Reviewed by Tony Cummings

This autobiography, published in 2019, continues on Dave's story. Previous volumes recounted Mr Clemo's musical adventures of semi-pro bands and ensembles of which only one group Left Hand Drive ever got near the recording contract big time. Forever Changing covers the period from 1994 when he first emerged on the Christian music scene with the cassette album 'Change Of Heart'. Because of that it's this book which will be of most interest to Cross Rhythms readers, particularly to those who'd enjoyed many of the country gospel and worship songs on his four CD compilation 'The Complete Songs Of Praise And Devotion'. The book documents how by the '80s he had given up playing music and after relocating back to Kettering helped build a railway museum. Then in 1989 he got his "dream job", manager of a 3,000 square foot book shop in Northampton town centre. Then comes the bald statement, "Early in 1990 I started to go to church." There's no real account of a Christian conversion. What Dave chose to tell his readers was that what he started to learn in church kick-started him into writing songs. By 1994 he had quite a number of these and went into a studio with a professional country band called Wishbone who were eking out a living playing gigs six days a week during the line dancing craze that had overtaken pubs and clubs all over Britain. Unlike matters of faith, Clemo is quite explicit about the British country scene he encountered when he went to see Wishbone live. "It was a strange scene. I stood next to two singers dressed in western drag. They were singing along to backing tracks to provide music for people dressed as cowboys and gamblers and their molls to dance to. I went to the bar and stood next to a man in a full Indian buckskin outfit, with a feather headdress, Bowie knife in his belt and carrying a spear in one hand and a pint of bitter in the other. No wonder that the British country scene was viewed with such derision."

Derision or not, it was a scene the "Kettering cowboy" with his country-tinged gospel songs was becoming linked to. A second cassette album 'Running On Empty' was recorded in Rushden. Sales were poor though a couple of tracks did get radio play on UCB. After that comes a description of Clemo's first live solo performance (with wife Sue and drummer son Chris in tow) at the Cross Rhythms Festival in Okehampton. "The band on before me blasted out a high energy set that had everyone gasping for air. Boy was it hot! Then it was my turn to go on. The marquee was like an oven so that the sides were unzipped to let in a little breeze. As I began singing songs the audience took advantage of the break in tempo and went outside to cool down. I can proudly say that I played my first solo festival set to a couple of sleeping students and a man in a wheelchair."

There then follows a description of recording his one and only record label album 'Going Back'. It's a strange description in that he doesn't mention producer Pete Field by name, only as someone "who had once toured as a member Cliff Richard's vocal group." Over the next few chapters there are mentions and blurry black and white reproductions of Dave's CDs like 1998's 'Another Crazy', his attempt to break away from the stylistic shackles of British country with the rock worship family group in 1991 with 'The Broken' and later albums like the home studio recorded 'Covered' (2008) and the acoustic folk roots 'Hard Times' (2013). Interspersed with this chronicle are accounts of performances at gigs both Christian - the Cross Rhythms Festival and the Whitby Gospel Festival - and non-Christian, tours with UK country's Nicki Gillis Band. In fact, throughout his biography often there's more information about gigs played and guitars and amplifiers utilised than there is about the recordings made by Clemo. From this it's easy to surmise that it's on stage before an audience - however small - rather than in a recording studio where this gifted guitarist and mandolin player really becomes enraptured with the process of music making.

Having gone through a gigantic health challenge and getting his leukaemia in remission Clemo completes his third autobiography with a description that speaks volumes of his attitude to life and music. "We drove into Dumbleton, parked outside the Village Club and loaded in. The venue was exactly as I remembered it. After a quick sound check the room began to fill. It was going to be a great night again. The band rocked. The venue rocked. I rested up between sets. I surprised myself at how much I was able to do. I even sang backups on a couple of songs. All too soon it was over. The two gigs rekindled my love of making music. I'm not so reluctant to get out and about performing. I have a number of projects to be going on with, a new album with Karen to complete and promote, and maybe I'll write some more." He did indeed turn in another volume.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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