Jamie Webster 10 For The People

He’ll always be a man of his people, but Jamie Webster’s message has cut through hearts all over the land since the folk troubadour’s debut album We Get By in 2020. The songwriting may have evolved from those defiant early days on the acoustic guitar, but the hard-hitting storytelling that made his name remains as he continues to give a voice to the masses through towering anthems to hold close through uncertain times.  

Though born from frustration and adversity, Webster's music has always managed to encapsulate a sense of unity and togetherness through tough times. Take the breakthrough single ‘Weekend In Paradise’ which distills a living for the weekend ideology of the working classes. An anthem just about everyone working nine to five can relate to, the flagship single speaks volumes of the journey so far as it surpasses 20 million streams on Spotify alone.

The scale of public support for the songs of singular, life-as-he-sees-it-singing, aspirational indie voice of Jamie Webster looks set to reach new heights as he releases his third album, 10 For The People, with Modern Sky UK.

Like 2021’s No.3-charting success story album, Moments, Webster assembled 10 For The People in the company of producer, Dave Eringa (Manic Street Preachers, Kylie Minogue), in a range of studio settings over the last 18 months, including the infamous Rockfield Studios in south Wales and, for the first time, the musician’s own studio in the former industrial heartlands of his home city.

Jamie: “I came up with the concept of ’10 For The People’ when I was listening back to a lot of the new albums released in the past year; some these albums charted at number 1 and had songs played all over the place and were on every television and radio show known to man. While these records undoubtedly had some great songs within them, and 1 or 2 big singles; when listening to the albums as a body of work I thought to myself, why are there so many fillers? Nothing tracks that must get skipped past after the first listens and slowly fade into the back pages of our minds. That then got me thinking, who are these albums written for? Who do they represent? What message are they carrying? Besides 1 or 2 that were genuinely brilliant I struggled to find answers in my head. 

10 For The People is 10 tracks long and every song is going to have 10 put into it, and every song is going to tell a story or hold a message for the people that I represent. Those people are your every day working class mums and dads, sons and daughters, the people on the ground who keep the world running without even knowing it, the people who are systematically put down time and time again by governments with no option but to take it on the chin and make the best of the situation for their families and for their own sanity. The people who have supported me from the ground up and got me to the position I'm currently at.

This whole body of work is for the people who supported me when nobody else would, so I’m using my platform to speak for these people because not enough of us currently are. This album is conceptually about everyday life. And musically speaking it couldn't be any bigger, I've mixed influences of McCartney, Paul Simon, Bob Dylan, CSN all the way down to current greats like Sam Fender. I hope you like it but even if you don't... the people will.”