An 'a-moo-sing' gig: Musician plays for jazz-loving cows
A jazz keyboardist who's performed for Royalty had a slightly different audience for this gig...
Last updated 8th Feb 2021
A world-renowned jazz keyboardist who has performed for Royalty has played a gig for a herd of cows!
Ben Waters was invited to a nearby farm to play for the animals to help them relax - as farm bosses claim their cows enjoy reggae and jazz.
The musician - who in the past has performed with Sir Rod Stewart, Ronnie Wood, Ray Charles, PJ Harvey and Shakin' Stevens - said: "I've been locked down since March and haven't done any work.
"It was just a cold Winter's evening and I got this email. It went on about how cows are individuals, they're looked after extremely well.
"They're only fed grass, they're organic and they live longer because they're only milked once a day - and I could just tell this guy was so passionate about these cows I thought where's this going?
"Right at the end it said 'would you and come play for the cows?'
"I spat my drink out. I just laughed for ages and just though this is amazing.
I went back to him and said yes, but do you mind If I put your letter on Facebook?
"So I put it on Facebook and I was inundated with people saying you've got to do 'in the mood' or 'I herd it through the grapevine', 'Veal meat again' and 'cattle be the day'.
The cows even danced along!
Rex Fisher of Hollis Mead Organic Dairy, on the Somerset and Dorset border which supplies across the West Country, said: "I'd heard that cows love music.
"I spoke to the farm manager Ian. He confirmed that jazz and reggae were the cows' favourite.
"I said I know the best jazz pianist there is and luckily he's a local man - and lets get him down to perform for the cows.
"The general idea is that we love to treat the herd like they're all individuals, they've all got names. Ian knows them individually.
"The minute the music started playing they all came to see what was going on. They've very inquisitive they want to find out what's happening.
"They looked very happy and stayed around to listen - I even caught a few of them dancing."