Frances Shelley

Monestevole, April 15th ‘10

Well Hello to anyone out there reading this . . . and . . good morning!

I am in this very beautiful hillside farmhouse in Tuscany, as I mentioned, with a group of about 20 apparently all very talented people, all of us bent on songwriting!  each day we are put into groups of 2 or 3 by our trusted leaded Chris, with the aim of (in between copious delicious home made meals) coming up with a song per day.  After dinner we perform said masterpiece to the group and other invited  guests, in the huge and beautiful glass fronted studio which looks out over the rolling blue Tuscan hills to infinity.  Log fires crackle in cool of the April evenings (its been very cool actually . .  perishing in fact! Im wearing leggings tights and two pairs of  jeans at the moment) and there has been predictably an abundance of both laughter and tears.  Its amazing.  Amazing for me to HAVE to finish the songs for one thing.  Working alone as I usually do, being faced with a) a keen collaborator and b) the prospect of imminent performance provides just the incentive I need to get the job done.  Hopefully I can take some of this discipline home with me and apply to own songs.

Today is our ‘free’ day, no official song writing groups have been designated and there is transport to Perugia for a day out if we want.  Lazy and in holiday mood as I am, I think I may stay here in these glorious surroundings, the sun is going to shine and the lure of the huge brand new Yamaha grand piano  in the studio, together with the chance to work on some of my own stuff . .. my life . . .my dreams . . .may prove stronger than the attractions of tourism.

FRIDAY 16th April

Good morning, another still and misty Tuscan dawn, the promise of a beautiful day.  There is a young hawthorn bush just outside my bedroom window and everyday the bright green leaves, are being born a little more, uncurling, spreading themselves gradually out under the sky. There were  fragile wild cherry blossoms  in the woods yesterday as I was walking. Gorgeous.

I had blissful day, woke late and stayed in the villa yesterday, not going to Perugia with the others.  Quiet and full of peace. I did as ‘intended’ and was happy about that.  In the evening Carlos and Martina made another delicious vegetarian supper.  After dinner  we made some beautiful music,  sort of folk, just the four of us.  A  good day.

And today?  I hope to write with my friend Kate Harwood.  We have worked together before and we’ve got a song to finish . . . started last year when she came to stay, it’s (surprise!) about the agony of a dysfunctional relationship  . ..and contains the line (Kate’s) ‘consenting to this pain, here we go again’ . . .ooh dear well, if you know what we are talking about you will know what we are talking about!   and if you don’t I’m glad for you.

Saturday 17th April

Yesterday was hard!  Didn’t get to write with Kate, we plan to today instead, and felt cold and annoyed a lot of the day.

Whole day overshadowed by the extraordinary spectre of the Volcanic cloud, INCREDIBLE !. . . and its implications on my travel plans.  Realisation that we are stranded here (tho there are worse places!) and feelings of total powerlessness and frustration which yesterday definitely threatened my serenity!

None of us can really get our heads around it. Suddenly to find one is in the midst of a natural phenomenum on this sort of scale  .. . did someone say the initial jet was 7 miles high?    . . . .that’s MAGESTIC !  . ..and puts us mortals and our petty concerns into proper perspective.

SUNDAY

woken today with a lot more acceptance . .  .(was supposed to be flying out to New Zealand  tomorrow) but now realising that a week or two in my life will not make much difference.

Gonna work on the song with Kate.  And finish ‘I will follow you’ A plan!

MONDAY

Too early to be awake.   . .done some meditation, a little yoga, and watched the pockets of mist fade in the valley  as a new red sun rose in the sky. Listened to the dawn chorus.

Finished ‘I will follow you’ .  I didn’t feel it was ready to play at the gig last night, but hope I can record it and that it might be included in the recording Chris has invited us all to contribute songs for, in aid of the charity to provide a bed for a musician in a treatment centre.  People from the group here all came up with amazing songs they’d written yesterday for it, and Kate and I finished ‘Here we go again’, such a dark song we didn’t want to sing it for too long, it’s a painful one.  A catharsis I hope though too.

No news on travel, so switching off, trying to accept the situation, relax!  . .  What ??   . .    going to be a lovely day though, weather set fair, and I Intend only to enjoy.

TUESDAY 21st april

6 am. another perfect dawn, pale blue mist in the valley, the promise of a hot day.  Which would be the first, on the day we Ieave of course!  Am getting a ride in a minibus that guitarist Gavin has organised to come out and pick some of us up.  Am excited at the prospect of getting home, dreading the long ordeal ahead, and sad to be leaving this lovely place Monestevole.  I have heard some great music here, and it has all been real, passionate and authentic;  songwriting is in my opinion the most ‘dangerous’ of all the arts, in that it exposes the raw soul of its creator in such a naked way.  There is no real place to hide armed with simply a guitar and your voice.  It has been a real privilege to hear everyone and be a part of this week, and I have gained from it.

and Ive also finished two more songs!   we recorded Here we Go Again in the studio here with patient and lovely Henry yesterday,  as part of Chris Difford’s  rehab album, so that feels really good;  working in that beautiful studio yesterday afternoon with Kate, we looked at each other and thought, how did this come about, to be sitting here in Italy putting down this song that we started as a little idea in my home studio 6 months ago?   And my ‘I will follow’ that I started with Junior Garr at home after Christmas has finally found its form, and I am loving it and longing to record when I get home, with him.  which is another miracle.  I worked for years on my own and found it hard to finish anything.  Collaboration is I believe the way forward, and requires from me a degree of letting go, trusting,  . . .new skills!

Better get up and pack. more on my adventures later.

THURSDAY

Im Home!  amazing journey, Steve drove us all the way uncomplainingly , I got the good fortune of getting my turn in the front seat (I pod controller seat) as we drove through the evening up through Northern Italy through the Alps into Switzerland. What a trip, it was like being in a film, so beautiful . .Lake Como appears on your left, and suddenly wham straight through another mountain and out the other side to new magical scene of castles lit up high  hill tops looking like they are hovering in space, catch your breath as you realise that the sparkling lights in the blackness high above you are street lights, not stars, then stars above that, as we rushed headlong in the night, mostly listening to  Rockaphelia, Steve’s favourite American acapella soul band.

Later squashed in on the back seat fitful sleep ,  stopped in beautifully designed and totally empty motorway café’s offering the best olive oil and fresh food (why oh why cant we do this in the UK?)  arrived Calais breakfast time,  through the apparently deserted euro tunnel (no queues, nobody at all in fact?  what’s going on, was it all an elaborate joke I ask myself?) and eventually home . . ..and the sun is shining and its Lovely.  I am, I admit, a real home body, and though I love a jaunt, even more I love my comfort zone!

and so the Italian adventure ends . . . what’s the next chapter about?  Im up for it!