Listen Up - Jim Cozens
A look at some of the emerging artists of the acoustic roots & folk circuit
This month we focus on Jim Cozens who is a classic singer songwriter and story teller, his songs are personal, universal, joyful and moving. In a long, eclectic career he's written songs for other artists, music for radio, television and movie productions and, once upon a time, survived the Eurovision circus.
About You
When I was ten, my Dad took me to see A Hard Day's Night and I knew immediately I that wanted to be a musician. More specifically I wanted to be a Beatle but they didn't have any vacancies, so I blagged a guitar, perfected Burt Weedon's three chords and joined a lesser band to see how things went. It didn't last long, my family moved around quite a bit because of my father's job so, by the time I was a teenager, I was obliged to go solo. I thought it would get me a girlfriend, but it didn't, so I started writing songs to express my romantic frustration and this pretty much set the pattern for everything that followed. In the subsequent fifty years I've played a million gigs, I've been in bands, I've played solo and I've done studio session work. My songs have been published, recorded, released, occasionally aired on the mainstream media, I've been covered by other artists, I've written for radio, film and even a novel but I've never been famous.
How would you describe your music?
I'm most often described an English James Taylor. If you come across me playing my own material at a gig that's certainly a reasonable, not to say flattering comparison but I am a bit of a genre flirt. I was in a massive band for a while called The Federal Blues Investigation that did a lot of Blues Brothers and Commitments covers so I took to writing old style R&B songs for them, some of which are out there on Youtube. Before that I was in a band called Between Streets that was hoping to be Brian Adams and so I wrote a lot of soft rock in the 80s. I worked on an operatic piece once that was pitched for Charlotte Church, I've written jazz tunes, folk songs and an awful lot of country songs so it's a mixed bag but this is my voice and I'm happy with that, it's taken me a long time to find it.
What has been your highlight so far?
Picking one is hard, I think it'll have to be a top three. So, in reverse order:
At three; the 1988 UK Song for Europe competition. I wrote a catchy pop tune, my publisher entered it for Eurovision as a joke and it got into the final eight. It involved a recorded TV appearance on the Wogan Show, airplay on BBC Radio 2 and a subsequent live TV appearance on the Song For Europe show itself. We didn't win. Scott Fitzgerald won the UK entry that year and eventually came 2nd to Celine Dione singing on behalf of Switzerland. I wonder what became of her.
Two; Opening night at The Farnham Pottery 2018. Until lockdown I co-hosted a regular gig with my friend Peter Crutchfield at The Farnham Pottery featuring local performers. Running events like these is notoriously risky, we had to charge for tickets to cover the venue costs and we were also hoping to pay something to the artists, so we were praying for at least twenty people on that first night to make sure we didn't actually lose money. And then 150 people came. They came, they sat and listened to the performers and loved every minute.
One; One Winter's Night 2019. Fellow musical veteran Gavin Thomas runs truly remarkable open mic events in Guildford and every January he stages a best of the best charity event at The Yvonne Arnaud Theatre called One Winter's Night. In January 2019, one of the nominated charities was the Samaritans, it happened that I had co-written a song that was released in aid of the Samaritans called 'How Strong' so he asked me if I'd perform it. There is something magical about standing in a spotlight, playing a beautiful song to 500 people sitting quietly in the darkness. It doesn't get better than that for a singer songwriter.
What plans regarding recordings, video, tours etc do you have for the future?
For the last year I've been working on a musical theatre project called Mamma's Lament. Last summer I recorded some songs for celebrated writer of musical theatre; Stuart Brayson. He was launching a new stage musical called Pink Angora Sweater and wanted a diverse set of voices for his concept album. I loved the process; Stuart loved my recordings and one of them was played a few times on BBC Radio 2, so everyone was happy. I was in a particularly good mood on the way home from the launch party so when my friend and publisher, Stacey Haber asked if I'd consider writing a musical myself, I happily agreed without much thought for the consequences. "I'd like a musical comedy about death," she said. She does this sort of thing all the time.
A year later the world is a different place, musical theatre is considered a dangerous sport but, having nothing better to do during lockdown, I now have a script and an album of 14 new songs recorded featuring as many of my friends as I could rope in. As a matter of fact, although I'm playing on every track, I've not sung lead vocal on any. It seems unlikely we'll be able to stage it any time soon so I re-edited the script into a short story so I can publish a book and CD as a package (or an ebook and digital download depending on your age and proclivities). We're in the last stages of mixing and mastering the album and designing the book as I type but these should be out in the world by December. I hope we can at least gig the songs next year but until then I'm planning to create some video content and a podcast so people can get to know the story and the music.
Is there anything else you would like to say or any message to our readers?
Just to say a huge thanks to everyone who comes along to my gigs, buys my CDs, watches my livestream events and generally supports my music. It's not quite true to say that if it wasn't for you, I wouldn't be here. I'd still do it if there was only silence but there's nothing more rewarding for a songwriter than to share a song with someone else who really gets it. So, thank you, I hope you keep listening and I'll do my best to give you something worth listening to.
For more details:
www.jimcozensmusic.co.uk
Wichita Linesman
Fatea Showcase Sessions
The Fatea Showcase Sessions are a series of downloads featuring acts that we've really enjoyed and think that more people should get the chance to hear.
Corsair is the current session and features 16 fantastic artists check out the website to find out more about them and download your copy
www.fatea-showcase-sessions.co.uk for all the artist information.