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Sunday Times – July 10, 2011
 
Almost exactly nine years ago I was sitting on a bench in Washington Square Park in downtown New York, talking to Justin Townes Earle. He was a troubled young man who made music of searing honesty – the vital component of the hybrid of blues, country and folk that he sang and played.

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Public Enemy add their voice to the US election campaign with a powerful anti-Trump anthem from their new album What You Gonna Do When The Grid Goes Down?

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Like many others, my lockdown has been joyfully soundtracked (should that be teletracked?) by Schitt’s Creek. (more…)

I see Neil Simon has died. I must say I had assumed he died decades ago but by coincidence last week I watched Murder By Death, a spoof whodunnit with an all-star cast.

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And now for something completely different. Straight outta Crown Heights, Brooklyn, here comes Matt Miller – aka Matisyahu – the only Orthodox Jew in reggae. (more…)

Anniversary rock festival puts money before love by TIM COOPER

A ROCK festival without drink and drugs? It sounds as unthinkable as Royal Ascot without the hats. But today, 25 years after the first and most famous celebration of sex and drugs and rock and roll, Woodstock ’94 will go down in history as the first puritan rock festival.

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Revolution on the streets never sounded sweeter than when The Twinkle Brothers lent their smooth harmonies to a song about Mob Fury. (more…)

Wayne Smith’s landmark ragga anthem Under Me Sleng Teng in 1985 marked the move away from conscious reggae into digital dancehall music in Jamaica. (more…)

A mellow tune for a sunny afternoon by Don Carlos, original lead singer of Black Uhuru, the trio he formed in 1973 with friends Rudolph Dennis and Duckie Simpson.

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