (guitar) in St Oran's chapel on Iona

The Girl I Left Behind

A tune by John Carty, played in St Oran's Chapel, Iona, by Cameron Newell (fiddle) and myself (guitar)

Seanamhac Tube Station

Another old, draft recording of an old song, that I still love, for all its roughness. Perhaps I'll make a better recording soon?

In A Workshop (3)

Written thirteen months after the death of my youngest son, from cancer, the song imagines getting slightly lost, on a walk in the hills and meeting him on the foothills of heaven.
This recording was made in the lovely acoustic of the Relig Oran, a medieval chapel on Iona, in the graveyard where he was buried.

I Met My Love - Relig Oran 17 - 11 - 23

The song was written for friends attending marches, initially the Glasgow COP Conference, but there have been plenty of things to march about since, and I've done several before that, going back to the 70s.

Singing The Blues To Sleep

This is a song about my parents and, tangentially, about my upbringing, but also about family love and the continuation of living relationships through and after death. This recording is of a particular approach to singing and playing the song, after trying several that didn't seem quite to work. It is a very interesting process of working towards an arrangement, when the song starts, as this one did, with only words and melody - I was on my bike at the time.

His hands

This new song is unlike anything I've written for a long time, inspired by Ry Cooder's recording of the Blind Alfred Reed song "You must unload", and the ghastly mess we seem to be careering into.

Wisdom

First sketch arrangement of a new song, with a non-religious Christmas setting; kind of Cyril Tawney's "Sammy's Bar" meets Steve Earl's "Goodbye"

Christma In Nova Scotia - Simple

This was written for my son, Jonny, who died in January this year, shortly after his 21st birthday, at the Beatson West of Scotland Cancer Centre, in Glasgow. It was begun while he was away from home, with his mother, for chemotherapy, and finished during the final episode in his illness. I played it at his memorial service in Dunkeld Cathedral, with his older brothers, Harry and Peter, playing instruments that Jonny had made with me - a five string fretless bass and a Firebird-type guitar with gorgeous, soulful Bare Knucle pickups

Oh My Dear

I am a songwriter, guitarist and singer, with over 50 years' experience in making music, solo, in duos, trios and bands, covering various styles. 
My circumstances are such that I am now mostly working alone, but still interested in collaborations - including internet-enabled - in writing, recording and performing, my main focus being on writing new songs and trying to get them heard.

Jerry Akehurst

Pinned to spotlight

Popular tracks