STUART
ANTHONY

Stuart has been working with music producer Paul Walmsley since 2008. Paul studied sound design at college and gained studio experience working with The Smiths & Blur producer Stephen Street. With numerous production credits to his name, he has been working alongside Stuart and Larry Beckett since 2014 and his talent is as much a part of the recorded output as the music itself.

Stuart’s first album ‘The Colourful Truth’ was released in 2007.The album caught the ear of Mark Tucker, then editor of Acoustic Magazine UK who championed Stuart’s work with a feature and reviews, and offered to mix some tracks on Stuart’s second album ‘House Of Sun’ produced by Paul Walmsley. Acoustic Magazine UK March 2010 said of House Of Sun:“one of the most moving independently produced records, I’ve heard in a while….it’s about time the world woke up to this man’s talents."

”Rock N Reel R2 Magazine July 2009 said of House Of Sun:"Stuart says he sounds like himself and that’s true......for all the influences, there are no convenient comparisons to be made...... the best feature of house of sun is its sheer unpredictability. I’ve listened to it three times and I’m just getting it. It’s a record I can’t ignore and that’s rare these days.”

PennyBlackMusic.co.uk made the album editor’s choice and said: -“Utterly blissful acoustic moments…. superb production really helps bring the songs on it perfectly to life. a laid back demeanour shines through out, and, with the buckley-esque title track setting the pace, you quickly start to see that Anthony is a cut above the rest of the acoustic acts that are out there.”In 2008 there were plenty of gigs, and Stuart headlined a London tribute concert to Tim Buckley alongside BBC Radio DJ legend Bob Harris at The Cockpit Theatre in Marylebone.

In 2009 Stuart performed at the Nick Drake tribute concert along with special guests who knew Nick, in the same venue and played the famous Nick Drake Guild M20  guitar to a live audience. Stuart has been a regular performer at the Nick Drake Gathering since 2004.

Stuart then formed The Long Lost Band in 2010.They recorded their debut album ‘The Big Light Secret’ that year which lead to regular support slots with The Icicle Works star Ian McNabb & fellow Mercury Prize nominees I Am Kloot.

A second album ‘Death Of The Album’ (2012) bought them to the attention of music press site Louder Than War who featured the album and interviewed the band. Also championing the band were Radio Caroline courtesy of DJ Peter Antony.

Larry Beckett, renowned American poet and lyricist to music legend Tim Buckley, started writing with Stuart and The Long Lost Band in 2014. Stuart and Larry had communicated a couple of times after the 2008 concert. They made an album together called ‘One More Mile’ (2015) which featured a new song called ‘On the Hook’ written with the last lyrics given to Tim Buckley by Larry Beckett in 1975. Tim’s intended musical composition was lost due to his untimely death that year.

They performed live in Liverpool and Lancaster, reviewed by Fatea, Louder Than War and Record Collector Magazine ran a three-page spread thanks to legendary Liverpool music journalist Spencer Leigh. All songs on One More Mile were Beckett lyrics. Tom Robinson of BBC6 Music picked up on the album and played it on his BBC6 main show. Beckett and Anthony appeared in the USA on KBOO FM, Portland Oregon, performing live, and playing album tracks.The Long Lost Band recorded ‘Song To The Siren’ (October 2016) with Larry Beckett. who wrote the original lyrics to the world-renowned Tim Buckley song.

The British Library Sound Archive asked the band to donate all their material to the library in 2016.

The Long Lost Band split amicably in October 2017.

Stuart and Larry then released a Greek themed album called ‘Love & Trial’ (October 2018) to critical acclaim from R2 Magazine, Fatea, Louder Than War, and reached the albums of the year list at PennyBlackMusic.  

Stuart performed live on BBC Radio Merseyside on Spencer Leighs ‘On the Beat’.

Stuart and Larry continued to work closely together with long-time producer Paul Walmsley, releasing an EP based on Larry’s poem about Amelia Earhart, and in 2022 an album inspired by the modernist French poetry of Guillaume Apollinaire called ‘Mirabeau Bridge’ to critical acclaim from reviewers such as Fatea, Shindig! Magazine, At The Barrier, and Rock and The Beat Generation.

“On Mirabeau Bridge, Beckett finds different ways to entwine past and present, poetry and music. With Anthony, he creates a new setting of a Tim Buckley/Beckett song suitably titled ‘Moulin Rouge’ and also includes a poem of his own set in the City of Lights, so the French threads are richly woven.... the sonic colours which Anthony, from Lancaster in England’s north-west, brings to the table are variegated and often vibrant. Guitars lead but accordions, zithers and drums construct a sound world in which the spirit of an older Paris is lovingly and deliciously concocted, suggestions of Metro buskers, nods to bar-room chansons and hints of gypsy rhythms permeate the canvas.” Simon Warner - Rock and the Beat Generation.

In 2019 Stuart worked with BBC Radio 4 Presenter and author Ian Marchant, and producer Paul Walmsley creating a cover of the traditional folk song ‘The Turtle Dove’ as part of Ian’s acclaimed book ‘One Fine Day’.

In 2022 Stuart and Larry, after creating a live cassette tape with Dutch label, Counter Culture Chronicles, started work on a project to bring songs of Jacques Brel into accurate English and assembled a group of musicians to record a 14 track covers album of carefully chosen tracks. Paul Walmsley producing. Anyone who knows the output of Brel will know that trying to ape his performance style would be a futile task. Instead, Stuart picked up the original tracks, looking at them as song templates to create cover versions that fully fill the brief ‘make it your own’. He conjured up modern rock/folk/pop arrangements with the band’s help. Using electric guitars, piano, flutes, organ, bass and drums the assembled musicians have cooked up an exciting new entry way into the spirit of Jacques Brel and those incredible songs. Stuart’s vocal is rich and varied, intense and gentle, as the song dictates. The music dynamic and modern, and full of emotion and mood. Larry recites poetry and sings a track too.They are currently seeking a deal to release this completed album, called ‘Though We Have Only Love – The Songs of Jacques Brel’