My father was a seafaring man who played sea shanties on his accordion. My mother bought me a ukelele when I was about five years old so I played this on many an occasion to entertain my parents’ aquaintances.

My four-beat rhythm is unusual in country music. My affinity to this developed as a result of trips to my grandparent’s farm in ‘red rattler’ trains when I was a child. I replicated the rhythm of the wheels hitting the tracks with a horseshoe on an old milk can. I can remember playing to my audience – the cows on the farm – and getting into trouble when they would not produce milk afterwards.