Gillian Glover, a member of the band Beat:Root, has recorded a solo album called Red Handed and I was very happy to have played a small part in it.

Tom Wilcox, whom she met whilst working at the Whitechapel Art Gallery, generated the project after hearing Gillian sing The Bargain Basement on my album Snapshot (2002). He encouraged her to write and record with a few friends. When I first heard what they had recorded last year I was blown away; she had written some deep, emotional lyrics and found a beautiful voice with which to express them. I was stunned. Anyway, although respectful of her independence, I offered to help finish the album and she welcomed it.

Apart from helping with the mixing (Ben is a superb engineer) I commissioned three string quartet arrangements by Joe Mennonna, Don Airey and Paul Buckmaster. The violinist Sim Jones (who took part in the Gillan and Friends tribute to Tommy Vance at the Albert Hall last year) organized the quartet players and we recorded them in December at Miloco studio in Shoreditch, London.

There are several acoustic songs on the album one of which is Red Shoes, a dark, atmospheric piece with Gillian on guitar and Rod Melvin on piano. It was always moving but Paul Buckmaster supplied an awesome string arrangement, spare and evocative, that transformed the song. I wish I could have written it – the song that is, although the same goes for the arrangement. Paul is a class act, as you can see…

I first met him in 1970 – Ian Paice and I were living in what was then the band flat in Fulham, London. Paul lived in the same street, Harbledown Road, and we spent a lot of time listening to music. He opened my ears back then and still does now.

As does Gillian. Notwithstanding my fatherly pride, it was an honour to work with my daughter and her lovely group of friends. The album is planned for release in April and they have some dates confirmed.

Please check: http://www.myspace.com/gillianglovermusic

Good luck,

RG