Great news - Devon Sproule, who recorded her lovely, haunting song ‘Plea for a Good Night’s Rest’ for us in November accompanied by the legendary BJ Cole on pedal steel guitar, is appearing on Later with Jools Holland this Friday (29 February at 11.35pm).

The song, originally recorded on her 2003 album Upstate Songs, begins with the words “There are thick stars, up above where the trees part themselves…” and is full of beautiful vivid detail that takes you to a balmy night in Virginia.

Jools’ guests this week are Supergrass, Vampire Weekend, Chris Barber, Andy Fairweather Low, The Kills and Devon.

Monday: we met our environmental charity partners World Land Trust at their offices in Halesworth in Suffolk. It was a marvellous meeting – since we first created our partnership agreement with them for the Ecuador project two and a half years ago things have really moved on. World Land Trust are very excited about the project - dare I say it, even surprised by where we are already! Helpfully they are putting the feelers out for Latin American singer-songwriters too. There’s more to tell, some exciting possibilities…

Tuesday: Brazilian singer Cibelle recorded an acoustic take of her song Instante de Dois (from her latest album The Shine of Dried Electric Leaves) - the 9th recording for Tropical Forest Project: Ecuador. Despite feeling ill on the day she managed to pull off a recording that our producer Peter and I love: very beautiful, gentle and mysterious, like a mist passing between trees in a cloudforest, and with a hint of the Sixties about it. And as always with Peter’s recordings, she sounds like she’s in the room with us.

Friday: Devon Sproule (who recorded her song Plea for a Good Night’s Rest for us) emailed me to confirm she’s appearing on Later with Jools Holland at the end of February!

Onwards and upwards…