When poetry meets rhythm, something magical happens, and Andrew Siddle is living proof. The blues-rooted artist, poet, and storyteller returns with The Travelling Man Podcast, a creative journey that brings decades of heartfelt writing to life through music. It’s not just a podcast; it’s an experience where nostalgia and modern flair dance together.
Andrew’s story is as colorful as his sound. From the smoky blues clubs of the 70s to quiet moments spent writing poems that now find new life in song, he’s seen every corner of creativity. His work flows from gritty rhythm and blues to soulful New Age tracks, blending old-school heart with fresh perspective.
What makes Andrew so endearing is his sense of humor and genuine warmth. He laughs at his own past experiments, pokes fun at his fearless younger self, and shares wisdom that feels both lighthearted and sincere. One moment he’s reflecting on nights by the River Thames, the next he’s recalling how a spoken-word performance once had a crowd dancing.
With The Travelling Man Podcast, Andrew invites listeners to join him on a musical road trip through time, where poetry sings, blues breathes, and storytelling shines brighter than ever. It’s clever, heartfelt, and just the right amount of fun to lift your mood this October.
Grab your headphones and a cup of something strong. This one is part music history, part soulful laughter, and 100% Andrew Siddle.
Andrew, from your early blues roots and fingerpicking style to transforming decades of poetry into songs, The Travelling Man Podcast feels like a creative evolution. What inspired you to turn your poems into music now in 2025?
Well I think it should be a creative revolution! The thing is that if you have rhyming poetry , rather than the other sort, then often each four lines of rhyme are literally crying out to be sung as well as read. Poems that rhyme “jump off the page” at the reader because they are longing to be made into songs as it suits them. All of the poetry that I have converted into music is also still in its original home (published form) in four books that I did ages ago. Basically it just feels right if you change rhyming poetry into song lyrics sometimes!
The Travelling Man Podcast feels like a bridge between eras, where classic songwriting meets modern storytelling. What do you hope listeners feel when they press play?
Well what I hope listerners find is a journey between notalgia and modernity. We had fun taking some original 1960’s and 1970’s famous recorded guitar riffs and adding modern song lyrics and musical backing tweaks to invent new music! However some of the songs are also completely new and created by the project for 2025. So what you get is nostalgia with songs that are dressed up to feel like original early 70’s tracks; side by side with newly invented hip hop, rap, and New Age themed songs.
Some of your poems date as far back as 1983. When you revisit those early writings, do they make you nostalgic, or do you find yourself smiling at how far you’ve come as a writer and musician?
Well, I don’t ever like to look backwards, only forwards to the future if I can! The oldest poem, The Inner Self, was written in 1983 and is all about teenage angst and wondering which direction to go in within a life. Having said this, I suppose I do look back to musical roots in rhythm and blues and early 60’s and 70’s rock sometimes…. So maybe Im lying to myself, and there is a little bit of nostalgia hidden away someplace! 😉
You started as a blues-styled guitarist and vocalist. How much of that classic influence still flows into your current sound? Would you say your music today carries that same soulful edge or has it taken a completely new direction?
I’ve tried to produce an easy to access podcast that flows from my interest in blues on to New Age tracks because as in the year 2025 I am very much of New Age culture now. So it’s a journey from blues beginnings through to a New Age outlook, if you like! A bluesy track that I am very proud of is Father Thames. It’s all about the River Thames in London and how it used to attract down-and-outs by the little sandy stretches of ground that build up by bridge piers and similar structures.
They gather there and sit around a fire singing, swigging meths or cider, and lit by the dim night stars. I was caught out homeless years ago and spent some time as a down and out by the Banks of the River Thames myself. Anyway we did overlaid special effects, half way through to mirror the sound of London Tube trains and the echo of the crowds outside by the Thames.
You once performed an improvised spoken-word piece called The Adols that had people dancing. That sounds like a fun creative moment. Do you still find ways to bring that same spontaneous energy into your work today?
Spontaneity in the year 2025? It would fighten me to death these days…lol 😉 I was braver back then in what I was willing to try to do!
You’ve lived quite a life, from music to finance, to travel, to poetry. If you could go back and offer your younger self one lighthearted piece of advice from the road, what would it be?
Yes quite a life…Not finance though! People who deal with finance view the world in a completely different way and are an alien life form to people like me! I don’t understand their way of thinking, which is governed by the job that they do. I did things with property and land as a job but never finance; that’s not me! A piece of advice? Well what could anyone ever offer other than “keep going bro’!’”
With so many poems written over the years, how do you decide which ones deserve to be reborn as songs? Do you rely on instinct, or does the music tell you when it’s ready?
How do I decide . Well that is the thing you see…Quite often I start looking at a poem and I can’t find a suitable musical genre that it fits and just can’t make it work as a song. I have started to convert a number of my poems into song lyrics only to find that it can’t be done the way that I would like. So I give up and move on to another poem. So what you end up with is hopefully “the best of” after trial and failure of quite a few of the poems that didn’t make it.
You’ve experienced both the wild energy of the Los Angeles scene and the grounded spirit of the UK’s live circuit. What do you miss most about the music scene of the 80s aside from the big hair and denim jackets?
Los Angeles? Yes and Hazard in Sherman County, Nebraska as well! I lived in Nebraska when I was just a knee high! The 1980’s . Well the 1980’s were all about the new romantic era where as I was still into rhythm and blues at the back of my mind. Bands like Soft Cell wrote some really great hits but it’s not B B King and it’s not Eric Clapton’s Cream.
The Ednaswap era sounds like an unforgettable chapter filled with raw performances, energy, and a bit of humor too. What’s one of your most memorable or amusing moments from those early band days?
Oh well now …You see Ednaswap in the 1990’s was Ednaswap II because that is when they were doing the studio albums. Before that in the mid 1980’s Ednaswap were just a live band with no records published. So in the 1980’s the band was all about live performances. One summer we nearly died of exhaustion playing a different bar or club every day or so between L.A and New York City.
Anne Preven was in the 1990’s version of Ednaswap and also in the 1980’s original line up. Edna was a Los Angeles Hospice nurse who started the band. I was in it. Anne Preven came later when she gave up her job working as admin to los Angeles Hospice. Funnily enough Anne’s father was also in charge of Professional Ethics for the Los Angeles Hospice from his New York City Base as well..So it’starts based around the Los Angeles music scene and community really. The original line up of the band with me and Edna in it is still within the living memory of residents in L.A.
Finally, you’ve shared stages, stories, and memories with so many remarkable people. When you look back, what makes you most proud, not just as a musician, but as Andrew Siddle, the person behind the journey?
I like to be high and low! Always have been…Ive had friends such as Richard Porter a blues guitarist with the R and B band Voodoo Witch who was unemployed on one hand. On the other hand I’ve even stayed with Cher at one stage in time. I was personal guest while she was staying at one of her American development properties. The difference between Cher and Richard Porter is the difference of the throw of a dice.
It’s pure luck as to whether you exist as high or low within this world of ours. ‘I’m willing to bet Cher wouldn’t even remember me from years ago if anybody mentioned it now…but we sat on her veranda chatting for quite some time” Im proud to be somebody who shows the same respect to those who are low within the community as those who are high. I either like you or I don’t…and I don’t care who you are socially! That’s my philosophy for life….;)
