Recordings

‘Looking for the Clues’ -- Leigh is now proud to be releasing his second full length album titled ‘Looking for the Clues’ This new release is all acoustic and features the wonderful talents of Liz Frencham on double bass and backing vocals, as well as Mark Blanch and Thom Moore on drums and percussion, Stax on didgeridoo and Gretchen Anderson on violin. It was mixed by Ray Luckhurst and mastered at Dex Mastering by Jonathan Z..

Click songs to listen MP3 Samples (quality: 128kbps, sample duration varies from 30 seconds to 2 minutes, file size: 650KB-1.3MB)

Looking for the Clues (4:54) - This song came about from the experience of moving overseas for a substantial period of time, settling in and then having to unsettle myself to leave and return home. I found I was forced to separate myself from people I'd grown close to, I had wanted to stay but knew I had to go.
Blue Jewel (3:06) - Peter presented me with these lyrics several years ago. At the time he hadn't been able to resolve the opening words and I suggested Blue Jewel. We ran with that and this is the result.
Stone (5:28) - Personally, as a song writer this is one of the songs I'm most proud of. I also think it is a song best left unexplained so that interpretation remain open to the listener.
On the Climbing Road (5:00) - One day while waiting for my petrol tank to fill and gazing down the hill through the concrete buildings to Port Philip Bay, it occurred to me how beautiful the land would once have been before the arrival of white men. I suddenly felt a deep sense of loss. 'On the Climbing Road' was written from that realization.
Money Can't Buy Happiness (4:19) - A few years back I heard it had been proven through a study that money can't buy happiness, which prompted these lyrics. This has always been a great song to do live and it was lots of fun getting Liz to improvise her vocal part for this recording. I threw the challenge to her without forewarning and she rose to the occasion.
Good Fortune (5:51) - Something is gained from every journey though it may not always be obvious. Some time ago I left Australia for several years. Before I left I had no idea of where it would take me but in retrospect leaving payed back in so many ways. 'Good Fortune' grew from thinking back about that experience.
Thornbill (2:05) - I wasn't sure whether to put double bass on this or not but as soon as Liz played the first two notes the question was answered.
Crayfish Col (6:51) - Some songs come about through observing other people's journeys through life. This is one of those. It was the last song on the album to be completed with the addition of Thom's drums.
Am I Going Insane (3:47) - There are times when you wake from dreams and for awhile you are not sure what is reality and what is dream. There are also days when the memory of the previous night's dream effect the whole mood of the day. Especially when stressed, bad dreams seem to occur more often. This song is about such a time.
River (4:46) - This is another song where I put music to Peter's lyrics. One night I created an unusual open tuning on the guitar which led to the music for 'River'. After recording it I started to feel a didgeridoo in it would sound great and fortunately Stax agreed to play on it.
Switchback (2:58) - I wrote this instrumental many years ago and thought it would be a lively piece to add to the album. I have always imagined it as representing a journey which fits with the theme of other songs on the album.
Boomer and Sweet Honey (7:57) - I wrote this epic saga almost as therapy from an incident that actually happen in the past and has always raised feelings of anger whenever I reflected on it. The anger is gone and I always enjoy performing it.
Sweet Water Rag (1:21) - This was the most recent piece of music written for this album. Sometimes finding a title for an instrumental can be more challenging than writing the piece itself. While I was recording this piece I had the inspiration for the title which I've borrowed from the studio's and a local land mark's name.

‘Sliding To Your Destiny’ was released in 2006. It contains twelve original songs. I laid down all the tracks in my studio at home and spent a couple of days with Chris Ralf adding drums to five of them.

Sound engineer Ray Luckhurst then mixed and mastered it at Sweet Water Studio (Tel: 03 9783 4455) in Frankston. The cover was designed by Tom Bolton (to hear his music go to www.sensibletom.com).

Click songs to listen MP3 Samples (quality: 96kbps, sample duration varies from 1 to 2 minutes, file size: 700KB-1.5MB)

Stay In Tune (5:37) - A rock-feel with full band and lap-steel. Written after returning from overseas to find political spin in full flight, this song calls out for people to stay engaged with the machinations of the powers that be.
Toxic Waste (5:04) - This one opens with the feel of an Irish jig and moves into a shuffle. Another one with full band (me on guitars and bass, and Chris on drums). The inspiration for this came from a documentary I watched about mercury poisoning of the fishing grounds off Minamata on the Japanese island of Kyushu.
Cupid’s Arrow (4:01) - A slow minor country blues with haunting lap-steel. A look at the foolishness of a young man's heart.
Black Dog Bark (4:02) - Another bluesy number but this time with a bit more of a jazz feel to it. Black Dog here refers to what Churchill referred to as the black dog of depression.
Sliding To Your Destiny (5:37) - I wrote this after a near-miss when I lost control of my car with life threatening potential. Thankfully I came out of it without damage to myself or my car but very shaken and philosophical.
Pushing On (3:29) - This is a driving instrumental I play on steel string guitar.
Heart Attack (6:33) - Played on acoustic lap-slide guitar, I wrote this after reflecting on a good friend’s experience (thankfully he survived his ordeal).
Train Ride (5:46) - Another one on acoustic lap-slide guitar but with a country-blues feel. Born the son of a train fanatic I guess this one had to come out. It’s a positive look at riding the train to work each day, something which is easy to be negative about.
Muroran (4:28) - Muroran is a small industrial town on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido, where my mother in-law lives and I visit frequently. It has grown up around a steel mill that sits right in the centre of the town and belches pollution from its chimneys. I wrote this song after watching the town slowly diminishing over several consecutive visits. This is a folkie acoustic number.
Never Overlap (4:45) - A rocky number about the perils of starting a new relationship before ending the current one.
Bad News (8:11) - This is a minor blues I wrote for fun as a spoof of all those 'my babe left me' blues. This is the only track on the CD that I play lead on a standard electric guitar. I have a different arrangement for this when I do it live and solo on acoustic guitar.
I Want To Go Home (4:06) - I wrote this after being stranded in the U.S.A. following the events of September Eleven. I was in Boston at the time and was stuck there for six days unable to get home. An acoustic number with me playing acoustic lap-slide. A quiet one to finish.