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WILLY RUSSELL WORDS ON THE RUN - HOOVERING THE MOON and now IN OTHER WORDS
I can't claim to have known Willy in the years before his success, at least in Liverpool. What happened is that Adrian Henri called me in whenever it was, 1971? or thereabouts, and told me to get up to Liverpool to see this wonderful musical at the Everyman. That was John, Paul, George, Ringo & .... Bert. I duly went up, and I loved it. Barbara Dickson singing the Beatles' songs, etc. I found out later how much Adrian had done to promote Willy and that show. He'd written a review in one of the Liverpool papers, Post or Echo, and raved about it.
Willy never forgot how much Ade did for him in those early times. From then on I could hardly be unaware of Willy's career, but the first time I remember actually meeting him properly was after a concert I'd done with Adrian at the Bluecoat Theatre, previewing something we did a lot later on, called Holiday Snaps. This must have been in the early 80s. I just recall Willy being very complimentary, in a helpful sort of way. Constructive, you know. WORDS ON THE RUN Then we bumped into each other from time to time at the Liverpool Comedy Festival, doing the Famous Five shows, which metamorphosed into the 2 Words On The Run tours in the 90s. (Andy encouraged Willy to sing and play during the Words On The Run tour (1995/97). The tour featured Willy and some old friends from the Liverpool Poets and Liverpool Scene, Andy, of course, Adrian Henri, Roger McGough and Brian Patten. Tupperware Girls, one of the tracks from the new album was featured during the performance). "At first I thought I was just going to accompany the poets and I'd written a melody called The Tap Dancing Poets which we were using as an intro. Then we were sitting around one day and I started to play a couple of songs I'd written and both Andy and Adrian were very supportive and enthusiastic. Having the support of a very established acoustic guitarist with me on stage gave me the courage and I ended up doing about five songs in that show." WILLY RUSSELL ADRIAN HENRI CELEBRATION Both Willy Russell and Andy Roberts have continued to perform together. They appeared together at Adrian Henri's Celebration evening at the Royal Philharmonic Hall in Liverpool during March 2000 and at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2002 to celebrate Roger McGough's 40th year Bash. RECORDING HOOVERING THE MOON The Hoovering The Moon project came out of the blue for me. Willy had always confided in me that one day he wanted to make an album of his songs, and that he'd like me to be involved. I did hear that he had started some sort of recording in Yorkshire, and when he rang (late in 2001) I assumed he wanted me to play guitar on these tracks. Then he told me that he wasn't particularly happy with the way things were going, and suggested he come to Brighton for a couple of days to see me, and play through a few things. He came to stay with Tim, which was the first time I met him. We recorded 3 tracks - My Little Sister, These Days, and one which never got developed called The Power Of Love. When they left, I worked on, and did arrangements on all three songs, which I duly sent up to Willy in Liverpool. He saw enough merit in the results to ask me if I'd take on the producer's rôle. At that time, Willy and Tim were expecting to make a joint album, 7 songs each, or some such nonsense! My first act was to haul them apart, and make them 2 distinctly separate items. Then we considered how to approach the business of recording, and Willy, who had been using Pro Tools in Yorkshire, decided that was the route to go, which involved re-equipping my studio, and a serious learning curve for me. So it was laid down that we would record Willy's CD, and then go on to Tim's. Work started in earnest in February 2002, and the rest, as they say, is history"
HOOVERING THE MOON TOUR To promote the CD, Willy and his band played two great gigs at the Walls Restaurant in Oswestry and then travelled to Ireland to appear as part of the Galway Arts Festival in July 2003. The band was led by Musical Director - Andy Roberts (guitar & vocals) assisted by Tim Firth (piano & vocals), Mark Griffiths (bass & vocals), Paul Allen (drums), Iain Matthews (vocals & guitar), Dorie Jackson (vocals), Loretto Murray (vocals) and Phil Beaumont (percussion).
Willy Russell & Tim Firth tour with .... IN OTHER WORDS "The sung meets the spoken in a unique and entertaining mix of wit, wisdom and melody" A night of music, songs, verse, readings and anecdotes, all woven together and performed by Tim Firth and Willy Russell appearing as soloists, as a duo or as part of a six piece band, led by musical director, Andy Roberts. There'll be items both from 'Hoovering The Moon' and from Tim's forthcoming album, 'Harmless Flirting' and there'll be readings and passages from 'The Wrong Boy', 'Shirley Valentine' etc., along with some passages from 'Blood Brothers' and some wickedly funny Tim Firth pieces. Manchester Sunday 9th May Manchester Opera House, Quay Street Manchester Tel: 08704 019000 Felixstowe Wednesday 12th May Spa Theatre, Undercliffe Road West, Felixstowe Tel: 01394 282126 Swindon Thursday 13th May Wyvern Theatre, Theatre Square, Swindon Tel: 01793 524481 Liverpool Friday 14th May Liverpool Playhouse, Williamson Square Liverpool Tel: 0151 709 4776 Liverpool Saturday 15th May Liverpool Playhouse, Williamson Square Liverpool Tel: 0151 709 4776 Mold Sunday 23rd May Theatr Clwyd, Mold Tel: 0845 330 3565 York Friday 28th May Grand Opera House, Cumberland Street York Tel: 0870 606 3595 Hay On Wye Saturday 29th May Hay On Wye Festival Tel: 0870 990 1299 Northampton Sunday 30th May Royal Theatre, Guildhalll Road, Northampton Tel: 01604 624811 Oxford Thursday 3rd June Oxford New Theatre, George Street Oxford Tel: 0870 606 3500  Birmingham Saturday 5th June Alexandra Theatre, Station Street Birmingham Tel: 0870 607 7533 Wycombe Sunday 6th June Swan Theatre, St. Mary's Street Wycombe Tel: 01494 512000 Cardiff Saturday 12th June Sherman Theatre, Senghennydd Road Cardiff Tel: 02920 646900 Buxton Saturday 19th June Buxton Opera House, Water Street Buxton Tel: 08451 272190

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