Ray Stroud profile picture

Ray Stroud

I am here for Networking

About Me


About Me
Originally from Essex / East London. After voluntary work in the 70s in France and India I lived in various parts of the Midlands, East Anglia and Sussex until moving to Malvern in the eighties.
Enthusiastic about music across a number of genres. Studied piano as a child, played guitar since teenage and composed songs and instrumentals since the 80s, initially Christian worship then what I would call 'uneasy listening'. Songwriters styles I aspire to are Sandy Denny, Lennon McCartney, Donovan, Randy Newman, Sting and Glenn Tilbrook.
Love British nature/landscape especially the Wye Valley and the Western Isles. Seen enough of the planet to appreciate what I've got here but would like to snorkel in warm seas again without hours on a plane. Also keen on dogs, extra mile people, creativity, free-thinkers, TV without adverts (God bless the creators of iPlayer).

My Interests


I'm hosting the famous Lamb music session next Thursday.
I'm delighted to have Matt and James aka Strange Rain and to welcome back Birmingham's Aaron Yorke for another great set of quality songs.
On my travels this year, I have come across some great musicians and am excited to hear them at this venue - from Hereford we have Tim Prince and the Lounge Lizards playing quality original material before his American tour, from Ledbury the amazing Ewan who plays tricksy ragtime with a modern, cheeky take and from Birningham, Richard Adey who is a seriously good and 'hip' (is that still the word?) accordian player.
Close the first day of Summer with a night of great music - come early, come together.

I'd like to meet:

I'd Like To Meet
Sting, Mark Knopfler, Cesar Milan

Music:



The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, Sting, The Police, Genesis,
Joni Mitchell, Paul Simon, James Taylor, Sandy Denny, Stevie Wonder, Brian Wilson, Randy Newman, The Band,

Donovan, Bruce Cockburn, Nigel Kennedy, Ian Dury & The Blockheads, Madness, Roland Orzabal, David Byrne, Peter Gabriel, Elliott Smith, Steely Dan, Dire Straits,Trilok Gurtu, Simply Red (Mk1), Nik Kershaw, Deacon Blue, Rick Braun, Joe Jackson, Damon Albarn, Scott Matthews, Emiliana Torrini, Freddie Mercury, Larry Carlton, Billy Joel, Bruce Hornsby, Mark Knopfler, Trevor Horn, Neil Finn, John Martyn, Steve Hackett, Scissor Sisters, Phil Keaggy, Fareed Haque, Sanjay Mishra, Kate Bush, Tori Amos, Martin Taylor, Martin Simpson
Vaughan Williams, Satie, Fauré, Debussy, Rachmaninov, Dvorak, Mahler, J S Bach, Greig, Rimsky-Korsakov, Borodin, Ennio Morricone, John Barry, Carl Davis, Burt Bacharach
Favourites - April
Dead Things - Emiliana Torrini
One for the eyes and ears - Roland Orzabal, another favourite of mine is responsible for a lot of the production credit I believe.
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Movies:

The Hairdresser's Husband
One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
Lord Of The Rings
The Man Who Wasn't There
Withnail & !

Television:

It's gone in the skip and I've got a life again.

Books:

Too many to list

Heroes:

Jesus, Gandhi, John & Charles Wesley, Hudson Taylor, Nelson Mandella, Alfred The Great, C.S.Lewis, Dylan Thomas, Peter Gabriel, Christopher McCandless, Sting, Lennon-McCartney, Pythagoras, Leonardo Da Vinci, Copernicus, Sir Isaac Newton, J.R.R. Tolkien, Alfred Wainwright, My Dad, Vincent Van Gogh


table, tr, td

My Blog

Lyrics - Close To Seeing Jesus & Summer 2007

Lyrics to two songs by popular requestClose To Seeing Jesus copyright 1998 Ray StroudI've never been to Kentuckybut I've read some historyI can see the little clapperboard churchesfeel the humidityin ...
Posted by Ray Stroud on Fri, 22 Feb 2008 04:14:00 PST

The Guitar Shop Worcester

The Guitar Shop Worcester Musicians who have been around Worcestershire for some years will remember that Stuart Field (ace guitarist and all-round nice bloke) used to own and run Music City in Worces...
Posted by Ray Stroud on Wed, 08 Aug 2007 11:17:00 PST

Brook Guitars - Devonian Treasures

Brook Guitars, Devon, UKThis is a factory / workshop believe it or not, miles from the nearest main road. It produces some of the world's finest guitarsIn 1980 I bought a Martin Dreadnought, which I ...
Posted by Ray Stroud on Thu, 02 Aug 2007 12:20:00 PST

Tower Of Song, Birmingham

Tower Of SongOn a recent rainy night, a Google search for live music venues / open mikes in the West Midlands area came up with a place I hadn't heard of before, called the Tower Of Song in Birmingham...
Posted by Ray Stroud on Thu, 26 Jul 2007 06:01:00 PST

Steely Dan - Raising The Bar - Birmingham 5th July 07

No hype, none of the hollow marketing that transforms one of todays mediocre derivative outfits to front page news for 6 months - just a band whose reputation and back catalogue ensured a buzzing atmo...
Posted by Ray Stroud on Fri, 06 Jul 2007 03:53:00 PST

Ray Goes Corporate - New Website

Ray's New SiteAs a gigging musician I've been persuaded to have a 'serious' site committed to me as a performer.  Being serious has been a problem for me since school days so it has taken a while...
Posted by Ray Stroud on Wed, 04 Jul 2007 10:21:00 PST