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Friday, November 21, 2008, 11:00
Mainstream recording deals aren't quite what he had hoped – more what he had feared in terms of creative control and being a puppet governed by other people's politics – and Ruarri is forging cheerfully ahead on his own terms.
There's a new album – Red Mist – due out in January on the Pip Productions label which he has set up with his former Atlantic A&R man, and a taster EP available now. He is currently on a tour with Devon folk giants Show of Hands, having spent the rest of the year opening the show for acts such as Seth Lakeman and G Love and gracing the odd festival stage, while recording a batch of songs he is more than happy with. At the end of his time at Atlantic last year, Ruarri had written a whole second album, which is now confined to the bin.
"It didn't feel like me at all," he says. "It would have felt weird singing those songs.
"I am not always the most articulate man when I'm talking, but in my songs I express my feelings about things and they just weren't true to me."
The new album – essentially his third – is out in January. It is stronger and more hard-hitting than his intimate and acclaimed debut, Tales of Grime and Grit.
"With the first record people seemed to associate me with beaches and happy places although some of the songs were pretty dark.
"I feel confident that the second album is better than the first," says Ruarri, who divides his time between home in Newquay with his girlfriend and children, and a room in his brother's London flat.
His current stage set consists only of new material.
"I don't have anything to do with the first record any more. It feels like it is stuck in a van in London," says Ruarri.
"One day I will go back to those songs but right now I don't think anyone's going to complain that I'm not playing them – except maybe a few people in Cornwall who have seen me a few times."
A full-on folk tour might not be the obvious place for Ruarri's music, but then neither was the slot as support for heavy rock outfit Funeral For A Friend last year.
"It has always been my thing not to be pigeonholed," says Ruarri, who is as un-starstruck as it's possible to be. "I will play with whoever. I can usually find songs that will go down well.
"I've always felt socially inept, but put me in front of an audience and I can relax.
"I've always been a gig-goer and my favourite gigs are ones where you feel part of the whole thing – where there's no barrier between the artist and the crowd."
Ruarri Joseph and Show of Hands appear at Plymouth University (01803 863468, Harberton Folk or 0870 264 3333) tomorrow, Falmouth's Princess Pavilion (01326 211222) on Saturday, December 6, and the Exeter Corn Exchange (01392 665866) on Sunday, December 7
See next Friday's WMN2 to win tickets to the Exeter show
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Ruarri Joseph – the heart theme is featured in the new album artwork by Paul Lakeman
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