You can’t see him in this footage but this is the moment keyboard player Barry Goldberg – who died in January -became part of one of the most historic gigs in musical history.

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Sparks return with what might be their best video yet for the opening song of their 28th studio album.

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Susan Alcorn played my favourite musical instrument – the pedal steel guitar – and took it to new places with her experimental approach.

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Here’s my January playlist, kicking off and ending with something familiar, including some old blues-rock (Thin Lizzy, Jethro Tull), some old soul (Sam & Dave, Irma Thomas), some new stuff (Mogwai, Jim Jones) and some strange Irish folk (John Francis Flynn) that you’ve probably never heard. Plus some Iggy, some Neil Young, some Bowie and a banging tune by Leftfield… something for everyone there, I hope.

It takes a bold and courageous artist to re-record her signature song after more than half a century, but Marianne Faithfull was nothing if not brave.

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The Jim Jones Allstars are the third iteration of the band that began life as the Jim Jones Revue and who I last saw as Jim Jones & The Righteous Mind.

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Sharon Van Etten is my favourite female singer and her latest release, Trouble, goes straight into her top ten for me. After delving deeply into electronica she has emerged with a new band and a new sound.

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Garth Hudson was the classically trained muso of The Band, giving gravitas to the group that arguably invented the Americana genre.

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I’m not always a fan of slavishly retro sounds but I can make an exception for the funky, murky psychedelia of Project Gemini – the musical vision of Paul Osborne.

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Skinshape is a new name to me but I’ve enjoyed discovering their mostly instrumental blend of atmospheric trip-hop with ’60s and ’70s funk, reggae, soul and psych-rock.

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