To make a living from playing music is the realistic dream of most musicians: earning money from your own music is where the dreams turn into fantasy.

For south coast singer and songwriter Barnaby Newman the first part has become a reality on the Country circuit.

He had been a gardener for 17 years but found “driving up and down the country at weekends to do the shows and then trying to get back in time to do the full time gardening job proved too much.”

These days he can be found playing in clubs as far north as Wales, Yorkshire and Lincolnshire while sticking to the romantic nature of a travelling musician by living in a caravan.

It’s something he loves but when the snow comes it can be quite trying: “with a hair dryer pointed at the waste pipe because it’s frozen up, I think it’s at that point that your sense of humour gets tested!”

His repertoire includes tracks by US starts like Garth Brooks, Alan Jackson, George Strait, Dwight Yoakam, and Waylon Jennings.

Barnaby is also able to include his own songs into his set and has just released his third album “When The Music Stops”.

He writes about the south, which is quite rare for country musicians, and he thinks the reason is partly because: “English place names never seem to sound as natural as when people sing of places in America.”

So if the country life is for you visit www.barnabynewman.com

One day you hear an idea; the next you almost have an album!

And it was 23^rd June that Julian Aplin from ‘Angry Badger Records‘ suggested we put together a compilation album.

Julian had become a regular at the Showcase UK nights in the Soul Cellar and decided to put on a few gigs at the venue  to showcase some of his own acts. He asked me to perform a DJ set between the bands following that sent an email with the immortal words: “How do you fancy a Showcase UK/Angry Badger compilation CD?”

There was no need for persuading as I had been thinking for the past two years we needed a follow-up to the previous South Coast collection “The Coming of The Railways” which introduced me to Birdpen and many others.

I would have loved Birdpen to have been on this collection but as they are now signed to a French label this excellent trio are beyond our reach. However we both know many great acts and could easily find 15 for a compilation which we’ve called ‘Showcase Sett’.

Where Julian and I agreed immediately was that it had to be quality through and through, at a very reasonable price.

Showcase Sett by Peter Jaques

So we enlisted the wonderful painter and graphic designer Peter Jaques to create the cover (left). For the design and layout of the inner sleeves Oliver Taylor was recommended by the Soul Cellar.

The music had to have a flow, and each song sound it’s best, so we visited Peter J Croissant at Grand Master Audio to master our first pick of the South Coast’s talent.

We’re expecting this to be the first of many. This area is rich in quality musicians and, as I have been saying in the Daily Echo, there is a ’scene’ on the South Coast and scene is quality song writing.

And here we are, almost a month later and we are sending the elements to be turned into ‘Showcase Sett – Propeller’, a limited edition album (400 commercial copies) which is already receiving pre-orders.

You can see the full track listing and place your order at Iconic Culture. It is released August 1^st 2009 priced £4.99 online and £5 in the flesh.

Order: Showcase Sett – Propeller

Every time I meet a band for a Showcase session I am always uplifted and inspired by their art and craft.

With Southampton based Subgiant I was also really surprised at the quality of the sound they produced and also the energy that exuded from their performance.

We squeezed them and their equipment into studio 2 and no matter how many technical gizmos you have; to stand out you need the tunes and Subgiant have them in bucket loads.

They played two songs in the session “Filthy” from the album Global Control and “Stunt Driver” which is a new download.

And if you are a collector of CD’s then get Global Control as Subgiant will only be releasing single pieces of music for a while.

This is “a response to what’s happening in the industry.” Bass and keyboard player, Olly Maw, told us. “It means we can talk to the fans more regularly rather than one big build up.”

This makes a lot of sense. Hours of time and effort are put into making and promoting an album and once released momentum is hard to maintain.

So for bands on Subgiant’s level a track once in a while keeps interest ticking over and continues building the fan base they are picking up from all the festivals they play.

This Sunday they are in session on the original Showcase after 6pm and live at Endorse it in Dorset, main stage, 15:00, Saturday 9th August.