The band for the THE SINGING PLAYWRIGHTS consisted of Willy (lead vocals & guitar), Tim (lead vocals & keyboards) and Andy Roberts (vocals & guitars) plus Loreto Murray (vocals & accordian), Gavin Kaufman (vocals, bass & keyboard) and Vidar Norheim (vocals, drums, percussion & vibraphone).

Emily, Gavin and Vidar were (in 2004) students at the Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts LIPA.

From the Radio 2 website...

Willy, Tim and the band start their set with China, a track from Willy's album Hoovering The Moon. It's a beautiful, wistful song of unfulfilled ambition with a melody that lingers long after the last note ...

Tim sings two songs from his album Harmless Flirting including the bittersweet lament, Same Thing Twice. Then, over the continuing music, Willy reads an excerpt from his recent novel The Wrong Boy - an unconnected piece in the words of his teenage protagonist, initially hilarious but ultimately echoing the sentiment of the song in a poignant way. Willy finishes, Tim reiterates the final lyrics, now with a lingering sadness. It takes the listener from laughter to tears and is a brilliant piece of collaboration. Another Firth song, Jennifer Falls, follows - a love song for a friend who always picks the wrong man.

"...Tupperware girls, they much prefer / To do the hokey-cokey in their underwear ..." Another of the perfectly-observed and hilarious vignettes of everyday life that are both songwriters' stock-in-trade. This song should come with a government warning: once heard, it's embedded in the brain. The 350-strong audience sing the chorus with gusto and will undoubtedly have gone home with it running round their heads!