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A tribute to Michael Fearn (1952-2022)

Michael showed me how to play his instrumental, Spot's Jig, sometime in 1989 or perhaps 1990. Working on the tune taught me to play in Dropped D and I've been playing it off and on for well over 30 years with a set of variations that I added along the way. I'm posting it here because, terribly sadly, Michael died suddenly earlier this summer. Among the shock and sense of loss I know many many friends will share, I was left feeling that I wish I'd taken the chance to tell him just how much his musical friendship and companionship had meant to me; both as a teenager and when I got stuck back into songwriting in my mid 30s. He drove me to guitar shops on Denmark Street to buy an amp for my Strat. He made me tapes of albums by everyone from Atkin and James, to Richard Thompson and Warren Zevon. He helped me record my GCSE music tracks, gently advising against an awful lyric I'd written and adding phaser to my violin part.

He and Stephanie took me to my first serious gig. Richard Thompson solo at the Royal Festival Hall in 1991, with Stephan Fearing as the support act. It's never one thing or event, of course, but in retrospect that gig was the moment that snapped into focus the level of songwriting and performance that I'm still trying to get to three decades later. And while Fearing and Thompson go from strength to strength, James and Zevon have gone. As Lou Reed tells it: "Life's good, but not fair at all".

Thanks Michael x

credits

released July 25, 2022
Original tune written by Michael Fearn (with variations by Adam Holden).

For credits and performance of the original tune please see michaelfearn.bandcamp.com/track/spots-gig-instrumental

This version was arranged and performed by Adam Holden on his Lowden F32 guitar and recorded by Maurice Condie on 20th July 2022.

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Adam Holden Gateshead, UK

Adam Holden is a songwriter who performs solo and in folk duo Another Penny (with Maurice Condie). He sings and plays guitar and piano.

Adam grew up in East London playing classical music and listening to songwriters from as many sources as he could find. His songs touch on immediate social, domestic and natural landscapes but are also rooted in a love of political ideas. ... more

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