Episode 1: Dear Joe… (click for more)
This episode is about a message I received—and what it felt like to sit with it.
If you’re a songwriter, an artist, a writer, anything really where you reach out ito the world and you might get responses you might recognise these reflections. I’ve had national radio play a number of times over the years and when I have people sometimes reach out.
And that can mean all sorts of things. Sometimes it’s just really kind messages from people who’ve connected with a song, and honestly, that means everything. I try to do the same when I hear music I love, because there’s always a person behind it. A life behind it, it’s touching. And then sometimes… it’s offers. People offering promotion, playlisting, ways to “move things forward.” And I don’t say that cynically, it’s just the reality that music is also an industry. There’s always that balance between connection and business.
Over the years, I’ve said “no” quite a lot. Not because it’s wrong, but because something hasn’t quite felt… relational. It’s felt more like a transaction than a meeting. But this was different.
It started with a message from Megan, another musician. She said she’d heard my song “Grenfell” on BBC Introducing, and that she wanted to pass it on to someone she worked with. And there was something in the way she said it, something generous, and specific. She mentioned the arrangement, the way the instruments sat together. I recorded it with two dear friends Monica Max West (piano) and Sergio Costa (Bass). And if you make music, you know… when someone notices that level of detail, it lands differently.
That song, Grenfell, means a lot to me. It’s part of my album ‘Warmth of the Ages’, and it came out of a very real place, real conversations, real lives. I spent time travelling with those songs, playing them live in relavent locations around the country. I was also having conversations for a podcast series and for that one i spoke to Emma Louise O’conner, a housing activist and Grenfell survivor. I you’re a part of this EP family – you can listen to the album here Warmth of the Ages Home there’s other recorded conversations there too.
So for it to reach someone, through all the noise… that already felt significant. And then, a few days later, I got a message from James.
Now, I’ve had enough of these moments to know, it’s worth pausing before you respond. Just take a look, get a sense of who’s reaching out.
So I did.
And… I had to take a breath.
This is someone who’s worked with artists like U2, Dido, and Sinéad O’Connor. Huge numbers of records sold, millions, streams, awards.’
And at a certain point, it kind of stops being about the numbers… and just becomes a moment where you sit back and go,
“Okay… what is this?”
And I remember just taking a breath there.
Because alongside all of that, his message was very simple and very kind.
He said he liked the music.
And he asked: what are your plans with it?
No big pitch. No pressure. Just a question.
And that felt… quite rare.
Because yes—music is a business. Of course it is. People build careers, people make money, people invest time and energy and skill.
But it’s also something else.
It’s the thing that sits with people when they’re grieving.
Or falling in love.
Or trying to understand their lives.
It’s something that can hold a moment when nothing else quite can.
And I think, for me, that’s always been the reason to do it.
So to receive a message like that, from someone with that kind of history, with that kind of tone, it felt good.
If you’re listening to this and you’ve supported the project—thank you. Really. It means a lot.
You can hear the demos I’ve sent to James on this page:
Listening Family , if you want to step into that part of the process with me.
And in the next episode, I’ll share more about James, who he is, what he’s offered, and what this might become over the next year.
But for now, I just wanted to stay with this moment.
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Episode 2: Who is James Sanger? (click for more)
There’s something quite strange about this moment in my life.
When I got the message from someone called James Sanger…I didn’t really know who he was.
And then I looked him up.
And it’s one of those moments where you sort of sit back… and take a breath.
James has had a long life in music.He started out working as an assistant to Brian Eno, which already places him in a world of experimentation, big records, and big ideas, right? From there, he became what’s known as a programmer which is about shaping the sound of a record. Think building drum patterns, textures, atmospheres; the kind of emotional architecture underneath a song.
And he’s done that across a wide range of artists including Sinéad O’Connor, U2, Madonna, Dido, Suede, Faithless, and The Cardigans.
So he’s been part of some pretty well known projects but what really caught my attention is the way he’s worked with artists at the beginning of their journey.
One of those is Keane.
Before they became who they became, they were just a band trying to find their sound. James gave them space in his studio, worked with them, helped shape those early recordings and that work became part of what led to their debut album Hopes and Fears, which went on to win the Mercury Prize.
More recently, he’s worked with English Teacher, who also went on to win the Mercury Prize in 2024.
And that feels… significant.
Because it suggests there’s something about how he works, something that helps artists find their voice at a crucial moment.He now runs a studio in Normandy, in the north of France in a former monastery which I love the idea of.
There’s something about making music and shaping sound in a place that was once used for silence and contemplation that I’m into, it feels aligned.
And then there are the things people say about him:
The British producer Mike Hedges, who’s worked with bands like the Manic Street Preachers and The Cure, said:
“If you want to play it safe and take no risks, then don’t work with this man!”
Phil Collins said:
“What immediately struck me was how incredibly inventive he is…he puts everything on the table, and is genuinely focused on what’s best for the music.”
Lily Fontaine (English Teacher) said:
“It’s been a privilege to work with you.”
Simple, but it says a lot. And then there’s his own story. He was once signed as an artist himself, under the name Archangel, to Chrysalis Records he told me about how that first advance allowed him to move out of a bedsit into a bigger place. That moment where someone believes in what you are doing. Where something shifts. And I think that’s partly why this feels meaningful to me because I find myself now in conversation with someone who’s lived all of that as an artist and who is choosing to work with new artists again. And I’m one of them which is… yeah. beautiful and something I’m still taking in. What I can say so far is that I trust James.
In the next episode, I’ll share more about what our conversations have been like, what he’s offering, what it brings up in me and what it might mean to step into this.
Episode 3: We need to be fearless…(click for more)
In the last episode, I told you a little bit about James Sanger, who he is, some of the artists he’s worked with, and why his presence in my life right now feels meaningful.
And over the last few months, James and I have been exchanging emails. Some of them are practical…but some of them contain lines that feel bigger than music. Lines that feel like they apply not just to songwriting…but to parenting, friendship, activism… maybe to being human at all.
And one line in particular really stayed with me.
He wrote:
“Everything we do this year must honestly answer this question…
Does this deepen transformation, challenge the system intelligently, and respect the craft?”
And then later:
“We need to be fearless.”
We need to be fearless. That sentence has really stayed with me. Because… what does that actually mean? James also describes himself as a quiet rebel… and an artisan.And I love those phrases. A quiet rebel. Someone who challenges… but not always by shouting. Someone who builds carefully. Someone who respects the craft enough to shape it with integrity. And I think that question about fearlessness touches something very old in me.
Because I started songwriting when I was about 12. A huge part of that came from my stepdad, Jon my Cornwall dad.
He’s a songwriter too. When he came into my life, so did records… stories… melody… songs that carried memory: Joan Baez, Louden Wainwright, Cat Stevens, Bob Dylan, Buffy Saint Marie. Jhn has this beautiful song called ‘Hayle Harbour’ inspired by his father, my step-grandfather, who had a boat and would take the family sailing on St Ives Bay.
And after he died, Jon’s sister had this dream of his spirit flying above Hayle Harbour She painted it. Jon wrote it into a song. This understanding that songs can hold family, place, grief, beauty is in me. That music can be memory… and witness. And then there’s my biological father, Will, we called him Fred, who loved poetry. So somewhere between story and poetry, between family history and the wider world I guess became a songwriter.
And as I’ve grown, I’ve found myself increasingly drawn not only to personal stories but to political ones too. Not politics as performance. Not blame for the sake of blame But asking deeper questions. What are the systems we’re living inside? Who is most vulnerable?
What does compassion look like when the world is shaped by militarism, colonialism, patriarchy, racism? And how do I approach those questions honestly? Particularly as a white cis man. That matters to me.
Where is the mirror? How do I look at history… power… masculinity… whiteness…without collapsing into guilt, performance, or defensiveness…but instead becoming more truthful, more compassionate, more useful. That, to me, feels like part of being fearless.
Not just speaking, but examining. Not just criticising systems but recognising how they live in us too. and how we can change them. And that’s very much where these new songs are coming from I feel
Songs about indigenous land return, about whiteness and white supremacy through history, songs about masculinity, militarism, and power, about spirituality. about children, grief and about what we hold onto when things feel dark.
And I suppose what I’m asking myself is: can these songs be fearless and loving?
Can they challenge without losing humanity? Can they tell the truth, and still leave room for healing?
I don’t fully know yet.
But I think that’s the work and I’d really love to know what you think too.
What does fearlessness mean to you? What do you want from artists right now? Do you want them to comfort? To challenge? To question? To inspire?
And for those of you who’ve heard some of the demos already, do any of these themes feel fearless to you?
I’d love to know. because this project, for me, isn’t just about making songs. It’s about trying to live the questions. And maybe that’s what being fearless is.
Not certainty but the willingness to keep asking.
Thank you so much for being here with me on this journey.
Much love.
Episode 4: Songs
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Joe Holtaway 