When: 7.30pm on Wednesday 25 September 2013
Where: International Anthony Burgess Foundation, Engine House, Chorlton Mill, 3 Cambridge Street, Manchester M1 5BY

We’re delighted to be back at the Burgess Foundation – this time with Ethan Johns!

Acclaimed recording artist and producer Ethan Johns has released the Ryan Adams-produced single Don’t Reach Too Far this May through his own Three Crows Records label. Taken from Johns’ debut solo album If Not Now Then When?, the track features Johns himself on vocals, guitar, harmonica, Ryan Adams on drums and bass, and Chris Holland on organ. John’s also announces a new batch of headline shows in hand-picked venues throughout the summer, and a few select autumn dates including in Manchester and at the prestigious Union Chapel in London.

Don’t Reach Too Far is a foot-stomping, floor-pounding number. ‘The recording was completely unplanned,’ says Johns. ‘Ryan and I were hanging at his studio in LA and I literally had books of songs on the table. This one came to the surface – a song birthed from a stream of consciousness. I had only ever sung it three times: once when I wrote it, and twice in the studio. Ryan kept the second take. It was so immediate – the energy was flying! Ryan just caught it right there and then, kind of like an instamatic photograph. If punk was invented by cowboys in Texas and beamed to a Sears and Roebuck reel to reel in a garage in Long Beach in 1963, it might have sounded like this…’

If Not Now Then When? was originally released on 12-inch vinyl last November alongside a nationwide tour of independent record stores. The Brit Award-winning producer, whose vast production credits include The Vaccines, Kings of Leon, Ray LaMontagne, Laura Marling and Ryan Adams to name but a few not only performed songs from the album, but also held Q&A sessions at each of these shows. A wider release on CD and digital download came out earlier this year, followed by a hugely successful headline tour of the country.

‘Goes a long way to pinpointing just why Laura Marling, Ryan Adams, and Ray LaMontagne keep calling on his services as musician and producer’ – Mojo

Tour support comes from Trevor Moss & Hannah-Lou. The husband and wife duo will release their third album in consecutive years this November. Their first duo record, after the break up of their band Indigo Moss, was self-titled and came out in 2010 on independent UK Americana label Loose Music. The second, entitled Quality First, Last & Forever!, was released on Heavenly Records (Co-op/Universal) in 2011. The third, La Ferme De Fontenaille, is self-produced and self-released by the pair’s very own Anglophone Recording Company.

Opening the night are Hawker Reunion, an alt-folk group who write songs through the rain of Manchester. With leanings towards M Ward, Phosphorescent and Will Oldham, the duo started as a recording project and over recent months have begun turning themselves to live performance, already supporting acts such as The Wave Pictures and Monument Valley. They’ll play tonight as a duo.

This show takes place at the International Anthony Burgess Foundation, a charity that encourages and supports public and scholarly interest in all aspects of the life and work of Anthony Burgess, the late novelist (best known for A Clockwork Orange), poet, playwright, composer, linguist, translator and critic. The foundation, situated just off Oxford Road, features a fully licensed cafe-bar and an engine room, which will host this concert.

Buy tickets now with no booking fee. Tickets are also available from Common (no booking fee), Piccadilly Records, Vinyl Exchange, Seetickets.com, WeGotTickets.com, Ticketabc.com, Ticketline.co.uk and on 0871 220 0260.

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