Writer & Performer Profiles
Jim Cozens & Rebecca Jayne
So that's me on the left, a lifetime singer songwriter and Eurovision survivor. I've met a lot of very talented young writers along the way, none more so than Rebecca Jayne. She's a great songwriter and solo performer but we often write songs together which end up on our respective solo projects. We're both very sentimental about Christmas so we tried to capture some yuletide hope and optimism. Songwriters often find it difficult to write songs with a positive message, it's easier to sound cool when you sing about the dark stuff and this is the complete opposite. It's maybe a bit old fashioned but I like it for that.
​
KB Bayley
Born a Geordie and raised in the South, for many years his life in music was about making sounds and songs for other people but early in the last decade, roots songwriting began to push hard again. Armed with an open-tuned Taylor, a dobro, a Weissenborn and a self-built cigarbox guitar, KB turned on the vocal mic and went from sideman to soloist. I met KB just as he was emerging as a solo artist. I love his songs and his performances are electrifying. He wrote Plastic Angel specially for the project. He said this about it; "I wanted to write a Tom Waits-style piano bar ballad that captures those wistful feelings about how we used to feel about Xmas years ago, and how maybe life has battered that a bit. But much like Greg Lake (who gets an anonymous reference, along with George Bailey) those feelings are still just about alive and kicking. The production feel was super loose, the sound of a soft piano played live in a room with other instruments joining in… genuinely a one-take vocal! My thanks to the amazing Dean Parker for the electric guitar."
Ed Blunt
​Ed Blunt is a multi-instrumentalist storyteller whose songs will make you laugh and gently break your heart. Blending folk, jazz and roots with Randy Newman-esque humour, his lyrics hold a mirror to 21st-century life. Born in the Surrey Hills, Ed grew up surrounded by the sounds of Paul Simon, James Taylor, and Van Morrison. His talent for playing by ear led him to study jazz piano at the Guildhall School, but on graduation he was left with crippling stage fright. Stumbling on an online songwriting camp during the Covid lockdown proved to be a turning point. Mentor Chris Difford discovered his talent for the first time, calling him a “quiet genius.” I first met Ed in 2023 via a charity called Help Musicians. I helped him get his second album (Grown Up) over the line and I agree with Chris Difford, Ed has a quiet charm about him that make is songs totally disarming and engaging. The Dome of St Pauls is not a new song, he released it in 2022 as part of his first album, Over the Moon but I love the song and it was so right for this project I persuaded him to record a new version for me. I don't know if it's a true story but it ought to be true and it definitely seems true so that's good enough for me.