This Spring, I was given an incredible opportunity to play my original material for the first time in a couple of years at the amazing Good Times Festival. Not only did this give me a big shot in the arm in terms of confidence but also helped me rediscover something I thought I'd lost; the desire to write and perform something new. I felt like I'd closed the door on the 'singer-songwriter' world and that the fire had gone out - but for the first time I can feel something stirring again (and I'm pretty sure it's not just something I've eaten).

Now in my opinion, the most well-rounded, fully realised and my personal favourite thing I've ever made was the Undertow EP (now almost 10 years old!). For Undertow, I set the release date for the EP - along with booking and selling tickets for an accompanying gig - before I had written a thing, giving myself just a few months to produce something to showcase when the release came around. It just so happened that the pressure was enough to produce somewhat of a diamond in the context of my other music.

As I write this introduction at the beginning of May, I have a plethora of messy musical scraps; phone recordings of a few chord changes here or hummed melody ideas there, some a few months old, some a few years. I have a odds-and-ends folder of lyric fragments, theme ideas, song titles; words that currently go nowhere. They need to go somewhere. I'm willing myself to shape them into a form that will say something to someone.

So......... I'm doing the ol' 'Undertow' mission all over again. I'm booking a date for the release (and accompanying release gig) of an EP I have not yet written. Who knows if I'll get lucky a second time and make something special, but come Friday October 23rd, I'll be stepping up to play some new 'Sam Eason' music for the first time in nearly five years no matter what. If you'd like to see whether I can still do this thing (or even if you want to come to hear some of the older stuff), I'd love for you to come along.

I will be producing a VERY limited run of physical CDs of the new EP to sell on the night so if you'd like to guarantee getting your hands on a copy, you'll need to be there!

Sam Eason, you are tasked with conjuring some musical magic one more time, you have until October 23rd. Your time starts NOW...

(Photograph on main image by Tony Bundy Photography, taken at the Good Times Festival Talent Search Final, Chipping Sodbury Town Hall March 2026)

Entry requirements: no age restrictions (under 18s to be accompanied by an adult over 21yrs, 1:1 ratio) — Read more — Read less