Plum Flower Embroidery



In 1987 I picked up the guitar after a break of several years following the 1982 Clubhouse recordings by Beat The Dutch. First thing I did was record Ecchoing Green and my odd minor key version of Yellow Submarine with Rachael Olson on her 4-track. We didn’t call it Plum Flower Embroidery but she did suggest it would be a good name for a band. I started calling everything I was doing by myself Plum Flower Embroidery and started looking to put a band together.

The first version of a band called Plum Flower Embroidery was with Betsy Wheeler, Damon Cuccia and Dan Ferguson. The final version of Plum as a band ending in 1992 with Dan Reddan and Kevin Itner. From that point I continued using the name on any tape produced on my own, most notably the tapes that became “Exhale” and a large part of “Sugar Rat”.

After several years again with no gear, recording recommenced in 2003 just prior to selling my house in Minneapolis and moving to a plot of land off grid in the north woods where I discovered a new passion for writing and recording despite the physical obstacles of freezing temperatures and a lack of basic infrastructure. Recording, building an Earth friendly house and releasing virtual CD’s from 2004 to 2007.

Then the trauma of a breakup. In 2008 I was dislocated penniless back to my parents home dividing my time between Minnesota and the UK. Recording the entire time (of course) I started releasing CD’s variously produced in the US or the UK until moving to the UK permanently in 2011 where I built a small studio in the back bedroom of a terraced house in Bolton.

 I produced CD’s from my little Bolton studio from 2011 through early 2019 seeing no end in sight until I was diagnosed with MND. Thinking I had produced the last Plum Flower Embroidery CD with the release of “Beowulf Restores Order” I’ve been able to further extend the Plum Flower legacy with the aid of assistive technology. Recording in a completely new way, unable any longer to play an instrument or sing, I have been able to compose and construct music using computer software. Whereas all previous Plum were only mixed using the computer, now I use the computer for the whole works.