After a 16 year break Tony Cox is singing again and will be performing, a smoking stack of brand new songs for the very first time at the Cape Farmhouse this coming December. 'Songs about life and love and all the strange bits in between, delivered with deadly accuracy straight through your guts to your heart’. Songs of Sixty is one of South Africa’s favourite guitar players at his all time best, only this time with lyrics!
Sixteen years ago Tony Cox decided to mostly give up singing and focus on writing music for solo, instrumental guitar. This he did to much critical acclaim and in the process garnered three SAMA awards for the best instrumental album of 2001/3 and 8.
Prior to the sixteen years, Cox shared his performance roughly 50/50 between songs and instrumentals. When asked why he stopped singing he simply says he was head over heels in love with the pure voice of the guitar and so he went down what is now, a very well documented road of musical exploration via his acoustic guitar.
‘I didn't really feel emotionally driven to sing a lyric anymore back then and needed to feel connected to the subject matter for it to be a real song for me and I just wasn’t there in my head’.
Now, at the tender age of sixty, Cox has made a strong return to singing
.
‘The voice is definitely an improvement from when I was younger, it’s deeper and the songwriting is simpler and more melodic and the subject matter cuts deeper’.
Songs of Sixty is one of South Africa’s favourite guitar players at his very best, this time though with the added dimension of sung songs. Songs of life and love, songs that are thoughtful, darkly funny, bluesy with an afro groove and always Cox's trademark guitar playing holding it all together in a wall of rhythm, texture and sound.
Cox will be performing for three Fridays in a row from 5 December at the Cape Farmhouse in Redhill, Scarborough. The shows begin at 20h30 and as per usual Chef Phil’s Tapas menu is available from 6pm.
