AS well as being a top journalist, Southport Visiter reporter John Siddle is also a talented musician. And the soulful singer/songwriter will be showing off his musical prowess at a gig at Liverpool’s famous Cavern Club this Friday and at Southport’s Portland Hall on Saturday night. John, 22, from Knowsley Road is joining award-winning American songwriter Chris Ayer on a national tour stopping off in London, Manchester and Leeds among other places. Ayer, 25, from Manhattan, won the John Lennon Songwriting Contest in 2006 for his folk song Evaporate. He cites singers Bob Dylan, Nick Drake and Stevie Wonder as his big influences and starting songwriting the day he got his first guitar at 18. John’s journey into music began back at university when he started playing open mic nights. He now plays original songs and describes his music as a mixture of genres. "It’s kind of poppy, folky music," he says. "It’s happy noise! "And we look up to all the soul singers like Stevie Wonder, Jeff Buckley and Paul Simon. "Our first show was very well received we sold a lot of merchandise and got a lot of people on the mailing list. "I’m looking forward to Liverpool – it’s pretty cool that in the Capital of Culture year Chris who has won the John Lennon award will be playing in Lennon’s home city, hopefully people will enjoy it!" l John and Chris perform along with Brice Woodall & The Positrons, The GTs and Amnesia at the Mathew Street venue from 8pm. Entrance is £4.50, £3.50 with a flyer. Entrance is free of charge at the Southport venue, where the entertainment also starts at 8pm. l For more information log onto www.myspace.com/chrisayer or www.myspace.com/johnsiddle music | 
