The best things are usually those that take you by surprise. Just about a year ago Mary Colwell asked me if I would record my version of "In The Bleak Midwinter" (a simple affair with just guitar and vocal) and send it to her. Mary is a fantastic producer and wanted to add the song as the background to her short podcast about the season of Advent - the season of waiting. I duly obliged and the song was added to the audio of a prisoner in Bristol Jail looking forward to his parole and explaining how looking after a small bird had given him hope and a positive outlook on the future. You can listen to the podcast here.
Well........since the podcast was released it has gone on to win the following awards:-
Winner: Sony Radio Gold Award 2009 - Best Internet Programme Winner: New York Festivals Gold World Medal - Best Internet Radio
Winner: Jerusalem Radio Award - Best Internet Audio
Podcast: "The Prisoner & The Budgerigar"
Producer: Mary Colwell
Contributors: Les Tanner, Robert King
Music: Gareth Davies-Jones
Huge congratulations to Mary. It's been a privilege to be involved and I'm looking forward to working with Mary again in the future. In the meantime - look out for the full version of the carol appearing soon on MySpace and perhaps a Radio station near you !
Peace.