He’ll always be a man of his people, but Jamie Webster’s message has cut through hearts all over the land since the folk troubadour’s debut album ‘We Get By’ in 2020. The songwriting may have evolved from those defiant early days on the acoustic guitar, but the hard-hitting storytelling that made his name remains as he continues to give a voice to the masses through towering anthems to hold close through uncertain times.
Though born from frustration and adversity, Webster's music has always managed to encapsulate a sense of unity and togetherness through tough times. Take the breakthrough single ‘Weekend In Paradise’ which distills a living for the weekend ideology of the working classes. An anthem just about everyone working nine to five can relate to, the flagship single speaks volumes of the journey so far as it surpasses 20 million streams on Spotify alone. His second album ‘Moments’ charted in the Official UK Album Chart #3, Indie Chart #2, Official Vinyl Chart #2, Scottish Album Chart #2.
Blazing through not only his biggest Glastonbury appearance in June, but two nights in front of a combined 26,000 people at Liverpool’s Pier Head a week later and enjoying a televised repeat performance on Glasgow’s TRNSMT’s Main Stage, those turning to look in Webster’s direction are discovering an artist inexorably on the rise. His UK Winter Tour now peaked by two sold out dates at Manchester’s O2 Victoria Warehouse, added dates in Glasgow, an upgrade in Sheffield and a showpiece night ahead at London’s iconic Roundhouse, yet no homecoming date, tickets for Sefton Park’s celebration are set to be summer 2024’s hottest as Webster returns to Merseyside.
With Voice Of The Voiceless, Webster’s pledge to fans has been to sing songs that will always make sense to their real lives whilst upping the sonic ante. Like 2021’s No.3-charting success story album, Moments, Webster assembled 10 For The People in the company of producer, Dave Eringa (Manic Street Preachers, Kylie Minogue), in a range of studio settings over the last 18 months, including the infamous Rockfield Studios in south Wales and, for the first time, the musician’s own studio in the former industrial heartlands of his home city.
Jamie: “I came up with the concept of ’10 For The People’ when I was listening back to a lot of the new albums released in the past year; some these albums charted at number 1 and had songs played all over the place and were on every television and radio show known to man. While these records undoubtedly had some great songs within them, and 1 or 2 big singles; when listening to the albums as a body of work I thought to myself, why are there so many fillers? Nothing tracks that must get skipped past after the first listens and slowly fade into the back pages of our minds. That then got me thinking, who are these albums written for? Who do they represent? What message are they carrying? Besides 1 or 2 that were genuinely brilliant I struggled to find answers in my head.
10 For The People is 10 tracks long and every song has 10 put into it, and every song tells a story or holds a message for the people that I represent. Those people are your every day working class mums and dads, sons and daughters, the people on the ground who keep the world running without even knowing it, the people who are systematically put down time and time again by governments with no option but to take it on the chin and make the best of the situation for their families and for their own sanity. The people who have supported me from the ground up and got me to the position I'm currently at.
This whole body of work is for the people who supported me when nobody else would, so I’m using my platform to speak for these people because not enough of us currently are. This album is conceptually about everyday life. And musically speaking it couldn't be any bigger, I've mixed influences of McCartney, Paul Simon, Bob Dylan, CSN all the way down to current greats like Sam Fender. I hope you like it but even if you don't... the people will.”
TRACK LISTING
1. Better Day (featuring Brooke Combe)
2. Voice Of The Voiceless (Album Mix)
3. Lovers In The Supermarket
4. Dolly Bird
5. Fickle Fran (featuring Bill Bragg)
6. Looking Good
7. Sing Your Tears
8. The Boy (Chapter 1)
9. The Girl (Chapter 2)
10. Something To Eat
11. How Do You Sleep At Night?
