‘Don’t Give Up On Me’ is set to be the next Jo Harman single release, following up on her recent ‘SomeDay We’ll All Be Free’ which made the Top Five of the UK Soul Chart – amongst a number of other charts.
It’s a tune once again produced by Mark Edwards, who also doubles on (real) piano and (real) Hammond, supported by Arnie Somogyi (Amy Winehouse, Sir Tom Jones) on upright bass and Darren Beckett (Lauryn Hill, Van Morrison) on drums. Extensive credit also goes to engineer/mix engineer Dave Lynch who, by way of vintage techniques and production gear, created the sound you hear on the record, organically in the room. With added strings but otherwise minimal overdubs, the recording captures a live in the studio performance with Harman singing alongside the band in one complete take, as is her want in most band recording situations.
As ever, Jo’s vocal possesses her trademark sincerity and authenticity but there appears to be some added poignancy in the reading of the lyric which only serves to underlines The Blues Magazine’s assessment that ‘Harman’s voice mainlines the human soul’. A limited edition physical CD will again be available consisting:-
The beautifully produced ‘title’ track running at 4 minutes 44 seconds 
A previously unreleased live band version of a brand new song ‘Enough’ (written by Jo’s long time writing partner Mike Mayfield), again mastered by Jon Astley
A ‘TV’ mix (ie backing track and backing vocals only) of ‘Lonely Like Me’ from Jo’s ‘People We Become’ album, showcasing Fred Mollin’s masterful production (and musicians)
The ‘raw’ band performance of ‘Don’t Give Up On Me’ – as recorded live in one take – without the strings and mastering, just for ‘fly on the wall’ listening.

‘SOMEDAY WE’LL ALL BE FREE’ is a new release by JO HARMAN, her first studio recording purely under her own name since before the pandemic.

A song for our times, no doubt, but one actually written over 50 years ago by Edward Howard about the mental pain that his friend, Donny Hathaway (who wrote the music and was the original artist), endured from paranoid schizophrenia; a condition that cost Hathaway his life when, at the age of 33, he threw himself out of a 15th floor New York window. 

Although several months in the planning, by chance Jo’s version was recorded on the day immediately after the infamous oval office spat between Trump and Zelensky which, in itself, seemed to define a change to the world order. Produced by Harman’s long time collaborator, Mark Edwards, Jo’s performance produced no little emotion in the studio, not least, I suspect, as a result the breadth and scope of the enduring sentiment within the song. Moreover, with Jo singing ‘womanly pride’ and ‘little darling’ one suspects she, in part at least, had her 4 year old daughter in mind with her reading of the song. Details of how to purchase the new release, including the 3 track physical version with over 20 minutes of music, can be found at www.joharman.com/shop

DOUBLE A-SIDE ‘BOWIE’ PICTURE DISC AND CD released featuring Jo’s take on ‘Five Years’ and ‘Life on Mars’. For various and separate reasons Jo has recorded a couple of David Bowie tunes over the years, one being “Five Years“ which is a brand new release. It made sense to us to pair that recording with Jo’s version of ‘Life on Mars’ (a song otherwise not generally available) and to release both tunes on a vinyl, 45 RPM ‘picture disc’. I’m delighted to report that once again celebrated illustrator, Mark Wilkinson has created exclusive artwork exclusively for this project. For those who don’t already know Mark is one of the most successful Illustrators around, with a CV ranging from Doctor Who to Iron Maiden with Star Wars and dozens of other household name projects to his credit. To say that we are delighted to have him involved is a huge understatement. The music isn’t so bad either!

Jo Harman has a very vocal and forthright inner circle of supporters and when we let the cat out of the bag that the whole of her gig at Acapela in Cardiff was professionally recorded (by the venue) they ganged up on us to put out the whole performance complete and unedited.

We thought that’s crazy – no one puts a complete, unedited performance out – but put it out we did. The complete concert, the whole darn shooting match; albeit nicely mixed, has been released as a limited edition double CD, with zero ‘fixes’ and totally organic in terms of performance.
What’s more the great Jon Astley, whose previous clients include the likes of The Who, Led Zeppelin, George Harrison, Eric Clapton and others, very generously offered to master it. And if that wasn’t enough, Mark Wilkinson (whose cover arts clients include the likes of Iron Maiden, Judas Priest and Marillion) agreed to do the artwork which includes Mark’s wonderful illustration of Jo herself, front and centre!

The ‘3 Hearts’ reference? Well, Jo was pregnant with the twins at the time of the show. As such, she hadn’t gigged much over preceding months and consequently, was refreshed and in particularly fine form. Unaware the show was being recorded, Jo seemed very relaxed, breathing new life into some well trodden repertoire, joking with the audience throughout, and enjoying the natural reverb and ambience of the chapel venue, The Acapela in Cardiff. 

I’ve said it before and it remains true. Playing in Jo Harman’s band is one of the most demanding on the circuit. Her ‘sound’ is timeless and, without being in any way ‘retro’, very much rooted in the sensibilities of late 60’s/early 70’s ‘golden age’ and her musicians have to cover heavy rock, pop-rock, blues-rock, soul which sometimes verges on jazz, gospel, ‘singer-songwriter’ material, heartfelt ballads, and more, with total authenticity and conviction. Moreover, she doesn’t believe in rehearsals, instead believing in people knowing the shape of the song but, other than that, creating in the moment depending on her, and their, mood. If she goes left, they are expected to follow. No song is ever really played the same way twice. Quite deliberately. 

In these days where music can often sound mechanical, generic, predictable and samey, it’s refreshing to hear 5 particularly skilled humans perform organically, slight ‘missteps’ and all’, with commitment, sincerity and authenticity and with something to say. Long live that approach, regardless of what maybe – well, inevitably – is heading down the track. Humanity and authenticity is everything as this particular set demonstrates only so clearly.

Following their initial collaboration on the ‘A Case Of You’ single, Stefan Redtenbacher invited Jo Harman to record another Joni Mitchell tune; Jo chose ‘Blue’ by the way – for the Redtenbacher Funkestra album featuring a number of singers who have a deep love for Joni’s music. Appearing on the album alongside Jo are some great singers, many of whom are good friends, including the likes of Mike Mayfield, Mim Grey, Rumer, Hamish Stuart, Sarah Jane Morris and more.

Moreover Stef has asked Jo Harman, Mim and Mike to go on the road early next year to perform as guest singers (all 3 together) at the following venues, which we are delighted to do. As you might have already gathered, Jo likes variety and artistic challenge.Jo is one of those artists who struggles with the concept of playing the same show, night after night, note for note the same, so she jumped at the chance to be part of this set up as a sideline to her own touring. It should be great fun!

8th February The Apex, Suffolk

9th February Norden Farm Centre For The Arts, Maidenhead

10th March Wolf Ferrari Theatre, Munich

25th March St James, Guernsey

The nationwide tour with Mike Farris is nearly here!!

Now we’re in mid October it’s now only a couple of weeks before Jo joins US grammy Winner Mike Farris on the her first major tour for several years, visiting Exeter, Devon on 3rd November Haslemere, Surrey (4th Nov), London, Jazz Cafe (5th), a hop to TivoliVredenburg, Utrecht, Netherlands (7th), back to Liverpool (8th Nov), and then Apex, Bury St Edmunds (9th). A day off on the 10th (for Jo anyway), then the tour continues to 11th at The Platform in Morecambe, The Place, Telford (12th) before finishing off at The Civic Centre at Uckfield on Sunday 13th November. 
Mike and Jo will be sharing an all star band consisting of Stevie Watts on keys, Nat Martin guitar, the return (from Switzerland!) of Andy Tolman on bass and the powerhouse Magic Johnson on drums. Both artists will be performing full sets before joining together for the finale. 

We got the band back together! Full tour dates here.

After a period of relatively extreme, if understandable, artistic inactivity, Jo Harman is starting to become productive again. So much so that she has a number of different projects in the works, which might be summarised as follows:-

1) THE JO WE KNOW

After a period of enforced inactivity (resulting from both lockdown and new motherhood) Jo has started to accept, albeit selectively, invitations to perform live once again. These have (and will continue to) involve a number of prestigious European shows, a recent first time trip to Africa where she performed her own show to 3k people at Dima Jazz, as well as carefully curated bespoke UK Festival and venue appearances, before a significant ‘double header’ UK (and one Netherlands show) tour with Grammy Winner Mike Farris this coming November. Full details of all upcoming shows can be found at www.joharman.com/tourdates

2) REIMAGINING THE SONGS WE KNOW

Proud of her back catalogue but not wanting to stand still artistically, Jo has also commissioned a series of string arrangements in order to record and perform, at some stage, some dates with a Cello quartet, with a piano/stripped back band. Jo herself performed in classical orchestras as a bassoon player in her youth and her musical tastes and wants have always extended way beyond the rock. soul, blues and roots community in which she is most commonly characterised. She has no particular problem with that label per se (she loves rocking out, and has a deep love of soul and gospel music, of course) but she is actually, at heart, a genre-less singer and songwriter very much, to my ear at least, in the classic traditions of the golden age (late 60’s to early 70’s) of music. Hearing her most well known songs performed with little more than a piano and a string quartet demonstrates the depth, musicality and (sometimes broken) beauty of her songwriting. This gives a new and unique listening experience and resonance to these familiar songs. Some of these new recordings are being mixed as we speak, some of the commissions are still in the works so I can’t tell you when these recordings and performances will see the light of day, but I can confirm they are coming. Jo has been committed to this project for some time now and her passion shows no sign of lessening, so watch this space.

3) A THIRD ALBUM (OF BRAND NEW SONGS) ALSO NOW SEEMS A REALISTIC POSSIBILITY

With the odd exception, it’s been the best part of six years since Jo has written any new music; hence the protracted wait for any sign of a third album to follow up the ‘People We Become’ release. Going silent after dropping such a commercially and critically successful record seemed strange but, ever the artist, it seems Jo will only write when she has something to say…some emotion to express. Teaming up again in part with her musical songwriting partner Mike Davies (aka Mayfield), there are now at least 6 important, album worthy, songs in the works. Keen to avoid repeating herself and certainly eskewing generic sounding fare – however commercially appealing that can be – her musical landscape has progressed and developed yet further; I expect the next record to be more of an opus, an epic if unpretentious affair, with a lineage perhaps to the like of ‘Amnesty’ but developed even further, musically? I was scepitical of new material being able to live up to past standards but, having heard the sketches and rough demos, I’m genuinely excited by what I’ve heard. As ever, it will take as long as it will take, but the good news is that, after a significant void, new material – and great new material at that – is very definitely in the works. 

4) A BOX SET PACKAGE CELEBRATES JO’S DEBUT ALBUM ON IT’S 10TH ANNIVERSARY

As previously announced, we are producing a ‘box set’ of Jo’s debut ‘Dirt On My Tongue’ release on its 10 year anniversary (due next year). The project has been overseen by noted rock artist/designer Mark Wilkinson who has worked with everyone – from Iron Maiden and Judas Priest to Kylie, Led Zep, Beatles and Leonard Cohen projects, to name but a few – so we knew the project would be in safe hands, not least it would be beautifully designed and artworked. The package contains a 52 page book about the making of the album, a special T shirt, some memorabilia and apart from the original recording, some additional CDs of demos, live versions and more, which really go well beneath the skin of how the record came to be made and how the songs evolved. The whole package is not cheap – ranging from around £70 to over £100 depending on edition/postage etc – but the ‘vinyl’ edition has already sold out. Some non vinyl editions are still available from Jo’s website. Although not officially out until 2023 we hope to have the pre-ordered sets to be available in time for Jo’s aforementioned November 2022 tour. 

5) JO PAYS TRIBUTE TO JONI AS PART OF A NEW MULTI ARTIST PROJECT BY REDTENBACHER’S FUNKESTRA

Some of you may remember, or even own!, a wonderful collaboration between (Stefan) Redtenbacher’s Funkestra and Jo of the Joni Mitchell classic ‘A Case Of You’. It inspired us (not least Stefan) to explore some further collaborations of Joni material with a number of other elite singers (watch this space!). An album – or even albums – may well emerge but either way a very special live event is planned at Masterlink Studios on Friday 28th October Performing with the Funkestra band that night will be 3 featured singers –  Jo, Mike Mayfield and Mim Grey (Mim has worked with Paul McCartney to Tom Jones, to name but two). The event will be professionally audio and video recorded for live stream but there is also an opportunity for a limited live audience to attend. Tickets for this exclusive event have yet to go on sale but if you are attracted enough to register an interest on a ‘first refusal basis. please contact me on [email protected] and we can send you further information nearer the time. I envisage tickets to be around £25 for this exclusive event at the Masterlink Studios in the beautiful Surrey countryside of Send, near the Woking/Guildford area. Apart from the full length concert itself – and witnessing the soundcheck and general ‘behind the scenes’ elements to these things – they’ll be a chance to meet, greet, hang and share a drink or two with the musicians and singers involved, no doubt! Anyway, as I say, if you are interested in being part of the night, hit me up at [email protected]. It should be a very unique and memorable evening. 

Talking of collaborations with Funkestra, we’ve just released a radio edit of ‘Lovin’ Arms’ – do check it out on Spotify or your other digital platforms and give it a like and a share, it all helps! Thank you!