Had a great little mini tour with my duo partner and girlfriend Ida Kristin over the St Davids Day weekend. Idas from Sweden, and this was her first visit to Chicago. We stopped off at the Heartland Gallery in Urbana IL on the way up to Chicago. Great to play for Jan and John Chandler again a wonderful Celtic store and great vibe Welsh cakes (best outside Wales!) provided by Sylvia and Ernie Sullivan, whos Irish Inn B&B is THE place to stay if you are passing through this way. The relaxed (read lengthy) breakfast table conversations are always such a joy :O) Who says we cant solve the worlds problems!!!
Staying with my good friend Katie Thompson in Chicago, we got to see some of the sights, and yes, got our photos taken jumping up and down in front of the Bean, before joining up with the Chicago Tafia at the Red Lion Pub for a great little concert. Thanks to Dave Parry for setting this one up, and contacting the other gigs for me too! As I travel around the US, a keep bumping into the odd Welshman/woman, but here I got to spend time with two from my little home town of Mountain Ash ah, the memories come flowing back!
Then the appropriately named Llywelyns Pub in Webster Groves MO. Hell, more Welshman here too! Swansea Jack of the Saint David's Society of Greater St. Louis,and Cardiffian, John Evans (see photos). Thanks Jack and Mary for putting us up.
I think Ida said it right - Theres a joy, a genuine friendliness to the Welsh. The do talk a lot, but they are also really interested in you too
Big thanks to everyone who came out and supported us at the gigs, and bought CDs etc!!! Thank you.
Best
David and Ida

With Ida Kristin at Llywelyns Pub

With fellow Welshmen at Llywelyns Pub in Webster's Grove, Missouri

At the Red Lion Pub in Chicago with the Chicago Tafia, photo by Katie Thompson

With Ida Kristin at the Red Lion Pub, photo by Katie Thompson

Toss those pancakes!!!!

We have a chance to make a Welsh coalmining song, the Song Of The Year at this years prestigious John Lennon Songwriting Contest.This is one of the worlds biggest contests.My song Take Us Down is a Grand Prize Winner, and as such moves into a head to head on line vote out between two folk songs.To hear the song, please go to - http://www.myspace.com/davidllewellynmusic the song will fire up automatically.We will need a lot of votes. Everyone can vote once a day everyday until the 27th of April.Here is a link to a news page on my website. It explain how easy it is to vote. http://davidllewellyn.com/news.htmlAfter the first time, it just takes three clicks.I wrote the song after visiting Big Pit in Blaenavon which has been left a museum and epitaph to the Welsh coalmining industry as it was 100 years ago.http://www.world-heritage-blaenavon.org.uk/visit/places-of-interest/bigpit.htmThe song follows a small boys first day underground, and his fathers heartbreaking thoughts.Chances like this dont come up very often. Please vote. Please spread the word to all your friends/lists/myspace/facebook etc. and ask them to vote too.Thank youDavid LlewellynHere is the direct link - http://www.jlsc.com/vote.php

VOTE HERE FOR "TAKE US DOWN" - HEAR THE SONG BELOW

Find more music like this on Americymru

As was beautifully featured on this site a few months ago, my song, Take Us Down was a Grand Prize Winner at the John Lennon Songwriting Contest.There is a Grand Prize Winner in each category selected every six months and now is the time when there is an online vote out between the two songs to become a Lennon Award Winner Best Folk Song of the Year, etc. The winner of the online vote in each category goes back to the judges where they will decide the Song of the Year. Sorry if this sounds complicated.So. . . If you want a really good Welsh coal mining song to win this thing, I need as many people voting as possible, and as often as possible. You can vote once a day, every day, up until April 27th.Here is the link - http://www.jlsc.com/vote.php My song is in the Folk Category. To vote, the site will ask you for an address/date of birth etc. but it will remember you when you come back to vote again.Please click on the link above and vote for "Take Us Down"!Thanks very much!