Freddie McKay emerged as a rocksteady singer in the late 1960s with Prince Buster and Coxsone Dodd, recording at the Studio One and Treasure Isle labels. (more…)

By the mid-Seventies you had to forage far and wide for rough-and-ready roots music in a music world dominated by prog dinosaurs and disco. (more…)

One is a young Norwegian singer-songwriter who makes minimalist electronic folk music. The other is a legendary Jamaican reggae producer in his mid-eighties. (more…)

A mash-up before mash-ups were invented, this finds the great/bonkers Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry, taking two classic reggae tunes, pulling them apart and putting them back together. (more…)

So very sad to hear of the death of Jamaican toaster U-Roy, aka Ewart Beckford, aka The Originator, aka Daddy U-Roy. One of the reggae greats.

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Bob Marley & The Wailers made their British TV debut when they appeared on the Old Grey Whistle Test in May 1973. (more…)

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Michael Prophet has an unusual “crying” voice that can be heard at its distinctive best on his first hit, a cover of a tune by The Maytones. (more…)