I got the inclination.

So,I'm listening to music and at a loose end so Here is a little about me and what I'm up to now.

I've always been interested in music,ever since I can remember. I can remember standing on an old ottoman in our old house,must have been about 4 years old,singing 'She Loves You' at the top of my voice. And listening to the radio and hearing 'Little Children' by Billy J Kramer and the dakotas....if I had to do a tracks of my years kind of thing,that would be the first one on the list.

I heard 'San Quentin' by Johnny Cash,and that knocked me out....I loved his voice,but also the harsh twangy guitar on tracks like the title track and 'I Walk the Line',which had a lot more fuzz on it than on the studio recordings,and it was that harsh,fuzzy sound that stayed with me for along time. Fast forward no to about 1973,I was 13. A freind of ours,Roger, used to take us all swimming as he had a car.....with a tape player....absolute luxory...and this is where I first heard Deep purple. 'Machine Head' was the album,and I thought then,this is what I want to listen to. Roger also had 'Dark Side of the Moon',some ELP,Roxy Music which we all listened to in the car,so it wasn't long before I was buying stuff like that myself. Off down the record shop,see what albums they had in,if I didn't get an album I'd buy a single. I had loads at one point of all genres rockwise.
But,I always wanted to play the guitar,as the tennis racket was taking a bashing,so I bought an old Kay,which was basically a plank with strings,but it was ok to learn on. A friend of mine showed me some chords,it was an age before I could even fret them never mind play a tune,I'm tone deaf,but I persevered and managed to bash out 'Wild Thing' and a few popular riffs....but it was a struggle. I nearly gave up. So,practice makes perfect....well not perfect....but for me it was.

Fast forward again,and after getting married and kids coming along,the guitar took a back seat for a while....but I had a resurgence after winning one on Radio Wales. It was a Marlin Sidewinder,and a nice guitar...so more practice,but getting nowhere. It was about this time I put my back out,I was off work for a few weeks,laid up. I was left the essentials to survive if my wife went out including some paper and a pen. Now,I don't know what happened,the pain in my back must have opened up a portion of my brain and I started writing lyrics.I was listening to Manx Radio,we could pick that up in Anglesey where we were at the time,and it was commentary on the manx grand prix classic race. The commentator was enthusing over the bikes going past...things like beautiful BSA,or gorgeous Triumph...then he said ...no here comes a silverblack Norton...just listen to that as it goes past the creg.......then my song 'Silverblack' was born. I wrote the lyrics in about 10 minutes. After that about 7 more sets of lyrics came out............but,problem!!! I didn't have the knowledge or skill to put music to these words...so for a time they were shelved,but I still kept them.

Now,some years later,after splitting up with my wife and moving to Guernsey,I applied myself to learning the guitar properly...still hard work though. I met my partner,Jan,in Guernsey and she encouraged me to carry on.
After moving back to the UK together,we moved to Mid Wales,I set about trying to get my lyrics recorded. This is when I met Steve Kelly. I'd found him on My Space and was impressed by his songwriting and the way he wrote his lyrics,so I asked him after one or two internet conversations if he would mind looking at my lyrics. He agreed so I sent him 'Silverblack' and went to meet him at his house a week or so later. He played me the basic bones of the song,and I tell you,to here my words brought to life like that was wonderful!!! So we set about recording it properly,Steve has the means to do so properly. That went well,we found we were having a good time doing this so we did another one,and another,and by this time we were becoming good friends.....so I wrote more lyrics...now sometimes Steve tweaks the words to make them scan or to ba able to be sung best,but we have come up with 10 finished songs to go on a CD,3 tracks of which were written 20 odd years ago on Anglesey. This CD is called 'Lifesongs' and we will release it on the 12th of September 2011. I never,in a million years,would have thought this would happen. It is a real thrill to see this and hear my words brought to life by Steve,plus I do play on the album....I had some lessons which helped a lot,and just practised as much as possible. I'm still nowhere near as good as some,but I'm getting more confident and that's half the battle.

I hope you'll take a look at the album,you can find it on facebook under Steve kelly and Andy Towell,or at www.endlessrecords.moonfruit.com where you can prchase the CD if you so desire.

Well,that was a marathon....blimey....thanks for reading,it's been quite therapeutic to write this,and I will do another and let you know how the CD is doing.

Much Love and Peace to you all.

Andy.