Snuck out all incognito Swiftie like to watch The Release Party of a Showgirl this afternoon. Great to see some of the behind the scenes making of the music videos. I'll be feeding that into a chapter I'm writing on film and TV representation... Do you I think I was that obvious? 😁 😅 👀

I heard that Taylor Swift has a new record out today. Well, I've been a Swifie since the early days, but my new single is also out today. I guess you'd say it's about The Life of Cowboy 👀 🤠 'All About You' is available now on all platforms, one of the most requested songs from my album Country Folk!

When one of your music heroes writes their autobiography. Can't wait to start reading this later tonight with a glass of red after a crazy week! 🍷 "So on and on I go, the seconds tick the time out. There's so much left to know, and I'm on the road to find out!" 🎵

Absolutely devoured this book, the new autobiography from Sir Tim Berners-Lee. A fascinating story of how the World Wide Web came to be, and for me the story of my life. I was born in 1991 the same year the WWW went public and it's development tracked my childhood, studies and career.

And this is what my PhD is all about, in case you were wondering...

I'm sorry, Garth Brooks may not have played in the UK for 30 years (so pretty much my entire life) but there's no way I'm paying £130 to stand way back in Hyde Park in a huge crowd. That's more than I paid for the Eras Tour at Wembley and Springsteen combined.

This seemed appropriate today, can't for the life of me think why...

3,2,1... Time to see what the 34th trip around the sun has in store! 💫🚀✨🎈🎂

Yesterday I had a chance to slip out at lunch and visit the new Beyond Coffee in Lincoln which has creative takes on an iced latte (raspberry was my pick), plus windows views across to the beautiful New Theatre Royal where I've performed many times.

Today's vinyl choice, the brilliant Petty Country tribute to Tom Petty on orange vinyl. Still working my way through records purchased in Nashville earlier this year! 🎶🎸

What a wonderful weekend at @thelongroadfest. Too many years away and great to be back with friends old and new. I can't think of a festival with more wholesome vibes and a great family friendly atmosphere. Lineup across the weekend was eclectic and top notch! Roll on 2026 y'all! 🤠🎸☀️😁

"Here in a small town, where everybody knows your name. It's hard to escape from local fame..." youtu.be/Olth0nsQ_O8... Big plans afoot for my hometown come 2026.

I'll never get bored of walking this city on a beautiful summer evening. Despite everything else, it's why I'll never leave. I've been lucky to graduate twice in the Cathedral. A Belgium PhD graduation will be hard pressed to compete!

What a life! You couldn't imagine it if you tried... and now he's back amongst the stars. The movie version is one of my favourites as I've always been fascinated by space exploration. Fly high, Spaceman! 👨‍🚀 www.bbc.co.uk/news/a...

Heard the sad news that we lost Grand Ole Opry legend "Miss Country Soul" Jeannie Seely. I was lucky to see her perform on my first visit to the Opry, just one of the nearly 5,400 shows she did in the circle, the most ever.

Lately, I've been quite obsessed with the new Parker McCollum album, his self-titled record, which is great for anyone growing up but still feeling like they don't have it all together. Anyway, I thought I'd give it a go, here's my version of 'Sunny Days' from the record. youtu.be/jFFSEq2BpZg...

This series on BBC sounds about New York in 1925, told through the seasons, is fascinating and highly recommended. Check it out if you like a good documentary radio podcast. www.bbc.co.uk/sounds...

Very interesting read for my fellow musos out there... Will be writing a chapter on streaming and social media soon, may incorporate elements of this! 🎶 www.bbc.co.uk/news/r...

We're coming to the end of a week camping on the Dorset coast between Swanage and Poole. Many years ago, back when I was sixteen I wrote a story inspired by this part of the world. It was a YA fantasy novel of sorts. Called "The Kraken's Curse" it was published by my then school King Edward VII. 🧵

Amazing Euros from the Lionesses and fighting from behind all the way. What a way to win back to back trophies, and in Lucy Bronze, an amazing role model for all the young ASD kids who are fanatical about being sporty and outdoorsy... Just like Jaxon! 🍃⚽️🏆

Lovely to see our own Lincolnshire Red Arrows performing their summer '25 display over the beach earlier... they must have followed us down from Waddington! 😆

If you have to finish a PhD chapter while on a camping holiday, at least you get this view while doing it! (Feat. Jaxon playing in the middle-distance) ☀️🤓 #PhDLife

If you know me, you know I love Mexican food. So tonight's mindfulness challenge was to turn all the greenhouse tomatoes into homemade salsa. Surprisingly easy for my first attempt, and it tastes sooo good! 😋🍅🫑🌶️🇲🇽

Back in the saddle. Several thousand words down on the PhD today and another chapter almost ready to submit tomorrow. Slowly getting there! 😊🤓🤠

Looks like someone is making and bottling salsa tomorrow with all these tomatoes from the greenhouse... and if you swipe you'll see the grapes are almost ready and might be sweet by the time we're back from holiday! 🍅🍇🪴

Great to play a few original songs from 'Country Folk' at the The Joiners Arms, Lincoln open mic last night. Weird to have walked past that pub hundreds of times and never gone in.

Continuing to work my way through vinyl records I picked up in Nashville, tonight's choice is Dwight Yoakam's 'Guitars, Cadillacs, etc. etc' 🤠

🏆 Delighted to hear that the programme design I created for Grantham Operatic Society's 2024 production of 'The Addams Family' was named Best Programme in its class at the NODA East Midlands awards this afternoon 🏆

This afternoon was due to be the first show of a small tour to promote my second album 'Country Folk' which was released back in January. Unfortunately the show was postponed and we are working on a new date, with other shows to be announced soon too!

❗️Unfortunately my show at The Blue Room Lincoln this coming Sunday has been postponed while the venue look for an alternative date. Refunds are available at your point of purchase. I will share the new date + other shows as soon as I'm able.

Pretty pleased with the first haul of 2025 from the greenhouse/garden here at The Burrow. Thanks to Shannen for making sure things stayed alive while I was away in the US. Best spend the rest of my evening shelling peas and beans 😂🌱🫛🫘🍅🍓

Saturday morning vinyl and a second coffee. Slowly starting to work through the many records I bought back from Nashville this last trip... This one is very special, 30th anniversary edition of Mary Chapin Carpenter's 'Stones In The Road' from 1994.

Back from Nashville with a full heart, and now I'm excited for the first show on my Country Folk tour, which will play through the rest of this year. To start, it's a homecoming gig at a beautiful venue, The Blue Room, Lincoln 🤠🎸🎶

I love serendipity and it happens a lot in Nashville. Venturing over to Grimey's record store in the rain, I walked in to find the brilliant Hailey Whitters doing a sound check for her album release show. I bought the vinyl, saw the show and got it signed after.

It's that crazy time again... Great first day of #CMAFest2025 feat. Brilliant sunsets, Maddie and Tae in conversation about motherhood and new music, Opry next women stars and Reba's stand. www.instagram.com/p/...

Amazing to be back at the Grand Ole Opry yesterday for #Opry100 ✨ Spent some time walking the grounds, then did the fabulous Women of Country tour backstage including all the haunts of the biggest female stars... www.instagram.com/p/...

As a big Eric Church fan for most of his career, I might be a bit biased. But I think his new bar, Chiefs, is standout on Lower Broadway. Genuine modern day honkytonk from the decor to the music to the food.

Wonderful to get to to present my completed PhD research on the women of the Nashville country music scene at the International Country Music Conference at Belmont University this morning.

Great first day at the International Country Music Conference at Belmont University, Nashville. Diverse papers on topics including Lower Broadway 'Star Bars', great Petty Country tribute album, a woman's history of Hank Williams and ending the day with a wax cylinder recording made by Dom Flemons.

As the song I once wrote goes, "I'm heading back to Nashville, leave my worries far behind". Looking forward to being back in my second home for two weeks, presenting my completed PhD research at the International Country Music Conference and attending CMA Fest next weekend! 🤠🇺🇸🎶🎸

Next month I'm playing a special lunchtime concert at The Blue Room Lincoln. This will be the first show since my album Country Folk was released at the start of the year and the prelude to a bigger tour in the autumn.

Hard to believe that this time last week I was wrapping up a week in Belgium, presenting initial conclusions from my PhD research at the Doctoral Day in Brussels. Great to be back at the beautiful Musical Instruments Museum (MIM) too! 🎶🤠

Interesting keynote from Graham Brown-Martin on 'Lifelong Learning in the AI Age' at Echo Experience 2025. Love this quote: "It must be true as the AI said it in a nice voice." From Dewey, through Chomsky and Papert to 4th Industrial Revolution. Some hope in future creativity in a world of AI.

Back from another beautiful week in Belgium last week, teaching and conferencing in Leuven and Brussels. Lots of PhD fun, planning for deadlines and initial talks about the viva and what comes next... 🇧🇪🍻😁 #Belgium #Brussels #Leuven #PhD #Research #Music #Work #Travel

Great to have the opportunity to teach a lecture this morning for undergrad music students, PhDs, Postdocs and professors at KU Leuven on the history of country music, women performers and how it tracks US history, media and technology.

Evening stroll around beautiful #Leuven. Back in Belgium this week for an intensive few days of teaching and PhD writing. May is a set to be a crazy, but exciting month and I couldn't think of a better way to kick it off than being back here in one of my favourite cities! 🤓🎓🇧🇪

We're having a blast performing 'Kiss Me, Kate' this week. One of my favourite experiences on stage and such a funny, feel good show! Nice to get to perform one of the classic musicals✨

🎶 Another Openin', Another Show! 🎶 I've been using that line for years for every musical I've ever done, and this year it's the very show... the opening night of our fabulous production of 'Kiss Me, Kate.' Weather warning, it's going to be Too Darn Hot in Grantham for the next three days! 🔥🥵

A very brief stop at @officialBAAS conference 2025 at University of Hertfordshire in Hatfield. Great to co-deliver a workshop on deconstructing positionality in research. Lots of very interesting questions and discussion. Just had time to catch the JAS keynote on the 70th anniversary of BAAS too!

Making final preparations for my workshop at BAAS Conf 2025 tomorrow, while also juggling the tech rehearsal for our production of 'Kiss Me, Kate' which opens in Grantham on Thurs evening. An exciting week ahead! 😁