General News

Dec 2025 News Update

Well my friends, the October 'Giltrap and Etheridge 2 Parts Guitar' tour has come and gone and to be honest it's hard to believe it! Here is the promised review.

When the first date was looming, I started to panic wondering how it would all work out. I knew that John would handle anything I threw at him, he being the supreme improvisor with a stella technique envied by a multitude of great players! On top of that my friend and tour manager Mark Guyatt had planned everything in minute detail, the routing, the hotels, the stage setup and the merchandise, so everything was as foolproof as it could be.

My choice of guitars were my trusty Fylde signature model and custom Leonardo plus my Paul Brett Viator. They all served me well throughout the tour.

The Tour Schedule:

October 4th St David's Hall South Petherton

5th Cardiff Acapella Studio

6th/7th days off

8th Hastings White Rock Theatre

9th Travel Day

10th Bristol Beacon

11th Chidham Village Hall

12th Hampton Hub Kingston Upon Thames

13th Travel Day

14th York NECM

15th Greystones Sheffield

16th The Hub Lichfield

17th Otley Courthouse

18th Foxlowe Arts Centre Leek

19th Liverpool Philharmonic Hall

20th/21st days off

22nd Astor Theatre Deal

23rd Colchester Arts Centre

24th Whitty Theatre Wokingham

25th Stables Theatre Wavendon

26th Chelmsford

27th Travel day

28th/29th London Pizza Express Jazz club Dean St

The tour was put together by my amazing agent, friend and gentleman Lee Noble on the strength of the success of the mini 10-day version in May of last year. This was truly my first major tour since the epic 40 date, 'One to One' tour with fiddle player Ric Sanders way back in 1989 which almost broke us and sadly damaged the friendship for many years but fortunately those rifts were healed a while back and we are probably closer than ever now!

Truth be told I doubt I would have undertaken a tour of this length without my friend Mark Guyatt agreeing to take on the role of tour manager and merch person.

I have known Mark since 2015.He is a fine guitarist and keyboard player. He is by profession a very successful architect and CEO of his own architectural practice, but quite fancied taking time out as he did last year to help this ageing Troubadour do what he does best.

My sincere thanks go out to him. (Pic of Mark in GG t-shirt)

The Show

To a degree working with John is far easier than me doing my solo shows where I have to play for about an hour and a half. The show was split into two halves where I did about half an hour and John joined me for two pieces to close the first half. Second half same thing except we did four pieces including the encore.

Running Order

First half, my solo pieces:

Shining Morn

The Kissing Gate

Anjie

Isabella's Wedding

A Christmas Carol

Loren

Heartsong

John then joined me for

Maddie Goes West

Roots

Second half, John solo pieces:

John did to a degree change thing round a bit but always finished on his tour de force piece written by Dollar Brand utilizing his loop station. The piece is an African influenced piece entitled 'Msunduza'. John makes the guitar sound like a cross between steel drums and a marimba. He inserts a piece of card in-between the strings to give a staccato effect which is truly astonishing. He even gets the audience clapping along, real audience participation stuff!

I then joined him for

Sadie in May

Five Dollar Guitar

A Dublin Day

and the encore being Small Pockets of Joy.

Minor setbacks

At the Otley show my Helix stomp box went wrong due to its user pressing two pedals simultaneously and the user not being able to get it back into default mode! Mark Guyatt to the rescue when he suggested a different configuration of guitar straight into the PA with some nice reverb from the desk and my posh Strymon Cloudburst supplying a gorgeous ethereal soundscape. This configuration worked well for many of the gigs and served me well throughout the remaining dates on the tour.

The first night at St David's Hall South Petherton was plagued with electrical problems with the mains supply cutting out, but fortunately it didn't happen and to a degree it was a mini triumph. The evening was made VERY special by the surprise visit of my lovely daughter Sadie and beautiful granddaughter Abbi. What a thrill it was to play the piece I wrote for Sadie many years ago entitled 'Sadie in May'.

2 Parts Guitar CD

John and I decided that we should put together an EP CD for the tour and the end result, '2 Parts Guitar CD' sold well, in fact we sold out of stock and wished we had ordered more but didn't want to risk of having stock left over gathering dust on a shelf. We did have some of our own product to sell, me with my biography and John with one of his jazz trio albums.

Friends

We met so many great people during the tour, old and new friends along the way. Special note should be made of the lovely Jenny Hanley who attended the Hastings concert; Patsy Matheson and husband Tim who hosted us after the Otley show; a lovely friend of Mark's, Marje an extraordinary lady, a retired GP and outstanding artist, nice singer hosted us after the Leek concert. (Thank you Marje for that lovely gift of one of your paintings.)

Dear friend Sue Martin (pic above) who hosted us after the Chidham gig and an old friend of Mark's, Tony Rundle and his lovely wife Suzanne who hosted us in their lovely home after Lichfield. It felt strange not to go home after Lichfield having once lived a short drive away in Tennyson Avenue, Sutton Coldfield all those years, but life moves on!

More Friends

It's always a joy when friends attend the shows. Sue and Mike Holton after the Deal show. My beloved Sue and brother Russ at York (Thanks Russ and Pat for the meal the night before) Paul Roberts and Kathryn also at York. Dave Bracher at South Petherton. I have already mentioned my Sadie and Abbi on that night. Wally and Joyce Wright, Keith Tromans, Gary and Lorraine, my grandson Jack and partner Em at Lichfield. (Thank you for those lovely flowers both.) Trev Rolf at Wavendon. Cath and Geoff at Sheffield, Mark Guyatt's brother Neil at Chelmsford. I had run out of strings, and he kindly gave me a couple of superb string sets to get me through the tour ...what a life saver...thanks buddy. Will Rumsey and daughter Caroline at Wokingham. Michael and Lesley Gough. Jim Edgar at Liverpool. Carrie and Darren Martin, Mark and Jane Day at Otley.

London Concerts

The final two dates in London at The Pizza Express Jazz club Dean Street were lovely and I was somehow not expecting the audience to be so warm receptive and more to the point "fun" being a London audience, but they were, and very patient when I broke a string two tunes in on the second night. The venue unbeknown to me is a pretty prestigious place to play almost akin to playing Ronnie Scott's.

The Dreaded Lurgy

I came down with a rotten cold after the Otley concert and promptly passed it on to Mark and then John...happy days! We know they are only colds, but it makes one feel rotten and makes the job harder when trying to be 'Mr Entertainer'.

New Guitar

I was very naughty because the day after the Colchester gig Mark and I visited the most amazing guitar shop called Peach Guitars. I weakened and purchased a nice little mahogany Martin 015 for strumming around at home. A Fylde it ain't but it's a fun thing.

Here's a nice pic of me with the boss man and said guitar.

All in a successful tour.

A huge thank you to all who kept the faith and came out to see us.

My thanks to Sue Holton, Mick Dodsworth and others for the photos on this page.

May I wish you all a happy and peaceful time celebrating Christ's birthday.

Footnote

Our hearts go out to our dear friend Carrie Martin whose father recently passed away.