HERE COMES THE SONG

The Swedish sister act First Aid Kit made a joyful two-night return to London’s Royal Albert Hall this week, supported not only by their regular musicians but the backing band of their dreams. The 65-piece Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Erik Arvinder, lifted us higher than our perch in the rafters.

It’s Saturday night at the Ropetackle, an arts centre in Shoreham-by-Sea, and Graham Parker is telling us some salty old stories of his remarkable life. England are playing Spain at Wembley and, at about the same time that Harry Kane is putting England ahead, Parker launches into a tale about the song he is about to sing, Turned Up Too Late.

On hearing of Dolly Parton’s passing I would not have been alone in reaching beyond the tissues for one of the two albums she recorded with Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt, Trio and Trio II. The track I settled on was a storytelling classic she wrote herself, Wildflowers, our Song of the Week at herecomesthesong.com.

The name Jennifer has ‘muse’ written all over it. Just ask Kurt Weill, Little Richard, Tommy Tutone, Donovan. Better still, listen to Bert Sommer. His Jennifer was conceived during the Flower Power era, christened by the young woman who inspired it, and baptised in a sea of nearly half a million at his first live gig – Woodstock.

Forgive the self-indulgence and use of the ‘I’ word. But it is my website and I am allowed occasionally to blow my own trumpet, even if it is not a trumpet solo. My great friend, the singer-guitarist Ian Tasker, and I teamed up to produce an album on Bandcamp: his vocals, his guitar-playing and melodies built around my words. Welcome to Twilight Hotel whose title track is our Song of the Week at herecomesthesong.com.

Suzanne Vega has been touring the UK and Europe this summer so it’s a perfect time to revisit what for me is her finest album, 1987’s Solitude Standing. The record is probably best known for Tom’s Diner, featured in both full band and a cappella settings, but my favourite track is Ironbound/Fancy Poultry. The song, one of many dealing with animal welfare, is about a working-class area in New Jersey where Portuguese immigrants go to buy cheap food to help feed their struggling

For a song title it’s a bit of a tongue-twister: Pott County Call Return. Can you please repeat that? Our pleasure. We’ve had Samantha Crain’s single on repeat. Our Song of the Week at herecomesthesong.com is simply too engaging to ignore.

JJ Cale's River Runs Deep starts off with a jaunty rhythm that suggests we are in for a cheerful, possibly tongue-in-cheek ballad. It comes as something of a shock when we learn the track describes a man murdering a woman because of her alleged infidelity

We all remember that First Aid Kit moment, now it’s the turn of Tenille Townes. The Swedish sisters reduced Emmylou Harris to tears with their gorgeous song Emmylou, a tribute to their hero and an ode to the joy of singing with someone you love, when she received the Polar Music Prize in Stockholm in 2015. Harris may have to negotiate another lump in her throat whenever she hears the new offering from Canadian singer-songwriter Townes, Grey Like Emmylou, our Song of the Week

The track, which will feature on the Florida-based band’s forthcoming album Future Soul, is a collaborative creation: stellar guitarist Derek Trucks’ hypnotic hook, his wife Susan Tedeschi’s soulful vocal from the opening lines she penned ‘You had me at hello/ Poetry and the wine flowed’, and the lyrical contributions of vocalist Mike Mattison and keyboardist Gabe Dixon. Who Am I is our Song of the Week at herecomesthesong.com.

A song caught my ear on the car radio recently. The voice was familiar. The song floaty, ethereal. Barely two minutes long, Lord of the Reedy River was a balm on a day of constant cold rain and wind. It took me back to the late Sixties. The tranquil ballad was the first song on a long-forgotten album, Post Card by Mary Hopkin. The Welsh teenager was one of the first artists signed to the Beatles’ Apple label and Post Card was produced by Paul McCartney.

My favourite concert of 2025 featured the same artist as last year, Brandi Carlile. She and her band wowed London’s Drury Lane theatre in 2024. When she repeated the feat this year, I didn’t even have to leave the house. Her five-song performance at NPR’s Tiny Desk in Washington is proving a YouTube phenomenon, and her first offering, A War With Time, from latest album Returning To Myself, is our Song Of The Week at herecomesthesong.com.

Phil Shaw presents his favourite 10 songs of 2025, from Nadia Reid and Bon Iver to Van Morrison and CMAT

In With God On Our Side Dylan took a broader swipe at the mentality of those who seek to justify their brutal and criminal acts of warfare by invoking divine guidance. It is a remarkable composition, its nine verses taking us on a journey through a couple of centuries of US history.

The late Rob Steen’s many generous contributions to this website might never have happened if we had not agreed on the allure of an Eighties hit single, Mary’s Prayer, by a Scottish band who deserved greater recognition, Danny Wilson.

The wonder of Jenn Wasner’s voice can trick the listener into underplaying the emotional turmoil behind the lyrics. The Life You Save, her third album under the alias Flock Of Dimes, is her proudest solo work. Our Song Of The Week at herecomesthesong.com is the hypnotic Keep Me In The Dark, which she regards as perhaps her finest ever composition.

Topping a bill that also included, among others, The Faces, America, Mott The Hoople and Lindisfarne, The Who soon had the ground rocking. Moon closed the innings by battering his drums with a cricket bat during Magic Bus, and the band ended a glorious set with their trademark mass demolition of instruments.

The recent death of Danny Thompson, known best for his distinctive double-bass playing in the revered band Pentangle, struck a chord with many. Thompson founded the group but he played on records of a raft of artists, from Nick Drake and Kate Bush to Everything But The Girl, riding the wave of the Fifties’ skiffle revolution with a tea-chest bass he rebuilt himself before becoming a big player in the Soho folk and rock scene of the Sixties when he joined Alexis Korner’s Blues

Brave Awakening showcases both Terry Reid’s songwriting ability and his rich and soulful vocal range

The opportunity to honour two heroes with one song was too inviting to miss for jazz-blues artist Jon Batiste. The late Ray Charles first recorded Lonely Avenue in 1956 and it is covered by Batiste on his new album, Big Money, in the company of a living legend, Randy Newman. The wonderfully soulful duet is our Song Of The Week at herecomesthesong.com.