Singer, Songwriter, Musician, Drummer, Studio Chap
Music is my querencia.
JASON ALLEN / THE WOODLEIGH FOLK - BORROWING POWER FROM THE MILL (2024)
In October 2023, I decided to write and record music every day for a month, a process which yielded over thirty new tracks. I spent the following months expanding and finishing each of the songs.
I opted to release this particular batch of eleven tunes as The Woodleigh Folk, a musical alter ego concentrating on the more bucolic, pastoral-themed songs.
Released in February 2024, Borrowing Power From The Mill was written, performed, recorded and mixed by Jason Allen, October 2023 to February 2024. Made in Somerset.
Jason Allen:
Vocals, harmony vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, bass guitar,
piano, keyboards, harmonica, ebow, drums, percussion,
corrugaphone, programming, field recordings, lyrics.
The original Upstream album was released in early 2003, having been recorded throughout 2002. Although far from being my debut album, it was the first to feature my real name on the cover.
Over the following two decades, I often played the songs in an acoustic fashion, with the tunes evolving and changing with the passing of the years. The songs grew up with me.
I briefly considered a remixed and remastered 20-year celebration version, but soon realised that it would be a lot more enjoyable to re-record the twelve songs entirely from scratch. I’d long since disliked the production of the first version.
I began working on the 'revisited' Upstream in March 2023, with the project reaching completion in late July 2023. It was a rare luxury to create an album without having to write the songs. On the downside, I didn’t have the option of culling tracks that didn’t appeal to me.
I’m glad I persevered because the ‘weaker’ songs ended up being my favourites. I decided to call the new album Upstream (Revisited).
It was published on September 1st, 2023.
Jason Allen:
Vocals, harmony vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, bass guitar,
piano, keyboards, lap steel guitar, harmonica, ebow, drums, percussion,
programming, tin whistle, field recordings, lyrics.
All songs written, arranged, performed, recorded and mixed by Jason Allen. Made in Somerset, March to July 2023.
Jason Allen
Heart Of The World (Big Country cover)
I took a three-month break from making music, so decided to limber up with another Big Country studio cover.
Recorded in spring 2023.
Instruments & Vocals: Jason Allen
Composer: Stuart Adamson
Video Art & Edit: Jason Allen
I started writing Deeper Than You Think almost as soon as I'd released my previous album Querencia, in April 2022.
Through Atlantic storms, record-breaking heatwaves and freezing sub-zero nights, I continued my unwavering quest to keep the Dad Rock flag flying high.
This time around the lyrics are much more personal, so much so that I decided the cover art required a close-up picture of my craggy old self, something I usually try to avoid.
Deeper Than You Think was released in January 2023, and is available to stream or download at most major digital outlets.
Jason Allen:
Vocals, harmony vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, bass guitar,
piano, keyboards, harmonica, ebow, drums, percussion,
corrugaphone, jaws harp, programming, field recordings, lyrics.
All songs written, performed, recorded and mixed by Jason Allen, May to December 2022, Somerset, England.
Jason Allen
Deeper Than You Think
A playlist featuring videos for every song from the 2023 album Deeper Than You Think.
Instruments & Vocals: Jason Allen
Composer: Jason Allen
For me, making music has become much like owning an allotment. Each year I gather seeds, plant them, nurture and grow them, remove the runts and at the end of every cycle, I harvest a yield of musical fruit and veg.
I am well aware that I've settled into a tried and tested way of creating songs. I'm not breaking new ground or reinventing the wheel. I'm just enjoying my craft and hoping that people will like the results.
Querencia was written and recorded from August 2021 to April 2022 at my home in Somerset, England. It was released in April 2022, and is available to stream or download at most major digital outlets.
Jason Allen:
Vocals, harmony vocals, electric and acoustic guitars, bass guitar,
banjo, piano, keyboards, drums, percussion, ebow, harmonica,
programming, field recordings, lyrics.
All songs written, performed, recorded and mixed by Jason Allen.
Jason Allen
Wayside Sessions - Vol 1
A playlist featuring five songs filmed live at Wayside Studios, Whelford, UK, on August 14th, 2021.
Thanks to Dave Griffin for the use of his studio live room.
Guitar & Vocals: Jason Allen
Audio Mixing: Jason Allen
Video Edits: Jason Allen
Following the laboured completion of my album Disappearing Act in December 2020, I returned to writing in late February 2021, armed with the benefits of several months of intense guitar practice, and another lockdown.
A host of new songs began to quickly emerge. It soon dawned on me that I was enjoying the freedom of making music in whatever styles came my way via Lady Inspiration. Recording music became fun again.
This organic bunch of ditties was crafted with a smile on my face, hewn from the surroundings of the place in which I live and breathe. It was made in Somerset. You can stream or download Natural Courses at most major outlets. Links can be found below.
Jason Allen:
Vocals, harmony vocals, electric & acoustic guitars,
bass guitar, dobro, piano, keyboards, drums, cajon, percussion,
harmonica, ebow, kazoo, programming, field recordings, lyrics.
All songs written, performed, produced and mixed by Jason Allen.
Recorded March to May 2021. Released on June 1st, 2021.
Jason Allen
Natural Courses
Here's a YouTube playlist featuring all eleven tracks (plus a trailer) from Natural Courses.
The album was released on June 1st, 2021.
Some 'proper' videos may appear in future, apathy pending.
A collection of live acoustic renditions, often recorded outdoors during the lockdowns of 2020 and 2021. This playlist features cover versions and original songs.
On the 1st of January 2020, I made the decision to leave social media for a month in order to write music for at least one hour per day. The plan went well. By the end of February 2020, I had recorded close to 60 new songs.
Just as my personal musical lockdown ended, a Covid-related version began. By the time Christmas arrived, I had amassed over 100 new musical compositions. Disappearing Act contains eleven of these songs.
It was released in late December 2020. You can stream Disappearing Act in the panel to the left, or at most major outlets. See below for links. Fare thee well.
Jason Allen:
Vocals, harmony vocals, electric & acoustic guitars, slide guitar,
bass guitar, keyboards, drums, percussion, ebow,
programming, field recordings, lyrics.
All songs written, performed, produced and mixed by Jason Allen.
Recorded January to December 2020 in Somerset, England.
Jason Allen
Northern Breeze
This song appears on the Disappearing Act album, which was released in December 2020.
The video was shot at Stanton Drew stone circles in Somerset, England.
Instruments & Vocals: Jason Allen
Composer: Jason Allen
Camera & Edit: Jason Allen
Onstage with The Stories at South Gloucestershire Show, August 2019. Photo by Tricia Mahoney.
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Show Time
Performing with The Stories at South Gloucestershire Show, August 2019. Photo by Tricia Mahoney.
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Ayelet Sackstein
Run
My friend Ayelet asked me if I could produce a song that she'd written. We overcame the 3,100 miles separating our home towns by sending files back and forth via Dropbox.
The end result was mixed in October 2020.
Composer & Vocals: Ayelet Sackstein
Backing Vocals: Hila Sackstein
Instruments & Mix: Jason Allen
Vocal Engineer: Gadi Ben-Haim at GIG Studios
I started working on the follow-up to Simple Machines in late December 2018. By June 2019, I was utterly disinterested in most of the 15 new songs that I'd written and recorded, so I decided to start again from scratch.
I spent all of August 2019 composing and recording new songs, with a new 'agricultural' approach. Four songs from the earlier attempt were added to the new batch in remixed form.
The resulting album is called Find Your Silence. It was released in September 2019. It's organic and it's from the heart. You can hear it here.
Jason Allen:
Vocals, harmony vocals, electric & acoustic guitars, slide guitar,
bass guitar, guitalele, banjo, lap steel, keyboards, drums, percussion,
harmonica, jaws harp, ebow, programming, field recordings, lyrics.
All songs written, performed, produced and mixed by Jason Allen.
Recorded January to September 2019 in Somerset, England.
Jason Allen
Nothing's Wrong
A remastered video for the opening track from the 2019 album Find Your Silence.
It was written in spring 2019. The footage was shot in 2018 and 2019.
Guitar & Vocals: Jason Allen
Composer: Jason Allen
Camera & Edit: Jason Allen
In early 2019, I was asked to mix a batch of new songs by Wiltshire-based band Timid Deer, featuring my former Mojo Junction bandmate Naomi Henstridge.
In the process, I added rhythmic elements in the form of drums, beats and samples. The resultant EP is called Melodies For The Nocturnal (Pt. 1). It was released in April 2019.
Naomi Henstridge (vocals), Tim Milne (piano), Tom Laws (double bass), Matt Jackson (guitar), Jason Allen (percussion). All songs written by Naomi Henstridge and Tim Milne.
I often noodle around on a guitar whilst watching late-night science and nature documentaries. Every now and then a musical idea arises, so I pause the programme and record it into my laptop. In early 2018, I did this a lot.
Eventually I took stock of the accumulated sketches and often got re-inspired by them, layering further ideas on top.
This 'studio jamming' process is the polar opposite of writing a batch of tunes on a guitar and then recording them. Instead, songs develop in a multi-layered environment; they evolve in different ways.
In short, I made some new tunes, called the album Simple Machines, then sent it to Spotify, iTunes, etc. You can find the links here or listed below.
Jason Allen:
Vocals, harmony vocals, electric & acoustic guitars, slide guitar,
bass, drums, cajon, percussion, ebow, synths, programming,
field recordings, toaster, lyrics.
All songs written, performed, produced and mixed by Jason Allen.
Recorded January to October 2018 in Somerset, England.
Jason Allen
Steady As You Go
A gentle video for a gentle song, filmed on location in the Chew Valley region of Somerset.
Taken from the album Simple Machines.
Instruments & Vocals: Jason Allen
Composer: Jason Allen
Camera & Edit: Jason Allen
Singing with The Lakesiders, Thornhill, Gloucestershire, July 2018. Photo by Lynn Marie Bateman.
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Park Life
Playing at Chippenham Carnival with The Stories, July 2018. Photo by Kate Griffin.
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JASON ALLEN - ROADS FROM RUIN (2017)
During the first six months of 2017, Lady Inspiration found me with time on my hands. I wrote a batch of 30 new musical ideas and reams of lyrics.
I picked a dozen of these new songs and spent the summer recording, arranging and mixing. Working in daylight made a welcome change.
My previous effort (Fieldwork, 2015) was made using only acoustic guitars. This time around I decided to concentrate on electric guitars. Completed in October 2017, the resultant album is called Roads From Ruin.
Jason Allen:
Vocals, harmony vocals, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, slide guitar,
bass guitar, drums, cajon, percussion, ebow, lap steel, keyboards,
programming, harmonica, lyrics.
All songs written, performed, produced and mixed by Jason Allen.
Written January to June 2017. Recorded July to October 2017.
Thank you to friends and family near and far. We will always be young.
The Stories playing the main stage at Chippenham Vintage Carnival, July 2018. Photo by Kate Griffin.
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View From Stage Left
Onstage with The Stories, Chippenham, July 2018. Photo by Kate Griffin.
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Jason Allen
Hey What Ya Got?
I taped a drum loop during a Medicine Show rehearsal. Within hours I'd built this rough and ready song around it.
I then set about making a video for the track. I managed to write and record the music and complete the video all in one week. Made in February 2015.
Vocals & Instruments: Jason Allen
Composer: Jason Allen
Camera & Edit: Jason Allen
JASON ALLEN - FIELDWORK (2015)
I escaped to the country. It had been a long time coming. It felt like the town was blotting out my sense of creativity.
The rural lifestyle inspired my guitar playing. A new wave of musical ideas emerged, each captured as voice memos on my iPhone.
Using my laptop and a cheap classical guitar, I began to arrange, record and expand the ideas into songs, painting layers of music and texture on top. The words were either stream-of-consciousness improvisations and/or developed as I went along.
I recorded a lot of tracks during this 18-month process. It was a very relaxed gestation period. There are no electric guitars, only nylon-stringed acoustics. I played every instrument, sung every note, did it all by myself.
Eleven of the songs from this time span make up Fieldwork. The album is available on all major digital platforms.
Fieldwork was expanded in February 2021, with the addition of three extra songs, one of which (Listen To The Man) was previously unreleased.
With David Griffin and Teri Souter (The Stories), April 2018. Photo by Nik Sheppard.
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Jason Allen
Tin Can Planet
A 'lost and found' video for a lost and found song. Filmed and edited in a single spring day in March 2012.
The song was originally written in 2007, and has steadily evolved ever since.
Vocals & Instruments: Jason Allen
Composer: Jason Allen
Camera & Edit: Jason Allen
My Life In Music by Jason Allen
I started playing the drums when I was 11 years of age. It was the only form of musical expression I was comfortable with. Singing scared me witless. I was a shy kid, albeit a gobby one.
I joined a band with my school mates when I was 17. There I discovered the buzz of being 'telepathically' linked to a bunch of friends, all working together.
I felt the urge to write songs and words. I observed other musicians and picked up instruments; guitar, bass, keyboards, etc. The process of teaching myself to play and write had commenced.
I saved up for a cheap 4-track recorder, then I began to really express myself. I also started to sing, though very quietly at first.
I've been making music, writing songs, playing in bands, recording albums ever since. I believe it's what I'm here to do. The hours suit me fine, even if the pay doesn't always.
I'm no virtuoso. My self-taught techniques are largely unorthodox, but they serve me well. Importantly, I'm always learning, even after 30-plus years of practice.
Throughout this page you'll find more details about my musical journey. Thanks for visiting and listening. Peace and love to you.
The Medicine Show
I played drums and sang backing vocals with The Medicine Show alongside Teri Souter (vocals), Roy Harrill (guitar & vocals), Bob Crow (guitar & vocals) and David Scull (bass & vocals).
Our first 'era' lasted from March 2012 until July 2015, after which we launched other bands including Mojo Junction and April Chains. We briefly reformed The Medicine Show in 2017.
I was the lead singer and percussionist in Bath-based band Mojo Junction, with Roy Harrill (guitar & vocals), Bob Crow (guitar & vocals) and Gary Lake (bass & vocals).
We played our unique brand of unplugged covers at a series of acoustic gigs in Somerset and Wiltshire during 2016. The band ceased operations in December 2016.
JASON ALLEN - GHOSTING (2009)
I originally intended my fifth 'solo' CD to be an album called Keep The Peace, which I'd worked on during the latter half of 2006 and early 2007.
Keep The Peace proved to be a tough project to finish, so I reluctantly shelved it and 'retired' from making music.
Then, later in 2007, my Brother died suddenly while I was overseas in Slovenia, not long after the death of my beloved Grandmother. I sought solace in music once again, wrote a whole new batch of songs and slowly crafted what would become known as Ghosting.
I took a very lo-fi approach to the recording, often using some of the cheapest equipment I could muster. Looking back, I think I was attempting to return to the simple ways of old, similar in approach to my original 4-track recording days.
The album was completed during a marathon eight-week session at the end of 2008. My laptop died on the very last day of recording. Luckily I managed to salvage the files and complete the album.
A Barn Owl flew inches above my head just after I bagged the cover image at 10pm on a cold and wintery February night. My work, it seemed, was done.
Acoustic version of The Medicine Show at The Ormond, Tetbury, June 2017. Photo by Nicola Williams.
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Stand & Deliver
Filming the video for Ghost On My Trail, October 2017.
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JASON ALLEN - ADRIFT [BEST OF 2002-2007]
This collection of 15 songs was compiled and remastered in November 2016. It represents the best of a very prolific period in my musical history.
Following the death of Big Country mainman Stuart Adamson in December 2001, I began writing guitar-based songs once again. I'd spent the preceding three years making electronic-based music as Bluebottlegreen.
I wrote and recorded five albums in as many years, four of which were published. The fifth (Keep The Peace) was shelved after completion in 2007, though the song Gentle Folly originates from this 'lost' album.
I was the singer, guitarist and principal songwriter with Chances R during the first half of the 90s. Alongside me were Roy Harrill (guitar & vocals), Paul Jolliffe (bass), John Bidder (drums) and, eventually, Pete Jennings (keyboards).
We began as a Green Day-style power trio and ended up sounding like Marillion, via a brief spell where we turned into The Wonderstuff. The full story can be found on the website, along with songs, videos, information and photographs.
After the demise of Chances R in 1994, I started drumming with The Chill, Crank, Guy Charles and other bands. I also continued writing a lot of guitar-based tunes which failed to make any impact. Eventually I opted to immerse myself in studio work.
In 1999, Bluebottlegreen became a pseudonym for my electronic-based musical doodles. I made several albums of non-songs, some of which made it to Televisionland. Eventually I went back to releasing 'proper' music under my own name.
A video for the final Chances R studio track, with live footage shot in 1993 at Bristol Mauretania. Created in December 2011.
Vocals & Guitar: Jason Allen
Guitar & Vocals: Roy Harrill
Bass: Paul Jolliffe
Drums: John Bidder
Keyboards: Pete Jennings
Composer: Chances R
Camera: Graham Jones
Lighting: John Turton-Smith
Remastered Edit (2011): Jason Allen
