I am an ecologist and a composer of guitar based instrumental melodies signed to the Real Music label in California. I like to write about my work, music and nature conservation and how it all comes together. I try not to write about things I don't know much about.
Heading West, which marks Howe’s fourth journey with Real Music, features some of his most sublime music to date. The guitar is central on this release, featuring warm, carefree strumming that is accented by keyboards, piano and rhythm. Songs like “Old Wooden House” and “American Travels” have a pensive beauty to them — the guitar harmonies bear a reflective essence, as if Howe is wandering through old haunts reminiscing of past joys. “Badlands” ups the tempo a bit and adds a bit of bluesy groove, while maintaining Howe’s signature laid-back flair. A must listen for fans of relaxing guitar music.
It’s difficult to do justice to the place where I’ve been working today. Dinefwr Park in West Wales is a beautiful, historic designed landscape, laid out by the people who lived here in the 17th century.
Photo: Mike Alexander
A mixture of parkland and farmland, with hundreds of oak trees that are over 500 years old. Today we were working out how to maintain these ancient trees for another two hundred years, and how to create the right conditions for their successors. So we’ve been thinking very long range thoughts today indeed.
Photo: Mike Alexander
And if that wasn’t enough Dinefwr is home to a very rare breed of the White Park Cattle. This beautiful breed can be traced back in history over a thousand years.
Ancient white park cattle Photo: Mike Alexander
And if the trees and cattle are not ancient enough, then just under the soil here there are rocks containing thousands of trilobite fossils, aged a mere 400 million years.
Photo: Corrinne Manning
It was a wonderful day immersed in such ancient beauty.
Australian based artist Mike Barr is incredibly talented and here he gives a demonstration of how he constructs one of his beautiful paintings, with some of my music for background.