John G. Lowe (accordionist and narrator of ballads)

Positive comments included; ‘The book’s Prologue is extremely interesting, leads you into the book and wanting more. I found the subject matter fascinating and, in all honesty, didn’t want to put it down. I would probably recommend anybody to read this book, irrespective of whether they are interested in the subject matter, or just want a good read.’

 The chief negative comment was over the footnotes at the back of the book. ‘By their very nature,’ says the reader, ‘they should be at the bottom of the page or, preferably, included as part of the text.’ In my defence, I had great difficulty with this matter myself and in the end decided placing the footnotes at the end for two reasons; first, some were too long to place at the foot of pages (or within the main text) without interfering greatly with page layout and, secondly, I intend eventually to publish the book digitally and these notes will by accessed by links (not only to text but also music and audio-visual clips, etc) and so the present arrangement was a temporary expedient only.

 Dave Minikin (folk singer and club organiser)

Positive; ‘I like it very much, what I have read. It hits the nostalgia buttons, big time. I like the honesty and also the naivity of what you have written and the way you have written it. I do not like the fact that the text is not justified, but that is a personal thing. I like justification as it tends to look messy otherwise. The pictures are good as well and fit in well.

 Negative; ‘I am not sure about the CD. I think it is rather loud and does not do you justice. Again a matter of taste.’

 As I said to Dave, the lack of text justification was simply an oversight and will be rectified for the next edition. With regards the CD, it was the best I could do in the short time and limited budget. Ideally I’d like to get more musicians involved and be able to take more time trying different approaches, etc. However, Dave is predominantly a traditional singer and has a certain view – and music is, after all, a very personal thing.

 Trev Reed (Few Broth singer and guitarist)

Trevor said simply; ‘I’m very impressed! I read the lot in two days. It’s all my era too so I could relate to everything in it. CD is excellent as well. Catch you at the Berkeley in a few weeks time.’

 Matthew Baker (my brother – big music fan but not a musician)

‘Really enjoyed the book and found it hard to put down. Enjoyed trying to work out what was autobiographical and what was fiction – some things I knew, obviously, but others I had no idea about.’ (He’s six years younger than me and wouldn’t have witnessed many of my adventures.) Consequently his only negative comment was that he wasn’t mentioned much – though my other brother is (he’s nearer my age).