February release for alan's new album 'an elephant in the room'
Radio plays and interviews lined up!
Release day is always an occasion - many hours of work condensed into yet another release on overworked music platforms! I'm really happy that 'Elephant' has made it through that process and is out there for you to take a listen.
Getting to this point is only the start. Now the work begins on getting the songs more exposure. That's already started, and it's an extra challenge when the album contains ten songs, all with their own identity.
But its all part of the role for us independent artists nowadays. The big upside of the Internet is that you can immediately publish your work from source. The challenge is that everyone is doing it, so there's a lot of competition for listening space out there!
ISSA GOLD!
Best international album 2025
I'm absolutely delighted to say that my album 'And on with the Show' won top prize at the ISSA Awards in Atlanta in August! It was a tough field of finalists but my songs won through.
This means that I now become a judge for the next two years, so I'll have to look for another competition to enter!
As well as the awards ceremony, I attended an excellent two-day Summit also organised by ISSA with speakers on many interesting musical topics. It also gave me the opportunity to meet many musicians from around the world.
Thank you ISSA, judges and all of you who may have voted in the early stages last April. here's to next year!
ISSA Featured Artist June 2025
(plus a number 1 placement for 'outsider'
Thank you ISSA for awarding me 'Artists of the Month' for June. It's a great honour and privilege for me. In addition, one of my album songs 'Outsider' hit the No 1 spot on the ISSA Indie Alliance charts as well.
Many thanks
FINALIST 2025
Atlanta, Here We Come...!
It's great ta finalist again this year at the ISSA Awards in August. Really looking forward to it!
OFFICIAL ISSA NOMINEE
Best International album, songwriter and musician categories
I'm delighted to announce nominations in three International categories for the 2025 ISSA Awards.
Album - ...And on with the Show... Songs I wrote with Drew Thomas - a tribute to our songwriting time together.
Songwriter - Such a wide range of songs and styles captured in my repertoire.
Musician - Many of my tracks are just me - writing, arranging, performing vocals, keyboards, guitars, bass and percussion.
You can hear some of this on my Bandcamp page - just click the nomination picture!
TOP 10 PLACEMENT IN ISSA CHARTS
Thank you International Singer Songwriters Association for my Number 7 slot in this week's charts (w/c 2 December 2024). Autumn Red has already won a Top 10 placement with World Songwriting Association, so this is another bonus for a song I love playing on 12 string.
My Award has arrived.....
....It's heavy!
Such an honour to be awarded Silver for Best International Album of the Year (Male) from ISSA for my Stories in Time album. Thank you so much!
STOP PRESS……..
My ‘Stories in Time’ album has just won Silver Award in the ISSA Awards in Atlanta in the Best International Album (Male) category. It's a really great feeling, especially as I did all the writing, recording, mixing and production myself! With a little help, of course, from my wife Sue as additional vocals and general listener/advisor, Neil Paterson with album graphics and Henry Smithson with mastering.
More to follow, but I'm off down the pub to celebrate! There's a short video on my Facebook and Instagram channels and I'll post it here soon.
Cheers, Alan
New album cover released March 2024. Just click on the picture to hear the album!