Luke Ekblad

I leave for Vancouver in a couple of hours after spending 3 nights at the Ekblad retreat. It's been amazing here - space, farmland, quintessential US people, shops and produce.

A large chunk of my time has been hanging out with Bob and Gracie's second son, Luke. He's 16 and finished school for the summer yesterday. It's exactly 10 years since I left secondary school, and I always get a nostalgic feeling at this time of year, so I connected with him a lot. His mum told me that he's been learning the guitar since Christmas and wondered if I'd jam with him to boost his confidence. He brought up his very nice VOX amp, a Fender Squire and an acoustic, and we've been playing together ever since.

In the space of just 3 days I've seen him go from a shy, nervous beginner to a musician with lightening-quick learning ability. I've written down a load of artists that he should check out and also a bunch of chord sequences so he can start writing songs of his own. He is going to be a brilliant guitarist and I really feel like I've imparted something of what I've learnt over the years onto him. An honour.

He is also a fellow Lord Of The Rings fanatic. How much so? Last night we had a quote-a-thon and he almost beat me.