I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t able to play guitar and sing, most likely because my father learned to play during the 2nd World War (I still have his Sicilian-made guitar; it lives in a case made from the wing of a defunct spitfire). Following his example, I started to learn ukulele at the age of 4 or 5. I sang at various village hall concerts in the 50s with my Dad; that’s where I learned to sing harmonies along to the Hank Williams and Tex Ritter songs he loved to sing. In the mid 60s I sang with a young girl called Ann Thirkettle at the Half Moon in Elloughton; eventually this developed into a band called The New Folk (imaginative, eh?). After Ann left we changed the name to The Monto (after Montgomery Street in Belfast, I believe). During this period we were accompanied on fiddle by a very young Kevin Burke, now a renowned fiddle player. Somewhere I still have a tape of myself accompanying (or at least trying to accompany) Kevin as he played a reel… In the early 70s The Monto set up a folk club at the New Inn, Holme-on-Spalding Moor. After a year or two the club relocated to the Cross Keys, Bubwith, in the wooden hall at the rear of the pub (which ceased to exist long ago; it is now a private house). Along with others I supported many interesting acts at the club during the 1970s including Mike Harding, Alex Campbell, Nic Jones and Jasper Carrott; I also had a spell in a (mostly) ragtime duo with John Burrows. Toward the end of the 70s I sang with Dave O’Hara (Shane Peters) in many a Working Men’s Club in Yorkshire. I later teamed up with my good friend William ‘Billy’ Bills with whom I toured the Yorkshire pub & club circuit for many a year. In the late 80s I teamed up with Steve Hopton, a guitarist from Ackworth, and we played together for a while as Hopton & Hodge (which, in retrospect, does sound rather like a firm of solicitors…) After a few years and many cries of “play summat we know” in pubs and clubs I met York-based musician Marc Atkinson and joined his band Gabriel. It was a real departure for me to play in a rock band. We had several good years playing festivals and so forth, living the rock-star dream (complete with obligatory leather trousers), foot welded to the monitor… At the moment I sing mostly at the weekends – I have regular spots at the Blue Bicycle and Ate O’Clock, two of the finest restaurants in York. Occasionally I provide entertainment at weddings and christenings – though I have yet to secure a Bar mitzvah. Recently I’ve also been providing guitar accompaniment for the legendary Nic Jones; early in 2006 we recorded a new version of one of his famous Trad. Arr. Jones songs for a CD to be released in the near future. I hope to continue playing, singing, learning for as long as I’m here…