rivers2cross

The forthcoming acoustic album from Fields of Dawn is scheduled for release in October. The 10-track album features 9 of my favourite Fields of Dawn tracks reimagined with new acoustic arrangements, plus a brand new song thrown in for good measure. The idea for the album came about when I was recording an acoustic version of Shining Star for that release earlier in the year. I felt that it would be interesting to revisit some of the previous recordings, but put some extra thought and attention into the new arrangements.

• 01 Fan The Flames
  • A brand new song inspired by Mike Peters of The Alarm and his ongoing cancer battle.
• 02 On The Way Back
  • Probably the most popular and successful track to date. Original version produced by Smiley. This new is slowed down, but keeps the core guitar arrangement as its base.
• 03 The Road of Fruition
  • The opening track of Destination Unknown revisited and a version that allows the lyrics to come to the fore.
• 04 You
  • A single that also featured on A New Dawn. Up tempo acoustic version
• 05 Final Dawn
  • Original recording featured on the Shining Star release. This was originally written as the final ever Fields of Dawn song.
• 06 Nicole
  • Nicole Cooper was my friend who lived in Australia. She died of bowel cancer in January 2023 and this track featured on The Final Post EP.
• 07 No Man’s Land
  • The story of the game of football played on Christmas Day 1914 during the First World War.
• 08 Goodbye Farewell
  • The original 4-track EP had 4 different versions of this track recorded by 4 different artists. It was a challenge to record a version that compares to any of those versions.
• 09 The Next World
  • Original version is on Destination Unknown. This acoustic version stays pretty true to that version.
• 10 My Time
  • One of my favourite pieces I have written under the Fields of Dawn banner. Impossible to improve on the original, so just completely stripped this back.

All the profits from every sale will be donated to the Love Hope Strength charity co-founded by Mike Peters of The Alarm, who is currently dealing with yet another massive cancer battle. This album won’t be available on digital platforms initially apart from Bandcamp. There will not be a pre-sale, but I am taking reservations, so you can drop me a line if there is a format you would like. There will be 10 vinyl copies available (6 left) costing £30 + postage. There are 25 CDs (15 left) costing £5 + postage. A second run of CDs is possible if there is the demand. Downloads on my website and Bandcamp will be £5. There will also be a one off run of T-Shirts £15 + postage. The prices are being kept low for this release deliberately. Partly as its an acoustic only release, but also as a thank you to everyone for all the support over the last 4 years.

Many of you will be aware that I was close to calling time on Fields of Dawn at the beginning of this year when Destination Unknown was released. I had felt that it had perhaps gone as far as it could. However, on reflection I realised that I just needed to reset myself. I had heaped huge and probably unrealistic expectations on myself and for the success of Destination Unknown. The pre-sale and build up to that release was too long and I now realise that I had lost focus on the enjoyment factor a little. Also, if someone is going to buy a release they will do that without my continual psoting about it! What I love is writing and recording music. Destination Unknown is a wonderful album. Anything that it did as far as fundraising goes is an absolute bonus. So, when it comes to Acoustic Dawn these are the lessons that I have learned. Indeed moving forwards, I have written a few new songs for 2025. I feel that rather than record an album, perhaps an EP might be a good way to start the next chapter. So, whilst I am ecxited about Acoustic Dawn, and what will follow, I am not putting myself under any pressure x