HERE COMES THE SONG

It must be thrilling, if a little intimidating, to have a day named after you. Shakey Graves Day in Austin, Texas, honours one of the city’s favourite sons, and his latest single, When The Love Is New, could become one of its favourite songs. Our Song of the Week at herecomesthesong.com is a bluesy, rootsy earworm of a track whose release followed a weekend of sold-out, back-to-back hometown shows. Shakey Graves Day is never confined to 24 hours.

Midlake have been in mischievous mood, creating a cryptic album title to confuse the grammarians among us. Think of Far as a place, and the ‘to’ rather than ‘too’ makes sense. A Bridge To Far is a beautiful track, our final Song Of The Week of 2025 at herecomesthesong.com, and my favourite album of the year.

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