Louis' Music

“Delicate Lies – his beguilingly poetic second solo album – provides ample evidence (if it’s needed) that his music is not a mere side project of a famous author but deserves to be taken seriously on its own merit… ” Folking.com
Read the full review at Folking.com

Read Folk Radio's review here


Louis de Bernieres’ musical career began with a banjo ukelele at the age of about eight, which he has always regretted selling. Towards the end of hippy days, he realised that the only way to get a girlfriend was to play the guitar or have a car, so he got both. His brother in law, Chris, took him into Palmer’s of Godalming and tried every guitar in there, and so, at the age of seventeen, Louis bought one for seventeen pounds. Chris taught him to play Anji and The Streets of London. Since then he has owned dozens of guitars, but he still loves that one the most.

Louis learned to play folk and ragtime, then baroque and classical, and then flamenco guitar. He has learned to play several woodwind instruments, and can make sense of anything with frets and strings, including of course, the mandolin. He found the best one in the world in Braga, Portugal, in the 1990s, and calls it Teresa.

In his thirties he developed focal dystonia in his right hand, the fingers packing up because of over-practise. Ever since he has been working doggedly to recover his facility, and has a superstition that he is going to die the day after he finally cracks it.

Louis is a fan of Bach and Beethoven, loves music from all over the world, especially Greece and Latin America, and is influenced by everything he hears. However, his youth coincided with the ascendancy of singer-songwriters like Leonard Cohen, Tom Paxton, Donovan, Paul Simon, Ralph Mc Tell, and Bob Dylan, and these are the voices that he has carried with him all his life, and which have made him into the singer-songwriter that he has himself become. He believes that everything he knows about poetry can and should be made use of in his songwriting, and not surprisingly many of his songs are stories.

He has played with two bands; one called Isis (back in the eighties) and another called Irreparable Brain Damage, which did but one concert in its short career. He was with the Antonius Players for ten years, playing all kinds of music, in between reciting poems. He used to perform in folk clubs back in the day when there were still ancient sailors with huge white beards who sang long ballads about maidens with ‘buttocks so fine’, but not until recently did he feel confident about performing his own songs in public. He was ‘discovered’ by the Bookshop Band, and their support and encouragement helped reduce both his terror and his imposter syndrome, and get him back out on the stage.


Despatches by Louis de Bernières - available now

REVIEWS


“…the writer’s natural inclination for storytelling, through music and lyrics, makes every song a novella in its own right. .. This is a double album with pure soul, heartfelt lyrics, flights of fancy and great trips of the imagination. It’s reflective, pensive, and intelligent… A joy from start to finish.” Julie Williams-Nash, Folk/Tumble


“…a double album made with relish and passion. Bernières’ jagged voice cuts through darkly arresting vignettes full of evocative lyrics. Powerful stuff…” Mojo


“He’s a novelist who understands the structure of a song, how to build through chorus, recurring motif and phrase, with strategic instrumental passages of acoustic purity… The cover photo suggests the Angels of Mons. But there are no Angels here - only songs with wings.” Andrew Darlington, RNR


"It was a pleasant surprise to me to discover that Louis de Bernieres is a fine lyricist and songwriter as well as an internationally renowned writer..." Marc Higgins, Fatea Records Magazine


"...the expertise he brings to his novel writing is captured in a sense of glory in the songs that make up this widely expressive and intriguing album..." Ian D. Hall, Liverpool Sound and Vision


Listen to The songs of Louis de Bernières Vol​.​1
with The Bookshop Band


Collected below are videos of some of Louis' musical sessions.

All videos are the copyright of their respective content creators