Tag Archives: Olivia Harrison

George Harrison: A Gardener’s Life

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Well, here’s something a bit different.

We know that George Harrison was a very keen gardener. There was a beautiful article at the end of 2023 in Country Life magazine on some of the work he did to bring the gardens of his country estate, Friar Park, back to life and the fantastic legacy he left there as those gardens continue to thrive today. With the help of his wife Olivia Harrison, George revitalized the neglected property, which consisted of the mansion, lodges, and 32 acres of grounds.

Now comes a stunning tribute to George the gardener in the form of a major exhibition – and it is in Florida of all places.

The Marie Selby Botanical Gardens in Sarasota, Florida have on display now a unique and impressive exhibition exploring the connection between George Harrison and his much-loved hobby.

George Harrison: A Gardener’s Life is on view through to June 29, 2025, and it’s already broken all attendance records for any previous special exhibition at the Gardens.

Selby Gardens has re-imagined some of the Friar Park gardens through horticultural vignettes across its 15-acre Downtown Sarasota campus, including original garden designs by the man who originally built Friar Park, SIr Frank Crisp, and more recent gardens planted by George and Olivia. Highlights include a topiary and sundial garden; an alpine rock garden complete with a scale model of the Matterhorn; a knot garden in the shape of a kolam (a geometrical Indian line drawing); a knot garden design that plays on the treble clef; and a hedge maze.

The Tropical Conservatory features stunning displays of plants. One incorporates Barry Feinstein’s iconic photo of Harrison from the album cover for All Things Must Pass; a sculptural garden combines water, weeping plants, and electric guitars – a nod to his Beatle hit While My Guitar Gently Weeps; and a palm garden references the cover design of his solo album Living in the Material World. A selection of George’s music plays throughout the Conservatory.

The Museum of Botany and the Arts at the Gardens features a dynamic collection of photographs and videos of George and his crews working on the estate grounds, plus maps and photographic references to Crisp’s original designs, and personal memorabilia.

The exhibition has also attracted the attention and support of The Beatles official Facebook page, and the George Harrison website.

To see a spectacular short “walk through” video of the exhibition, just click on the image below:

For The Love of George – Instrumental Tribute Album Hits All The Right Notes

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Dark Horse Records celebrated George Harrison’s birth date this week with the release of a new tribute album by gypsy jazz guitarist Robin Nolan. 

For The Love Of George can be streamed on all good streaming services and features some amazing gypsy jazz versions of classic George songs. Also included is a brand new composition crafted by Nolan from chords jotted down by George on an envelope and only discovered after his passing. Cementing to strong connections here, Nolan played three of George’s own guitars, and the recording was made in the studio George created at his home in Friar Park.

The album features ten Gypsy Jazz interpretations of Harrison songs from across his Beatle and solo career, as well as the brand-new composition. Surprisingly they really lend themselves to the Django Reinhardt-style.

Nolan’s relationship with Harrison dates back to the 1990s, when George personally recognized and encouraged his playing. Since then, Nolan has remained a valued presence within the Harrison musical circle, making this tribute especially meaningful. And it’s not the first album Nolan has recorded at Friar Park. He released Gypsy Blue in 2013 on Dhani Harrison’s H.O.T. Records – and like this this one it was only available digitally but also a very limited CD. (H.O.T. of course stands for Henley-On-Thames, the town where Friar Park is located).

Talking about how the new album came about, Robin Nolan explains, “I was at Friar Park playing for Olivia’s birthday. We were all talking and then George’s Ramirez acoustic guitar appeared and I played ‘And I Love Her’ on it. It was a massive thrill to play the song on the same guitar he’d originally recorded it on with Olivia and everyone watching.”

“I had already been thinking about how cool it would be to do an album of George’s songs, but then to actually be playing one of his songs on that guitar. ‘That’s another level, you know, that’s another layer of awesomeness.’ So that was where the inspiration for the album was born.

“A few days later, I was working on the arrangements of how these songs could sound in the Gypsy Jazz style and Olivia texted me this picture of an envelope with some chords that George had written on it and said, ‘Check it out. I wonder if George ever did anything with that? Maybe you can look at the chords and tell?'”

“I stared at the envelope and studied the chords intently that George had written all those years ago and started to feel the magic. It was like unraveling a mystery, trying to imagine what George might have meant.

“At a certain moment I felt that the chords started to make sense and came alive as I strummed them on my guitar, ‘Ahh maybe that’s what he meant’, I remember thinking to myself.”

“After I’d figured out the chords a melody came to me. In my mind I could hear George humming a tune that sounded really beautiful. That’s when it all came together. The title track of this album For The Love Of George.

“I was really excited so I recorded a simple version on my phone and sent it to Olivia wondering what she might think. She responded, ‘Wow it sounds so much like George!’

“And, of course, it does sound like George, because there’s a few chord changes in there which are really unique to him, and then the melody I wrote is so inspired by him.”

“For this new track I used all three of George’s guitars that feature on the album. The intro is the 12-string Rickenbacker used on the bulk of the Hard Day’s Night album, and it’s just got that sound, you know? So I made the intro with that guitar, and some fills. The main melody is played on the Gibson J160, which is the guitar with a lot of history. It’s the only guitar that was used on every Beatles album. It’s tough to play, but it has so much character. I did the melodies on that one, and then there’s some backing lines on the Ramirez.”

For The Love Of George tracklisting:

  1. For The Love Of George
  2. Wah-Wah 3. Marwa Blues
  3. I Want To Tell You
  4. And I Love Her
  5. My Sweet Lord
  6. All Things Must Pass
  7. Dark Sweet Lady
  8. The Inner Light
  9. Something
  10. While My Guitar Gently Weeps

Read more about Robin Nolan on his website, and keep an eye open for his forthcoming tour in support of the album.

And fingers crossed that Dark Horse eventually releases For The Love Of George on CD and vinyl!

New Dark Horse Title is an Unusual Choice but a Great Album

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From Olivia Harrison’s socials:

“Nina Simone is recognised as one of the most authentic and captivating artists of our time. She recorded some of George’s songs with powerful conviction. We are privileged to have this album on the Dark Horse label.” – Olivia Harrison

“Nina Simone’s music has always held a special place in the hearts of my family. Her unique talent and profound artistry not only resonated with us but also left an indelible mark on our musical journey. Nina’s legacy continues to be an enduring source of inspiration, a reminder of the power of music to touch the soul and inspire the spirit.” – Dhani Harrison

Dark Horse Records is proud to release a very limited pressing of Nina Simone’s debut studio album Little Girl Blue, celebrating the album’s 65th anniversary.

Originally released in February 1959, this limited pink vinyl reissue is available exclusively from Barnes & Noble on February 23rd.

Pre-order now at barnesandnoble.com

This is a great album.

The pre-order details say it will include a 12×12 insert with an introduction written by Dhani Harrison. Little Girl Blue includes some of Simone’s best-known tracks, including ‘My Baby Just Cares for Me’, ‘I Loves You, Porgy’ and ‘Love Me Or Leave Me’, and even at this early stage in her career, you can hear the profound impact she would go on to have on the musical landscape in the ensuing decades.

For those of us outside the US though this is going to be a tricky one to secure……however, Barnes & Noble now ship internationally (previously they did not), so it should be possible.

Oh, and it looks like it has the catalogue number DH0024.

Country Life Magazine – George Harrison’s Garden

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UK magazine Country Life has this month published a very interesting story about the topiary gardens of George and Olivia Harrison’s famous Henley-on-Thames estate, Friar Park.

We’re all used to seeing the occasional photograph showing glimpses of Friar Park – the mansion, extensive grounds and amazing gardens that George purchased in 1970. The most famous would have to be this album cover:

So it is interesting to read a contemporary article about how the gardens, in particular the topiary section, are doing now. When Harrison first moved in they were in a very poor state, having been let go by the previous occupants for more than 30 years:

George became a very keen gardener and determined to put not only the house (which had also fallen into disrepair) but all the gardens back to rights. He was so hands-on that his son Dhani once said: ‘My earliest memory of my dad is probably of him somewhere in a garden covered in dirt… just continuously planting trees. I think that’s what I thought he did for the first seven years of my life. I was completely unaware that he had anything to do with music.’

His widow Olivia has maintained that dream and, to be honest, from the images in this article the topiary section today is looking magical.

The article ends:

In short, the impeccably maintained topiary garden at Friar Park today is a masterpiece—one of the most important in all Europe.

(Click on images to see a larger version)

‘All Things Must Pass: 50th Anniversary Edition’ Wins Grammy

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They’ve just been announced – the 64th annual Grammy Awards.

On the Beatle front there wasn’t too much on offer this year.

Paul McCartney was nominated for ‘Find My Way’ in the Best Rock Song category (he lost out to the Foo Fighters and ‘Waiting On A War’). He was also nominated for his album McCartney III in the Best Rock Album category (and once again, pipped at the post by the Foo Fighters with their LP Medicine at Midnight).

However, in the category for Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package the winners were Darren Evans, Dhani Harrison and Olivia Harrison for their art direction of last year’s George Harrison All Things Must Pass: 50th Anniversary Edition. This was for the now famous “Uber Box”:

All Things Must Pass won ahead of Soccer Mommy – Color Theory, Steven Wilson – The Future Bites (Limited Edition Box Set), Gang of Four – 77-81 and Mac Miller – Swimming in Circles.

Olivia Harrison has posted this shot of her holding the actual Grammy:

She also gave this post-Grammy ceremony interview about the win:

Well done, and congratulations to the Harrison Estate!

George Harrison and Hamilton Island

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Apologies for the long delay in posting anything on Beatlesblogger but I’m on vacation.

As it happens I’m on a resort island off the coast of Australia – and funnily enough there is actually a Beatles connection to this place.

I’m sitting on beautiful Catseye Beach on Hamilton Island off the Queensland coast and it occurs to me (dredged from somewhere deep in the back of my mind) that George and Olivia Harrison once had a luxury holiday home on this very island….and here it is:

Harrison House 1

Harrison House 2A quick search on Google confirmed that vague memory and led me to this comprehensive article in Architectural Digest outlining the full story of how George ended up owning a little piece of Australia. The article is penned by writer and Harrison family friend Paul Theroux – who contributed the Introduction to the book “Living in the Material World“, and whose work also appears in the very limited (and expensive) Genesis Publications anniversary book about the “Concert for George“. George and Olivia2The Harrison home was sold in 2008, apparently for $8 million – setting a new sales record for the island at that time. I just wish George was still around to enjoy this very beautiful part of the world….

You can see a Google Map satellite image of the house here.

Paul Theroux on Harrison and Scorsese

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As interest grows around the release this week of the new Martin Scorsese documentary on the life of George Harrison, much is being written about the documentary and it’s importance.

Many will know and respect the work of US travel writer and novelist Paul Theroux. He has written a lengthy but insightful piece for The Daily Beast on “Living in the Material World”. It carries the title “The Sixth Beatle?” and contains the byline “George Harrison was liberated by rock and roll. Turns out Martin Scorsese was too”.

Theroux postulates that the two men, the musician and the film-maker, have more in common than might first appear:

“He had everything so young—everything was possible. He was struggling for his own creativity—for his creativity to be recognized,” Scorsese said. “But he wouldn’t have been able to create All Things Must Pass had he not gone through the relationship—the family relationship of the Beatles. That’s what you pay. That’s the price you pay.”

Scorsese’s solemn tone suggested that he could relate to George’s ups and downs. George’s Dark Horse tour was savaged, in the way that some of Scorsese’s greatest films were initially greeted with bewilderment and scorn.

Scorsese agreed, saying, “In my own work I was in those areas not once but many times—coming up against a brick wall. I thought Raging Bull was the last picture I was ever going to make. A number of times I was that way, flattened out, and coming back. As George’s story developed there was no way I couldn’t relate to it in my own life.”

There are two other articles I’d recommend, both from the New York Times. The first is a revealing interview with Olivia Harrison about the project. The second is a feature by David Itzkoff about George and the documentary.

Worth a look.