The most extraordinary thing about this tune is the age of the man who made it. Marshall Allen, the sprightly old fellow you can see capering about in the video, celebrated his 100th birthday almost a year ago.

(more…)

The Jam gig I’ll always remember – along with the last one at the Rainbow in 1981 – is the time my mate filled in for drummer Rick Buckler at a gig.

(more…)

Justin Vernon has travelled far from his indie-folk roots since his debut album as Bon Iver almost singlehandedly invented the genre back in 2008.

(more…)

Horsegirl began life blending shoegaze and noise when they were teenage schoolgirls in Chicago. This is the opening song of their 2022 debut album. (more…)

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.

(more…)

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

(more…)

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

(more…)

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.

(more…)

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.

(more…)