A compendium of musical delights by Alan and Margaret Ashworth
WITH the release of her fourth album Voyageur in 2012, Kathleen Edwards was on a career high. It made the US top 40 and the Canadian singer-songwriter toured incessantly to capitalise on … Continue readingQuitters sometimes win
LAST week I wrote in glowing terms about the band 10,000 Maniacs and their album In My Tribe. A few hours after publication I was surprised and delighted when an email pinged into … Continue readingCooder’s Story: Part 3
I OFTEN wonder how many listeners were put off the music of the band 10,000 Maniacs by their name. Borrowed from a low-budget 1964 horror movie, Two Thousand Maniacs!, it conjures up … Continue readingManiacs on the loose
A FEW weeks ago I wrote a curfew-themed column on songs about house and home, and invited readers to supply their own selections. Thanks for the response. Here, as lockdown resumes, are … Continue readingYour Lockdown Songbook
A GUIDED tour of my record shelves will discover nestling between Ry Cooder and Elvis Costello a musician who, while hardly a household name, rightly belongs in such illustrious company. … Continue readingSuper Cooper
IN a previous column we left Captain Beefheart claiming all the credit for his 1969 double-album masterpiece Trout Mask Replica and insisting that his band’s contribution was negligible, much to their chagrin. A grudging … Continue readingWell-done Beefheart Part 2
WITH Field Marshal Johnson attempting to confine us all to barracks, I thought I’d take a break from musician profiles this week and provide a selection of songs about house … Continue readingHome thoughts . . . a lockdown songbook
WHILE his contributions to classic LPs by Jackson Browne, Linda Ronstadt, Terry Reid, Ry Cooder, Warren Zevon and many others would be enough to cement his reputation as one of … Continue readingMr Dave: Jackson Browne’s main man
CRIKEY! It’s getting on for a year since we left the Nick Lowe story with him at a loose end, his band Little Village having broken up at the end of 1992. … Continue readingLowe Life Part 3
THERE are certain musical acts which seem to have a special appeal to the male of the species. For example, I have only ever encountered one girl who liked King … Continue readingGroundhogs Days