Mike Weaver

Mike Weaver is a singer-songwriter originally from Cheltenham but now living in Worcestershire. He is a writer and illustrator by day, and an acoustic performer by night who has been compared to James Taylor, Jim Croce and Ralph McTell: thoughtful, lyric-based folk with a mellow hint of Country. After developing a taste for acoustic music, he began to write his own material at the age of twenty.  Influenced by traditional and contemporary folk music from both sides of the Atlantic, and armed with a battery of fresh material, Mike set out to record his first album 'Live at the Top of The Stairs' over thirty years ago. The project took many years to come to fruition, as the original demo tapes were stolen from a car in Birmingham.  It was fifteen years before Mike wrote another song: he still played to the occasional small gathering but after starting his own business in 1989, music began to take a back seat and family matters became more important than playing the guitar. In 2012, the friend who had made the first ever recordings of Mike's music was diagnosed with prostate cancer.  This prompted Mike to blow the dust off his songbook and take music more seriously again - and almost 35 years after it was written, his song 'Alex' was released on iTunes, and on a limited edition EP '35 Live', together with three other original tracks. After break of seventeen years, Mike returned to songwriting and performing in 2013 and released a CD of original songs spanning three decades in August 2014. 'Live At The Top Of The Stairs' had finally made it! Since his 'come back' he has played at a variety of events across southern England, and was the closing act on the Tipi stage at Lechlade Music Festival in May 2014. He has supported legendary Irish prog folk duo Tir na nOg, The Jennifer Crook Trio, Ange Hardy & Lukas Drinkwater, Breton 'power folk' star Dom Duff, Canadian singer-songwriter Sarah Jane Scouten, BBC Folk Award nominees O'Hooley & Tidow, Edwina Hayes, Reg Meuross and the highly regarded Steve Ashley over the past few years.  He continues to perform at  his own solo shows and has enjoyed slots at several festivals including Coffin Folk in Birmingham, Mitcheldean Festival, Tudor Folk in Worcester, Melton Mowbray Folk Festival and The Great Big Almonry Folk Weekend.  He was instrumental in establishing Evesham Arts Centre's monthly folk nights, and has also shared stages with musicians from the contemporary folk scene including Daria Kulesh, Kim Lowings, Town Musicians of Bremen, Road Not Taken, Emi McDade, Katie Grace Harris, Ashland and Colin Pitts. His second album 'The Others' (March 2016) was a further collection of self-penned songs and instrumentals simply recorded. The album features the single 'Pembrokeshire Fair', which Mike wrote when his twin daughters went up to University.  The song was included on Acoustic Magazine's cover CD for May 2016, distributed nationwide through WH Smith and globally via the publication's digital edition. In both January, July and September 2019, Mike topped the Reverbnation UK Folk Charts, and has been ranked as high as nineteenth in the global listings. His songs are also played worldwide through music streaming sites such as Spotify, Rhapsody, Napster and Google Play.  Digital downloads are available from iTunes, Amazon and Reverbnation. Mike's third album, 'A Moment In Time'  (September 2019) is a collection of tunes and songs which reflect upon childhood, the ageing process and indelible memories of life and love. His first studio recordings for many years took place in summer 2020, and a six-track 'mini album' of reflective material entitled 'Too Soon It's Time To Fly' was released in September of that year. The record was produced, recorded and engineered by Lukas Drinkwater at Polyphonic Studios - who plays double bass and guitar on several of the songs. ‘The Greyest Bits’ - a retrospective of Mike’s 45 years of songwriting - was recorded in the same studios two years later, with vocals from Katie Grace Harris and further musical contributions from Lukas, who oversaw the album’s production. The music is available fro download from Bandcamp, and CDs can be bought at Mike’s live shows. Tracks from Mike's albums have been played on Folk and acoustic radio shows in the UK, USA, Canada and Australia, BBC Local radio and BBC Introducing. Mike has also appeared live on various folk and roots music radio shows in the English Midlands and West Country, playing tracks from his albums and talking about the stories which inspired them.

Gloucester, ENG