HERE COMES THE SONG

It is doubtful Donald Trump has a playlist, and even if he has the name James McMurtry is unlikely to feature. The Texan troubadour recorded

Observing Donald Trump over the past few years, I’ve found myself asking more than once, to quote the title of Marvin Gaye’s socio-political

The Seekers. The Beatles. Pet Shop Boys. U2. Longpigs. Each of these has, at some point over the last 40-odd years, been my favourite band…

Imagine a hall of fame for comic actors that neglected Groucho Marx or Charlie Chaplin. Or an academy for film directors which excluded…

Rubbish. A load of old trash. Garbage. These are words that always spring to my mind when I hear the opening tracks of Elton John’s Goodbye…

Has there ever been a better 10-track album than Stevie Wonder’s 1972 masterpiece Talking Book? A rhetorical question, as nobody will agree…

In April 1964 Nehemiah ‘Skip’ James was not a happy man. Holed up in the Tunica County Hospital in north-west Mississippi, ravaged by a…

I first clapped eyes on Rod Stewart in 1971. I first clapped ears on him later the same year, at my cousin Mike’s birthday party, held in…

I remember one of the first times I wrote an article for a newspaper – a story that I thought needed the benefit of my historical knowledge…

Ian, my good friend from school, was always a beat or two ahead of me – and everyone else – in his range of music. While we were dabbling…

A lot of young American female singer-songwriters are lumbered with the unwanted tag of ‘the new Joni Mitchell’. Phoebe Bridgers, a 23-year-

Nearly 4,000 miles separate a parking lot on the campus of Kent State University in north-eastern Ohio and the pavement outside the Market…

The song Hate Won’t Win was in direct response to the killing of the MP Jo Cox in 2016. The news broke on that Thursday just after she was…

Devotees of Paul Jones’s BBC Radio 2 show will have heard examples of the impressive work of the Liverpool-born singer-songwriter Raphael…

I’ve just finished re-reading David Hepworth’s evocative 1971: Never A Dull Moment, an homage to the year classic album followed classic…

Hands up – when Cyndi Lauper appeared on Top Of The Pops in 1984 for that iconic performance, it was er… fun, but she was just a Poundshop…

Don’t get me wrong, I loved The Eagles, and still do. But I am far from alone in having as soft a spot for Poco. Rusty Young's band were…

There are nooks in London, I must admit, I wish no more to see – places that evoke memories still too raw. And yet, on occasion, they can’t…

Otis Redding died 50 years ago on December 10. Blessed with an achingly soulful, high-voltage voice and force-of-nature stage presence, he…

The rain is battering against the windows, the sun is refusing to make the briefest of appearances in a pewter-grey sky, the short day will…