Technique meets art and heart

Thursday May 26 Chris Cleverley The Hope, Windsor

Singer-songwriter Chris Cleverley brings his distinct style to the Thames Valley as part of his spring tour.

Inspired by the likes of Elliott Smith and Sufjan Stevens, Cleverley’s guitar playing brings a hypnotic, dream-like sound and he's excited about playing in Windsor.

“It’s my first time there so I’m really looking forward to it a solo headline acoustic tour. It is fingerstyle guitar playing. I follow John Martin, Nick Jones and Joni Mitchell...

“I’m putting out a new album and this is the first showcase and people who are interested in hearing the new stuff. I think it’s really useful to give the songs a bit of an airing and you feed off people’s reactions and maybe that informs the track.”

Chris combines compelling melodies and dexterous percussive slaps, and his technique has been described as 'blistering yet delicate'. His technique places him firmly amongst the standout musicians on the New British Folk Scene.

He usually performs solo ‘it just tends to be how I’ve always done it,’ though has collaborated with talented artists to make his albums

I guess I’ll put down the bulk of it,” he says. “I've worked with Lucas Drinkwater who I know from the UK acoustic scene, (as well as) John Elliot, who is also a multiinstrumentalist - he is absolutely golden that guy.”

Cleverley studied history at university and his songwriting is informed by all kinds of ideas, instances and influences.

Lockdown for the artist was 'a mixed bag that everyone experienced, but the slowing down and removing admin distractions gave me time to focus playing on guitar and in doing that opened up new ideas which I often didn’t have time for, which really fed the creative process. I was reading a lot and there was a lot of the stuff going on so the great revolutionary spirit, summer 2020, the Black Lives Matter, really important issues, displaced people...'