Description
Michael Weston King didn't plan to make a new solo record.
In early 2024 he was working on the latest My Darling Clementine album – initial recording taking place in the small AddABand studios in rural Mid Wales, near to where Michael and Lou had relocated in 2023, and where Michael had made his solo album, "The Struggle", in 2022.
But, in the summer of 2024, a personal tragedy changed everything. Michael and Lou lost their six-year-old granddaughter, Bebe, in the Southport attacks in July that year, and, as much as they tried to carry on and make a My Darling Clementine album, with the weight of so much sadness and grief bearing down on them, it just didn't feel the right thing to do.
The tragic events of summer 2024 not only changed the music they were making and the songs they were writing, it also altered their outlook on life.
Recognising that everyone's grief is individual – even that of a husband and wife – Michael and Lou needed to channel their suffering via their own individual creativity and in their own way, rather than in collaboration, so they worked on two solo albums.
Michael's "Nothing Can Hurt Me Anymore" is the first of the two to be released. An album the defies genre, it is simply his instinctive musical reaction to the events of summer 2024.
Michael writes "To be honest, it was impossible to write about anything else. It overwhelmed everything. I hope I am now creatively exhausted on the subject, but I think it will affect my writing forever, just as indeed, the loss of Bebe will".
It features eleven brand new MWK songs
Partly recorded in rural Wales and partly in not so rural Sheffield, "Nothing Can Hurt Me Anymore" was produced by Michael, along with wunderkind Clovis Phillips, and the brilliant Colin Elliot, who also mixed the album.
Musicians include Dean Beresford (Richard Hawley, Imelda May) on drums, Matt Holland (Van Morrison) on trumpet, Shez Sheridan (Hawley, Duane Eddy, Nancy Sinatra) on guitar, Clovis Phillips (Bill Callahan, Richard Thompson) on bass, keys and guitars, Clive Mellor (Liam Gallagher) on harmonica, Colin Elliot (Jarvis Cocker, Self Esteem, Hawley) on bass, keys, cello, and American friends Jeb Loy Nichols on backing vocals, and Erin Moran, aka A Girl Called Eddy duetting with MWK on the song 'Just A Girl' . Michael's son, the poet Oliver James Lomax also makes a spoken word appearance.
Michael will be touring the UK, Europe and N.America with My Darling Clementine throughout 2026. Each show will include a short solo set, during which Michael will perform songs solely from 'Nothing Can Hurt Me Anymore'. He will also be playing selected full band solo shows in 2026.
