Songs from my shed

Jon Earl took the concept of tinkering in the shed to a new level when he turned his into a music venue. There’s no room for divas – but the offer of a cup of tea and an acoustic set has proved irresistible for musicians around the world

‘When I first voiced the idea to my wife, she said, “This isn’t going to involve lots of musicians traipsing through the house, is it?” And I said, “No, darling, of course not.” But we’ve had more than a thousand now, and they’ve drunk a fair few cups of tea.

‘I’m not really a shed guy. But I started clearing it out of interest, and suddenly I found I had this great space. I thought I’d host a cheese and cider society there, and get a band to play. But the idea grew into something else: I started inviting local musicians along for acoustic sessions, and put the recordings on a website. 

‘It was obvious from day one that something about the shed appealed to people. Within a week, a band from America asked if they could come and play; now I have 200 requests a week. And they come from all over – a man from Tasmania, and a band that heard about me backstage at a gig in New York.