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TOURING NOW (2025/6)

LOVE IS NOT ALL

Schwa tells the story in music and words of Edna St.Vincent Millay, the Taylor Swift of 1930’s American poetry.

Love Is Not All is a set of 13 original songs with words by the radical, bisexual poet Edna St. Vincent Millay who filled stadiums in 1930’s America before burning out and dying in her fifties. ‘Vincent’, as she called herself, was the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry.

Schwa is Peter Spafford (Unsung Sports, Chapel FM), Richard Ormrod (Hard Times Orchestra, ATA Records) & Agnes Jeanne Maria (Agnes and Eve, Chapel FM Jazz Collective) supported by a trio of guitar, bass and drums.

Millay’s story is one of rural poverty, city riches, art, passion and morphine told in a suite of songs reflecting the musical styles that spoke to her: American Folk, Music Hall and Jazz.

‘Love Is Not All is loose-limbed and lovely’. (Nick Barley, National Poetry Centre UK, Director)

‘Love Is Not All achieves something remarkable: it not only immerses you in Vincent’s world but also in the passion of the artists bringing it to life. There’s a quiet joy and deep devotion in the ensemble’s performance that gives her words a new kind of breath…’ (Spike Marshall, Leeds Arts Centre)

‘Vivid lyricism and authentic vocals blended with fantastic, eclectic arrangements’ (Testament)

Listen to Schwa: https://schwasters.bandcamp.com/

HOPE OF A TREE - 2020

Hope Of A Tree was the last project we did before the 2020 pandemic. Schwa began in 2012 with Peter and Richard writing and performing as Peter and Richard. Explore archive and projects in this website.

HOPE OF A TREE consists of original songs and text, premiered at Leeds Lit Fest in March 2020. The piece is themed around the idea of trees, woods and forests, inspired by The Overstory, the Booker-nominated novel by Richard Powers.

Says Richard: ‘Over Christmas 2019 Peter composed several new songs for this project and we’ve been working on them for two nearly months now - taking our musical cue from pieces we enjoy performing, such as READY CHAIR and DEAD IN THE COLD, this suite of songs and text is a bit more homogeneous than our usual eclectic fare. Jacqui has some new technology she’s been playing with and Richard has been playing a lot of Country music.