I’m finally back from holiday, fully recharged and raring to go. The album countdown proper starts here. There’s a whole lot of news to get through, so let’s get started!

The first news is about the album itself. “England Keep My Bones“, as we know, will be released on June 6th (UK) and 7th (rest of world). Check out the artwork over at my Facebook page. It’ll be available on CD for the most part, but we’re doing a special edition as well – it will have 3 extra songs and special leather-bound packaging. You’ll be able to get both the normal and the extended edition through iTunes, 7Digital and the like as well. We will also be pressing vinyl of the album, though that’s coming a little later.

Pre-order links for the album are starting to appear around the place (you can pre-order a signed special edition copy here, for example). One of the best places to head for is right here. On June 6th I’ll be playing a special show at the Barfly in London. It’s a tiny room, and to get tickets you ust need to pre-order the album from HMV and you’ll be entered into a draw for one of 75 pairs of tickets for the show. Simples, as I’d say if I watched TV, which I don’t.

We will also be releasing a single from the album, naturally. The song “Peggy Sang The Blues” is a tune I wrote for my grandmother, which has had a fair few outings live recently. More details on that release coming soon.

Next up, while I’ve been away, the folks at FTHQ have been confirming festivals in the UK and Germany willy-nilly, so I’ve been posting them up today. I’ll be at Guernsey Festival in July, and Port Eliot Festival in Cornwall in August. In Germany, I’ll be at Oma’s Teich, Taubertal, Rocco Del Schlocko and Open Flair in August. There are more festival announcements coming soon.

Finally, and by no means least… It’s one of the features of the way the music business works that there’s an agonizing time-lag, for a musician, between finishing a piece of work and unleashing it on the world. I can see the point – promotion and preparation are important to me and the label – but it’s still frustrating to be sitting here on a finished record without being able to play it to people. Well, after much wheedling and whining on my part, I think I’ve got the tacit nod to give you guys a sneak preview of one of the new songs. Go here to check out “I Am Disappeared“. I’m pretty sure I’m allowed to do this. If not, well, fuck it. Publish and be damned! Hope you like it.