A shedload of songs

When filmmaker Alex and I visited Jon Earl in Weston-Super-Mare a few weeks ago, we were surprised to arrive at his house and be shown straight to his garden shed.

By Max Boon, PR Manager at Ecotricity

At least, we thought it was a garden shed. But it was filled with something more exciting than old deckchairs, a broken lawnmower and rusty gardening tools.

It’s one of the most talked about sheds in the world. It won the Shed of the Year Award in 2011 (yes, that’s a thing) and it’s had almost five million views on YouTube over the last ten years.

All because it’s the venue for Songs from the Shed – a series of intimate performances by a string of artists including KT Tunstall, Tim Minchin, Passenger and many more.

Although the names are big, the gigs are small, as the performers have an audience of just one – Jon – who films the gigs on a twenty-year-old camera.

The songs are shot in one take, from one angle and using only a basic, inbuilt microphone, so the videos have an amazing, intimate feel and strip away all of the pretence from a performance.

Jon invited us to watch blues singer-songwriter Elles Bailey perform ahead of the launch of her second album.

Her stripped back two song session was phenomenal, as her big voice and smoky vocals filled the baking hot shed, with fantastic accompaniment from her friend Will Edmunds on the guitar.

You can check out our video of the performance below, and look out for more Songs from the Shed sessions filmed at Larmer Tree Festival, where we powered the gigs that Jon hosted in the Head Gardener’s shed at Larmer Tree Gardens.