Welcome to Wrexham: Busking farmer in Disney+ documentary

A busking farmer from Wales said he became emotional when he saw himself performing his song on a hit new documentary.

John Hughes welcomed Hollywood producers to his farm in Meifod, near Welshpool in Powys, to record songs for the documentary Welcome to Wrexham, shown on Disney+.

The documentary series follows the takeover of Wrexham Football Club by Hollywood stars Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney.

But it could have been a case of "what might have been" after John, 63, revealed he had ignored an initial message from the producers on Facebook because he "wasn't anybody he knew or knew anything about".

Luckily, a phone call from another producer led two members of the production team to travel to Wales and ask John to sing for the documentary.

But little did he know, his song, Welcome to Wrexham, would be in the opening sequence of the series.

Born in the same farmhouse he lives in now, Wrexham fan John started singing in a school band.

After leaving school, he stopped singing until a reunion with his old bandmates at 40 prompted him to re-learn the guitar.

After hours of busking, playing to elderly people in care homes, open mic nights and even performing to his dog during lockdowns, John's music immediately gained a global audience when the documentary started streaming.

John has appeared twice in the series so far: first, singing in the opening sequences, and again in episode seven when he showed the producers around his farm.

Recalling their first visit, Mr Hughes said: "We walked around a very wet Welsh farm in November or December and I remember the two of them had got very nice footwear on. Their shoes got very dirty."

Then came the day of filming.

"They came with the team and the sound people microphoned me and my guitar up," he recalled.

"Usually I sit on a log and sing a few songs, so we took a log out onto the field and they filmed me.

"I'm a 63-year-old farmer and I had 10 people around me filming me. That was a little daunting obviously.

"But everybody supported me. I think it comes from the top: Ryan and Rob are leading the team and it's wanting the best for everybody that's working for them."

After filming a few songs with the crew, John waited for the release of the documentary to see if any of his songs had made the cut.

He didn't have to wait long: two minutes and 55 seconds to be exact.

"I was shocked, you know, I didn't know what was going to be where it was," he said.

"Obviously I'm not stupid, I knew that Welcome to Wrexham was the same name as the documentary so I knew it was going to be on somewhere.

"My son-in-law seemed to think the documentary was going to be released just after midnight, but we couldn't find anything.

"So we got up early the next morning, and we watched it at about seven o'clock.

"We watched it, I could feel my eyes filling up and I just laughed, like I can't believe it. It was a shock."

Since his appearance on the documentary, John has a new-found respect from younger members of his family and has been recognised in his local area.

"We went to Llangollen and a lot of them had the video on their phones. I actually sang it live there as it's only about four miles from Wrexham," recalled John.

"The kids just can't believe it. You can imagine you've got a 60-odd-year-old farmer, who sings in all sorts of places and the kids are rolling their eyes like 'oh shut up'.

"Then all of a sudden, you've got some coolness.

"Everything has changed, you know. I don't think I'll need to but any pints in Wrexham again."

John spoke of the emphasis Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney put on the local community since they took over Wrexham football club.

He said: "I'm going to let you in on a secret, I think Ryan and Rob are Welsh. They're such generous spirits.

"The young people respond so well to them because they both come from backgrounds which a lot of people recognise.

"But the older folks see what they're doing for Wrexham and they love them as well."

He added: "If we haven't got community in Wales, we've got nothing. We look out for each other and we are kind to each other.

"There's a song that we've done called You've come a long way from Hollywood to the Racecourse ground, and it's a thank you from Wales.

"This will never go away, this is going to be massive for Wrexham forever."