Cold Embrace

A piece by Kirk McElhinney for Bert Jansch

Recorded in Altrincham, Cheshire
December 2018

“I chose the track ‘Cold Embrace’ as the guitar part is heavily Influenced by Bert’s style and approach. It’s a song about the suppression of the human spirit – yet there’s still hope for the future. Bert changed my life! I could say Bert was my form of schooling. I would focus more on his playing and composition than I ever did at school, sitting for hours and years trying to work out what he was doing (and I still do). Now, I’m at a place where I feel his playing is in me”.

Kirk feels that his style of playing was born one night at the ‘Band on the Wall’ in Manchester when he first saw his guru perform. He says: “From the back of the room, this figure appeared with a guitar over his shoulder, the whole room went silent. Bert walked up on the stage, didn’t say a word, just sat down and plugged his guitar in and proceeded to open the set with his masterpiece Blackwaterside. I was hooked”. Kirk also became friends with Wizz Jones whom Bert rated highly as a guitar player. They would often meet up for a pint and chat about Bert’s genius….

Artist's own music and media

http://kirkmcelhinney.co.uk/

Kirk’s debut album ‘World Gone Blind‘ was launched at Manchester’s ‘Band on the Wall’ in 2014 and is available on Apple Music. His forthcoming album ‘You Are Not Your Past’ is due out in 2019.