How did LiTTLe MACHiNe get together with Roger McGough, ‘Patron saint of poetry’? And what’s it like working with this revered figure, who has made a living from writing and performing for decades, something virtually no other poet has achieved? As he says in ‘Tomorrow Has Your Name On It’, Sing your own songs and laugh out loud and he has. We are onstage in front of nine hundred people at the Hay Festival in June 2016. After performing our settings of ‘The Lake Isle of Innisfree’ and ‘Ozymandias’ Walter announces, Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Roger McGough and the audience, who have been enjoying us, erupt with cheers and applause. That’s when we realised what a huge following Roger has, and the affection they feel towards him. The gig went skywards from there, as did the subsequent concerts around the country. Sorry there’s nothing new to say (Late Night News) – but we think there is. After these performances the audience, having cleared the table of Roger’s books and buying a pile of our CD’s, asked for recordings of the poems by Roger that we had just performed with him on stage. We realised this was what they really wanted and that we needed to fill that gap. So over the Summer we recorded twelve of his poems, with music composed and played by us. We greatly enjoyed doing this as the poems lend themselves to all sorts of musical styles, and have in-built rhythm and feel. Steve (keyboards, bass, and recording engineer and producer) commented how easy it was to capture Roger’s warm, distinctive intonation, and how the poems – words, ideas, and emotions – spring out of the speakers. As Roger says, I’m really energised by working with LiTTLe MACHiNe .. they make the poems come alive and treat them with respect as well. They’ve even got me singing, so they’ve got a lot to answer for! We feel the same so it’s working! The term ‘laid back’ might have been coined for Roger, but the bohemian, gypsy-rover image, conceals a cool, knowing poet and consummate live artist. LiTTLe MACHiNe are very experienced stage performers but being up there with Roger we are in the presence of a relaxed master of recitation, timing and delivery, who moves the mood easily from humour, to anger, to anxiety, to sorrow and back again to humour – making the best of life and laughing with it.