John Otway & Wild Willy Barrett

STILL REALLY FREE

What music are you currently grooving to?

John Otway: Sound Of The Sirens. Their song All That I Could Find is my favourite track of the last decade. Wild Willy Barrett: Some material Otway passed to me, to try to make it sound groovy.

What, if push comes to shove, is your all-time favourite album? JO: Van Morrison, Astral Weeks or Bob Dylan, Blood On The Tracks.

I need more shoving and pushing to choose.

WWB: Definitely not Otway’s All Balls & No Willy LP. I don’t mind the title, it’s just the music.

What’s the first record you ever bought? And where from?

JO: Rhythm Of The Rain by The Cascades from the Record Centre in Aylesbury in 1963.

WWB: I’ve stolen records, borrowed them and never given them back, but bought – never! Which musician, other than yourself, have you ever wanted to be? JO: Any good instrumentalist. Don’t know if I’d want to be Willy though. WWB: Wasn’t there a guy who banged a tin tray on his head and sang Mule Train? Bob Blackman, he’ll do.

What do you sing in the shower? JO: Whatever I’m trying to write. My songs always sound better there and sadly never as good in the studio, no matter how much reverb is added.

WWB: I was discouraged from doing this from an early age, and I’ve always taken a dim view of those that take the habit into adulthood. What is your favourite Saturday night record?

JO: Saturday April 2, 2022, Shepherd’s Bush Empire. My 5,000th gig – and that was a world record. WWB: That was such a good record I actually turned up myself.

And your Sunday morning record? JO: Of all the versions of Sunday Morning, I’ll have to go with Nico’s.

WWB: The Sound Of Silence.

The 50 Years Of Otway & Barrett tour opens in Trowbridge on 16 April and runs through to September.