He may have been an in-demand DJ and respected record label boss of late, but until last month it had been thirteen years since Ben Watt last sang and played live with a simple microphone and guitar – not since he and partner Tracey Thorn parked their band Everything But The Girl in 2000. As for solo gigs, you have to go back even further. Thirty years, in fact. As far back as 1983 to the days when he was making left-field folk-jazz recordings like ‘Summer Into Winter’ and ‘North Marine Drive’ as a precocious 19 year-old for London indie label, Cherry Red, with stellar collaborators like Robert Wyatt and Kevin Coyne. [Read more…]
