ARTIST ON THE WATCH: J P WORSFOLD
This is J P Worsfold.
Jordan, tell us more about how you first got into music?
I always remember music being played in our house, neither of my parents are musicians but music was always something that we fed off as a family.
Some of the first records I remember hearing floating through our house were The Sweet and Cat Stevens.
My Dad had a huge Hi-Fi, or at least it seemed huge to my young eyes and I can recall really clearly stepping into what felt like another world, working my way though a wall of CD's, tapes and vinyl.
I was maybe eight years old I think, listening to The Stranglers, The Stooges, Frankie Valley and Fatboy Slim.
A kid with some diverse tastes!
It was a little later on when I was 13 that something really clicked.
My Dad bought me Bob Dylan's Highway 61 Revisited and Nick Drake's Five Leaves Left.
Something in those albums really resonated with me; in the directness of the acoustic guitar and the beautiful images in the lyrics that to me were pure poetry.
I picked up a guitar at the age of 14 when I was living in rural Spain.
In that part of Spain you were either destined to be a goat herder or...well..a goat herder.
I was bored, frustrated at my situation and the guitar came like a beacon of hope.
I found it abandoned and unloved in the corner of a derelict house in the hills.
Suffering from a debilitating stutter (stammer to you folks in America) since the age of four had led me to be a quiet and reflective youth.
Guitar gave me a voice that I'd never had before and quickly became by best friend.
That guitar is now in my Dad's attic in my hometown of Lincoln.
I live in a shepherd's hut so space is a scarce commodity but there has always been a guitar in my life ever since.
No matter what my situation, I can pick away at those six familiar strings I've known half my life and forget the world.
What is the most difficult aspect about launching a career in music?
Wow, I feel like there's so may ways I could answer this question.
I think some people would argue that it's never been so easy with all the self promotion we're able to do online as artists now.
But for me therein lies the issue, music has never been so accessible, which on one hand is great but on the other it makes it a lot harder for an artist to gain a following.
The market is saturated with new artists to discover and content to watch.
You need to really market yourself to stand out without looking like a gimmick.
The modern day singer-songwriter has to wear a lot of hats, whist simultaneously spinning a lot of plates.
You are your own booking agent, your own PR, your own marketing agent, your own publisher, your own merch distributor....oh and then you're responsible for the creative side of things too.
Don't ge