From an otherwise difficult busking session in Waterloo station a little while back (it’s being extended and there was a lot of building site noise!), please welcome my first national radio appearance (that I can think of – any counter-bids, do let me know!) – starting and underscoring this BBC Radio 4 feature:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08md9xf

Admittedly it is partly a worked example of what you actually have to do to abide by copyright law – including gaining permission from a busker playing traditional, out of copyright material in public in order to use a recording of that playing on a radio programme. But still me credited by name on Radio 4, you know? And no, we didn’t script, rehearse or re-record that opening exchange, and yes, we were having it while I was still playing (it isn’t an overdub) – I tend to avoid interrupting a number to talk to someone unless it’s clearly going to have to be an extended exchange; at least fiddle is relatively easy to play while talking!

Credit to fellow Merseyside musician and sometime busker Gaz Gaskell for hearing my name in the programme and managing to track my website down in order to give me a heads-up about it! Play on …