A warmly-crafted debut blending singer-songwriter honesty, Celtic colour, and worshipful hope.

Prelude

In 2019, KDMusic released Sunshine For Rainy Days, a debut album that continues to resonate with listeners looking for thoughtful, melodic faith-filled music. The respected Christian music site JesusFreakHideout featured the project in their Indie Review series, noting its rich acoustic textures, lyrical warmth, and a sound that sits comfortably between folk, pop, and modern worship.

This blog gives an…

Orangefield, Belfast | N.Ireland

That last blog was pretty intense, so let’s lighten the tone a bit! There are 5 things that have defined my life. My Christian faith, music, the woman who married me (the greatest blessing God has sent my way), my 3 kids, & being part of a great church family at Orangefield in Belfast. So many good friends. So many opportunities to serve. It is without doubt my extended family, which is what it’s meant to be. A family, a body. We’ve had our moments, some wobbles and…

Kingston Jamaica  |  Newry, Co. Down  | Shankill & New Lodge, N. Belfast  

Can you remember where you were during the first Gulf War? I was working in a church community project, the Mel Nathan institute, Hannah town, Kingston Jamaica. I loved Hannah Town. It was like the Shankill Estate with sunshine by day , street food & pumping music at night. By the orange street lights it was edgy, like a scene from Dante's inferno. Half derelict due to political gerrymandering, three letter tribal markings on the…

Kingston, Jamaica | Newry, N.Ireland

I recently heard a clip of Tom Hanks being interviewed. He was asked why he felt compelled to act. He cried. He was searching for a vocabulary, a way to express his ‘loneliness’.

bbc.co.uk →

There is a loneliness that's not boredom or isolation ~ it's closer to panic. I think the word is……desolation. Space movies explore this a lot. The horror of drifting off into eternity, waiting for your oxygen to run out. I’ve tasted that sort of ‘existential’ loneliness…

Dugort, Achill Island  |  Ireland

I’ve always thought of misty, shadowy West of Ireland weather as gloomy or mysterious. It wasn’t until I read CS Lewis on the difference between half light (Nordic) & full light (Mediterranean) beauty that I broadened my perspective. He compares a northern landscape & light to water colours, bright southern light to oil paintings. One vivid & exuberant, the other subtle & nuanced. Ambivalent.

Minaun cliffs and Keel surf, Achill, Co Mayo. © 2019 Sarah Whitcroft

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Orangefield, Belfast | N.Ireland

Probably the most fun part of my church life has been doing youth work. I love kids’ work, but youth work was my primary degree & first paid job. So, when I stepped away from that to look after family interests, I got a real kick out of being a youth leader, and eventually ended of keeping an eye on all the youth work for our church in East Belfast. 

There’s a lot going on. I think we estimated we were dealing with 550 children & teens on an average week, or maybe that was…

Victoria Falls, Zambia  |  Lisnabreeny, Belfast

She: Why are all your songs so serious? Couldn’t you just write something fun for a change? (If you’re happily married after 25 years, you can have a level of candour that would have caused a major domestic in the first decade!)

Me: All serious! I think that unfair! What about all the kids songs, and youth songs, they’re fun?

She: Well ok, but do they ALL have to be about church? Why can’t you write a hit that we can retire on – something just for fun…

Newry, Co. Down | N.Ireland

Sunshine for rainy days

I’ve been songwriting since I was 15, maybe earlier. My mum used to say I was singing complete songs before my second birthday, before I could structure full sentences! So I rolled out in a pushchair to sing for adults as a novelty act. It’s probably not as rare as it seemed to them. Music touches the depths of us in a special way doesn’t it? I'm sure when our eyes have faded, and our short term memory mists over, it’s…

Orangefield, Belfast | N.Ireland

Most musicians have a tune they unconsciously turn to if they’re bored waiting for a practice to start. Or maybe they’re a bit nervous and need to auto pilot to reassure themselves they can still play. You know, like something you catch yourself singing in the shower, or humming when you walk the dog?

John Hegarty, Lead Guitarist

We're allowed to have fun, right?

For a while, my ‘unthinking twiddle tune’ was the main riff for this song. It’s combines 9th’s & 7th’s with…

Le Pas Opton, Vendee | France

I L-O-V-E summer in France, they really are a blessed nation.

They’ve got the Atlantic, the Mediterranean, the Pyrenees, the Alps, great rivers, varied countryside, magnificent villages & chateaux, rich street music, style, speciality foods, sun ripened fruit & veg, and of course, the language of love.

Our own special wee place there has been the Spring Harvest Christian campsite, Le Pas Opton, near St Gilles Croix de Vie, in the Vendee ( between Nantes & Bordeaux).

Christian…

Life is great, BUT, there are a few things about the cultural momentum in ‘The West’ that irritate me, one or two that scare me, and several that fill me with bottled rage. I think this says more about me gaining perspective as I get older, than this snapshot in time being particularly worse.

It's just another fashion honest!

For instance, fashion was really bad in the 70’s when I was a kid…