
Multi-instrumentalist Eric Loveland Heath, better known as E.L. Heath, is a songwriter from the borderlands of Shropshire and Powys. Founder of Plenty Wenlock Records, member of Wayside and Woodland Recordings and occasionally affiliated with epic45, he has six album and many singles and EPs under his belt, mostly linked to the nature surrounding him, the Shropshire countryside and its quiet villages. Back in 2013 his Welsh language psychedelic pop album Tŷ was named album of the week on both BBC Radio Cymru and BBC Radio Foyle. His return to Wayside and Woodland is called Cambrian, a collection of songs inspired by the scenic Cambrian Coast Railway line (Llinell y Cambrian). The route has been a constant though much of Heath’s life, often ferrying him to and from the seaside or hearing the sound of its trains crossing the other side of the valley from his home. Through the years Heath observed how its route leaves the narrow valleys of mid-wales and sweeps out onto the seemingly endless curve of Cardigan Bay, or watched the paling lights of its trains melt into the horizon from the platforms of rural stations. Heath had planned initially to write about the experiences of journeying on it, the lives of the people who live along its reach. The trains which operate on this route, the soon to be retired Class 158 DMUs, have been a steady and unchanging presence throughout his adult life. A sound and sight so familiar to him and many others will soon be just a memory.
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