To plug in or not to plug in…that is the question I often get asked by performers when they play at a Homesong. And I try and encourage unplugged, because for me that is what Homesong is about.

But a lot of performers prefer to have some amplification - “I just like a little bit of reverb”. And that’s fine too.

There is no doubt that electricity, in all its many manifestations, can do tremendous things to the way we hear sound. It has led to amplification and sound engineering possibilities that, handled well, can dance with our brain cells in such a way that we experience moments of enlightened ecstasy.

When I record, I am tremendously lucky to work with a guy who really knows how to manipulate sound. He’s called Sam Hales. Honestly, he’s taught himself the kind of rocket science level sound engineering skills, that most of us only mange to dip our little toes into. At best. I’m in awe as I watch him work. And in working with him I’ve come to realise that a musical recording is a whole other modern kind of art form. Different to that of a naked song, alone and un-embellished.


So what if we didn’t have electricity. The internet. What if, God forbid, I didn’t have a Sam.

The answer is, of course, that it is still possible for a non-technical ignoramus like me (or you!) to make beautiful music. I’ve got a voice. The instrument that humans have had for a few hundred thousand years. I’ve got a guitar. Acoustic instruments have been around since not long after we started singing.

At the end of the day we are all really just primitive creatures who ended up aiming for the stars. We’ve made incredible advances. But all is not lost if we get stuck down here, on little old Planet Earth, with only our primitive tools and no Sam to help.

Thankfully, we don’t have that dilemma. When it comes to sound we can have our cake and eat it. Have to listen to what Sam gets up to when I Sing Something Simple