Clarke Camilleri
Welcome to my page, away from the algorithms. Feel free to explore, and make yourself comfortable.
Welcome to my page, away from the algorithms. Feel free to explore, and make yourself comfortable.
I grew up in Nottinghamshire, around the blues and the folk songs that were still being passed from hand to hand. I write my own songs, and I travel with a banjo, busking and playing, from country to country. I love the access that being a musician gives you into other lives. I like being brave with it, and seeing where it takes me.
My first release was the EP In His Mind, in 2016. In 2020 I put out my first album, The Rollin' Hills of Home, songs of my own, rooted in UK folk and blues. In 2025 I released Live at the Carousel, recorded at a concert I put on myself. Some of the songs are light. Some of them are heavy. They're stories I picked up and didn't want to lose.
I'm in Angeline Morrison's band. I play banjo and guitar with her. We made The Sorrow Songs: Folk Songs of Black British Experience, and The Guardian named it Album of the Year in 2022. Since then the band has played the main stages of some of the biggest folk festivals in the country. I also play with Jinda Biant, and with my brother Victor as The Good-Time Brothers.
Off the stage I've worked as a fisherman, a construction worker, a fruit picker, a deck hand, a plasterer, a gardener and a busker. Those jobs are where I meet people, and a lot of the songs start there. I play piano, banjo and guitar. What I'm after is the warmth of acoustic music when people are actually in the room, in a session, on a stage, or in the studio. I'm in Tallinn now, studying recording at the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre, so I can learn to catch that feeling properly.
There's a time when all I do is wonder,
A time when all I do is roam.
A time when I stop myself a'thinking,
On a life we could have known..
For you never know,
Oh you never know,
When this time'll go.
A moment passes in an instant,
Oh they pass us all too soon.
Slipped on by and left forgotten,
Unless they're given room.
For you never know,
Oh you never know,
When this time'll go.
So hold them and tell them that you love 'em,
Oh hold them and hold 'em oh so tight..
Hold 'em like you'll never leave 'em,
Although someday you might..
For you never know,
Oh you never know,
When this time'll go.
Oh you rollin' hills of home,
oh you rollin' hills of home.
Oh you look so pretty,
so pretty in the night,
The way you frame the sky,
what makes you care to try?
Oh you rollin' hills of home,
oh you rollin' hills of home.
Miles and miles away,
Lost in these games I play,
I can hear the blackbird sing,
amongst the dawn.
And nothin' sounds so sweet,
against the pounding of my street,
to think of you so near,
it leaves nothin' more to fear.
Oh you rollin' hills of home,
oh you rollin' hills of home.
Oh you look so pretty,
so pretty in the night,
the way you frame the sky,
what makes you care to try?
Oh you rollin' hills of home,
oh you rollin' hills of home.
I once promised riches,
I once promised love,
I once promised more than the diamonds above,
But I've burnt many bridges I shouldn't have stayed.
I wish I'd done something I wish I'd been brave,
I wish I'd been brave.
I once heard a girl,
She sung a sad song,
They bought her and sold her,
They moved her along.
I felt the injustice, I shouldn't have stayed.
I wish I'd done something I wish I'd been brave,
I wish I'd been brave.
I once saw a man
He was all out of luck,
They beat him all down,
Stole the breath that he took.
I just walked on by then he soon met his grave.
I wish I'd done something I wish I'd been brave,
I wish I'd been brave.
I once had a dream,
That I'm sure you've had to,
Where our brothers and sisters,
Lived the lives they were due,
But it stayed as a dream that I let wilt and fade,
I wish I'd done something I wish I'd been brave,
I wish I'd been brave.
Here I am again with all that I know,
Just piecing it together and making up as I go.
In time I'll do what I can.
One thing to another from wherever I am.
But when the time comes and I'm ready,
I'm gonna find me a nice warm bed.
I'll take it slow and take it steady,
And I'll sleep in peace with it all in my head.
Until this moment I'll keep moving,
keeping on movin' all through the day.
And I'll go and I'll go,
'Til I can't keep going no more.
Oh it's easy, oh yes it's breezy,
I can run and feel the wind in my hair.
And if there's trouble I'll be running double,
to a place that's gonna be treating me fair.
And yes I'll find, oh yes I'll find it.
Livin' easy and livin' free.
Not looking back or looking forward.
Just sitting comfy from wherever I be.
But when the time comes and I'm ready,
I'm gonna find me a nice warm bed.
I'll take it slow and take it steady,
And I'll sleep in peace with it all in my head.
Until this moment I'll keep moving,
keeping on movin' all through the day.
And I'll go and I'll go,
'Til I can't keep going no more.
A few posters from past shows — from London folk clubs to Baltic summer terraces.
Just an occasional note from me when there's new music or a show.
