A TALENTED Barrow musician has created a fundraiser album with other artists in the area in a bid to raise much-needed funds for a food bank.

Barrow-born Jonny Swift, 38, has played solo and in bands around the town, and Manchester, where he used to live before moving back five years ago.

The album created by Jonny, Bags of Love, has been put together to raise money for Barrow Foodbank.

The album contains 18 tracks, all performed by artists from the Furness area.

Some of the artists include Sugarfoot, Shaun Blezard, My Dad Zeus and Jamie Bosanko.

Jonny Swift sings the opening track, ‘Cumbrian Rain’.

The album contains a few ‘exclusives’ by some of the musicians and bands involved.

Mr Swift said: “Recently I’ve been involved a lot with open mic nights and that is where I met a lot of people on the album who have contributed.

“Since Lockdown I wanted to put together this album, but only got around to it about two weeks ago - so it has only taken a fortnight really to bring it all together.

“I really care about our local community, there’s a lot of people having to depend on foodbanks, and this has increased in the last ten years under a Tory government.

“I wanted to do something that raised funds for the Barrow foodbank but also something that promoted the fantastic local talent that the local music scene has to offer.

“All the musicians on the album either live in the local area or originate from around here, and all the songs are original compositions.”

Jonny has his sights set on the future, hoping to organise a live show featuring the bands who have contributed to the album.

He is also toying with the idea of a physical CD release, and a Bags of Love 2 to help Barrow Foodbank over the festive period.

Barrow Foodbank took to social media to praise the album. They said: “An amazing team of local artists have got together to make an album for Barrow Foodbank.

“Jonny Swift has done a fantastic job of getting this together and it’s now on sale for £5.

“Please support this if you can, enjoy some brilliant local music and raise funds too.”

Ray Dowling has been thanked for creating the cover.

To purchase and download the album, visit the website at: www.jonnyswift.bandcamp.com/album/bags-of-love