The Teesside Troubadour Vin Garbutt who passed away in 2017 at the age of 69, is to have his autobiography published which he wrote in the years before his death. The book is available to pre-order now and if you do so before 31st August you can get your name printed in a limited edition hardback.
The following is taken from his website:
Folk singer, musician, songwriter, storyteller and patter merchant, Vin Garbutt was the funniest and the most serious man on the folk scene for almost half a century.
Vin was adored by his fans – and, for a period, shunned by elements of the folk music industry. In this compelling autobiography, he reveals the man behind the hilarious stories and the songs that often moved his audience to tears.
The book takes us on an unforgettable journey from the streets of post-war South Bank in Middlesbrough to the steps of Sydney Opera House, and just about everywhere in between.
A globe-trotting trailblazer who sold out venues across the world, Vin was also a man of courage and conviction. In All the Very Best! he explains why he refused to be silenced despite a backlash against views that were out of line with the mainstream – and the price he paid.
Written in the years before his death in 2017, this is Vin’s touching, funny and life-affirming story in his own words.
Only a few years before his death, Vin released his 16th album Synthetic Hues. In the Folk Radio UK review of the album, Paul Woodgate pretty much summed up the man’s greatness in one paragraph:
Forty years of song-writing allows a man to choose his subject-matter from a wide diaspora, and what’s immediately striking about this collection is the breadth of stories contained within. So much wider than love found and love lost, Synthetic Hues reprises a thirty-year-old version of Kipling’s If, explores the meaning of friendship in a cave below the Mendips and weaves social and ecological history together in a tale of The Black Poplar. Elsewhere, the impacts of seeking asylum are investigated at a first-person level and the shipyards of the Tees used as a metaphor for dreams found closer to home. All human life is here. Read the full review here.
“One of the authentic voices of the English folk revival. He was simply brilliant”
Christy Moore
Pre-Order the book here: https://www.vingarbutt.com/autobiography