00:00It's a story rooted firmly on Merseyside, but with its heart set thousands of miles away in Nashville.
00:07Under the Mersey Moon is a kind of love song, or a love musical if you like, to the city
00:14of Liverpool.
00:14And it's based on a song that I wrote about 15, 16 years ago, that I've been playing at every
00:20gig I've ever done since.
00:21Under the Mersey Moon, now back at the Floral Pavilion, follows Danny Rogers, a struggling country musician from Liverpool, determined
00:28to follow his dream.
00:30Inspired by his ailing grandfather, he sets out on a make-or-break pilgrimage to the home of country music,
00:36hoping to finally be discovered.
00:38There's elements of everybody's kind of story in it, because it's about somebody following a dream,
00:43and it's about the people in your life that either kind of are with you in that, or the people
00:48who are saying, don't do that, that's not for you.
00:51You know, be sensible, get a proper job, settle down, all that sort of thing.
00:54Radio legend Billy Butler and actress Leslie Butler reprise their roles as Grandad Harry and Carol,
01:00while Adam Johnson plays the young Harry and also serves as lead guitarist in the house band.
01:05Outside of this play, a lot of pop and indie stuff. I'm a solo artist and really sort of pop
01:11indie stuff.
01:13This was my, when we did it back in February last year, it was my first sort of toe dip
01:19into country, and now I'm sort of like loving it every second of it, you know.
01:25It's really good fun.
01:26Jimmy continues to perform as part of Tennessee Waltz with his wife and musical partner Sarah Lee Fletcher.
01:32Well, the show's a bit of an emotional rollercoaster. There's lots of, there's lots of comedy in it, but there's
01:38also some quite tearful moments, I think, and some uplifting moments.
01:43I think it takes you on a bit of a rollercoaster all the way through. I'd hope that people come
01:48away with a feel-good factor and understanding what really matters in life.
01:53You know, the story running through this is actually chasing, might be chasing your dream, but finding out what really
01:59matters.
02:00For Jimmy, the project has deeply personal roots. A singer-songwriter from Wirral, he's been writing and performing since the
02:06age of 17.
02:08Country music is the one genre of music where that stuff, those stories are really told very articulately, which is
02:15what drew me to it as a writer and a lyricist.
02:17I've always loved country music because of the way it uses words to touch you. And of course, I mean,
02:25back in the pre-Beatles days, you know, country music was really big in Liverpool and there were a lot
02:31of country bands.
02:32Created by Liverpool songwriters Jimmy Ray and Pete Davis, it features 13 original songs performed by a live six-strong
02:40band alongside a cast of 12.
02:42So it's going to be coming to the Epstein Theatre in November. So we've got, I think, four or five
02:48shows in November. I think it's the 10th to the 13th.
02:51At its core, the musical is an uplifting story about determination and the enduring pull of love, family and home.
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