nigel and his collaborators

Whisper Love

Most recently Nigel has been working on his album (due out July 2020). ​For the album he worked with:
Riaz Ahmed – vocals, Chris Bayne (producer and musician), Sandro Crucioli – bass guitar, Patti Dale – vocals  Phil Fryer – flute, Kurt Hamilton – banjo, Emi,  Itoh – violin, Maha Jeffrey – vocals, Linn Johannson - vocals, Kenan Khazendar – vocals
Steve Lavington – electric guitar, Tim Naginey – vocals, Ian Roure – mandolin, Tahmina Sorabji - images and graphics, John Soul - vocals, Tony Tooth – electric guitar, May Tumi – vocals, Oli Whitworth (producer and musician), Sam Williams – piano

Ania Rybacka

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Ania and Nigel 2009
Nigel met Ania Rybacka in December 2007 at the Bookbinders Open Mic session. They did several performances over the next couple of years and recorded some songs in 
Mick Clack’s studio in Jericho. But then Ania had to focus on her photography career so the duo broke up. In 2011 they got back together and started doing open mic sessions and gigs again, still silencing audiences wherever they go.
'She just turned up, started singing a capella and instantly silenced the pub! What a voice.' 

Linn Johannson 

'I was sitting around during the open mic one night [in February 2008], just minding my own business when a gorgeous voice suddenly whispered into my ear "would you like to accompany me?", so obviously I said yes, and then I turned around and there was Linn. We jammed a couple of songs but I wasn’t really much into performing something I hadn’t prepared, even for an open mic and so I sat and watched while she jammed with Tim [Mayo] and a couple of others, and it was clear she just wanted to sing. And what a voice. Approximately once every 500 songs at the Bookbinders Open Mic the performer silences the room. Linn’s responsible for three of those occasions.'
PictureLinn and Nigel 2009
Nigel and Linn's most popular original song for the audience is probably ‘Do You Mean It?’ which Nigel wrote in the summer of 2008. The powerful harmonies and well-crafted lyrics portray the trepidation of a new love. 
'I can’t really imagine singing that with anyone else now. I came up with a harmony line for the song, which Linn completely ignored, and she was right – hers is great, fits better'.
Other Nigel originals which are part of the set are ‘Rosalind’ (a kind of ‘I’ve moved on, you’re too late’ song), ‘Ways of Wonder’ (we’re in this together) and ‘Be Mine Again’, described by Nigel as 
'a corny song about what not to say at the wedding reception of an ex-girlfriend'. 
Linn sings some songs in Swedish, a particular favourite artist of hers is Laleh. Katie Mellua and KT Tunstall feature prominently too. Roxanne works well as a regular finale.

They perform whenever Nigel’s in Sweden (never), or whenever Linn’s in the UK (occasionally).

Below Nigel and Linn perform 'Rosalind' at at the Temple Bar in Cowley, 9th July 2008, at the excellent open mic night run at the time by Lee Davies.

Ronan Walshe 
and Nine Grand Loan

When Nigel moved to Oxford in 2000 he found himself lodging with Ronan, a singer-songwriter-guitarist from Bally Na in Co. Mayo. Pretty soon they were doing gigs every few weeks, performing 25 songs a night (all covers at first) at the Royal Blenheim in St Ebbes, Oxford. 
'Ronan is just so easy to get along with, a natural performer, at ease with whatever chords you want to play, basically an all round professional entertainer, he’d put in the hard graft of remembering chords and lyrics – and he was also deeply moved by some of the songs, and he turned ‘Delilah’ from a naff pop song into one of my favourites – we belted out the harmonies on that one, and used it as a finale on a regular basis'.
Nigel came up with some weird and wonderful flyers for the gigs, and he also came up with the name Nine Grand Loan (an anagram of ‘Ronan and Nigel’, which reflected their lack of funds at the time). The audience had fun too. At the time they were both working at the British Study Centres language school and at every gig the pub was packed with students and colleagues, and many of them performed songs with Ronan and Nigel.

In 2002 Nigel went to Spain and Qatar for a while, and on his return he joined Ronan again, who had by then teamed up with Anna and Vania to form Red Lounge.
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Ultramarines, Jericho Street Festival, 2010

The Ultramarines 
(aka ‘the jammers’, aka ‘Nigel Brown and the Dolphin Friendlies’, and others).

Nigel worked at the Oxford Business College from 2007 to 2010, Mark Stow was also working there – he’s the guitarist with a punk band called June, and the founder of OX4 Pickups (he winds his own). At a staff Christmas party Mark discovered that of the approximately 25 staff members, around 10 were musicians, so he suggested a jam. The landlord of the Old Bookbinders Ale House, Matty, kindly said that Nigel and co (Mark Stow on bass, Tony Tooth on lead guitar, David Fogg on rhythm guitar) could jam there on a Friday afternoon and for the next three years, on and off, that’s what they did. As of early 2011 they still get together for private gigs in the Oxford Business College and occasional gigs elsewhere (e.g. the Café Tarifa in Cowley Road and the Hollybush in Osney Island).
'The great thing about that whole set up is simply the acres of time we had to just play, experiment, make mistakes, have a laugh, and have a chat and a drink. But we never stayed still – every week either I or David would come up with a new riff or a completely new song, and we’d just give it a go. Mark’s happy jamming the bass over everything, and Tony’s experimenting every time he plays – he never plays the same song the same way twice. It taught me a lot about the value of having a relatively simple riff, that in some cases there’s just no need for a song to be too busy, too clever'. 
And out of these sessions came several songs which involve simple repeated sequences, for example Live in Wonder, View Near Gotham, Wish, Bookbinder Boogie, Forget.
'There were also less straightforward songs which we could try out and hack off the edges if it was too precious, so something like Meadowhaze became a standard for us because in that band we simply used the structure I’d written originally and made it simpler and longer, and more ‘ours’, and it works better in that format.

'Songs the Ultramarines play, on top of the simple repeated sequences, include the Magic, Soleil Soleil, A Love That’s Nearly Gone, Shreds of the Threads, the Wrong Song, Tears (all by Nigel) and David Fogg’s originals: Dust Devil, Tavare Beach, Lost Souls, Over Your Shoulder, Dotted Lines and Season’s Reel. Palabras Para Julia (sung by David) is more or less the only cover they play regularly'. 

The Mark Atherton Band

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The Mark Atherton Band, Leafield Festival, 2010
Mark Atherton is a regular at the Sunday open mic and in 2009 - 2011 Nigel contributed in several gigs, at first on guitar and then later on the 6-string faux banjo. 
'It's a nice band to be a part of, Mark is sincere about his songs and very welcoming of what others can contribute'.

The Rotifers

Steve (guitar, vocals), Neal (guitar, main vocals), Imogen (percussion), are named after a form of life that is in fact its own phylum, and have been going for years. Steve and Nigel met in 2010 through playing with the Mark Atherton band, and the Rotifers eventually convinced Nigel it would be a good idea to finally use the bass guitar he bought in 1998 and join the Rotifers for one gig. Just the one. That happened in January 2011 at the Hollybush (Osney Island), one of Scott Gordon’s Live Acoustical nights. And then a couple of weeks later they played at Rami’s wonderfully title ‘Maison D’Etre’ open mic session at the Mason’s Arms in Headington.
'Playing the bass on some of those songs [penned by Steve and co-Rotifer founder Neal] was great fun, and they seemed to like what I was doing and we get on very well too'. 
More gigs are a definite possibility.