Beth Nieslen Chapman will go All Around The World to play Pocklington next autumn

Beth Nielsen Chapman: New album and Pocklington gig next autumn

BETH Nielsen Chapman’s All Around The World Tour of songs and stories will land at Pocklington Arts Centre on October 23 next year.

Autumn 2021 will bring the release of the Nashville singer-songwriter’s 15th solo album, to be recorded with legendary producer Ray Kennedy, who has worked previously with Lucinda Williams and Steve Earle no less.

Twice nominated for a Grammy, Beth, 62, has written seven American number ones and had her songs recorded by Bonnie Raitt, Willie Nelson, Bette Midler, Elton John, Neil Diamond, Michael McDonald, Keb Mo’, Roberta Flack, Waylon Jennings, Indigo Girls, and Faith Hill.

Inducted into the USA’s Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2016, the Texan musician is a breast cancer survivor and environmentalist and considers herself a “creativity midwife”, passionate about inspiring others to blossom into their creative life.

In demand in America as a keynote speaker and teacher of workshops on creativity, song-writing, grief and healing through art, she uses her inspirational approach to tap into the creative process. She has taught at universities and colleges internationally, such as the Royal Scottish Academy of Music & Drama and Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts, as well as Berklee School of Music in Boston, Massachusetts.

On her last album, 2018’s Hearts Of Glass, she “reached into the place within us where vulnerability meets strength, taking you right into the centre of the full beautiful dance of contradictions that inhabit love and life”.

“I always say I know a song is finished when I play it live and feel it in my gut,” says Songwriters Hall of Fame inductee Beth Nielsen Chapman

Latterly, Beth has been invited to be an Ambassador for the Buddy Holly Educational Foundation.

Early next year, she will debut The SongSchool Podcast, featuring legendary guest songwriters describing what they consider “the perfect song”, as well as on-the-spot critiques for songs submitted, both live in the studio and down the phone line from the other side of the world. After the feedback, any songs that are rewritten and improved will be brought back to the show.

Beth last played Pocklington Arts Centre on her Hearts Of Glass Tour in March 2018, having earlier performed there in 2014.

“We came to Pocklington on the Red Sky July tour and it was a great night. To me, the feeling of a place is more important than the size,” she said ahead of that 2018 gig.

What can you expect on her return, as well as new songs? “When you come to one of my shows, you’re going to hear about what’s happened in my life. It’s part of the tapestry of the evening,” she says.

As for playing those new compositions: “I always say I know a song is finished when I play it live and feel it in my gut,” Beth concludes.

Tickets for her 8pm Pocklington show cost £30 at pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.