Alasdair Fotheringham

Classic Americana Album: Various Artists “This One’s For Him: A Tribute To Guy Clark”

January 22, 2020 Alasdair Fotheringham 0

Describing ‘This One’s For Him’ as a classic Americana album might seem surprising given it’s entirely made up of cover versions. Also, in no way does ‘This One’s For Him’ constitute a “breakthrough” moment in the […]

Alan Barnosky “Lonesome Road” (Independent, 2020)

January 21, 2020 Alasdair Fotheringham 0

Alan Barnosky’s sophomore EP ‘Lonesome Road’ sees the Michigan-born musician switch from a mainly single guitar and voice format in his debut album ‘Old Freight’ to a full-blown bluegrass album complete with a multi-member backing band. […]

Paul Kelly “Songs From The South 1985 – 2019” (Cooking Vinyl, 2019)

January 2, 2020 Alasdair Fotheringham 1

It’s a point of pride for Australians that they don’t beat around the bush. So when it comes to reviewing ‘Songs From the South 1985-2019’, by one of that country’s greatest modern-day singer-songwriters, you could maybe […]

Betsy Phillips “Like We’re Talking” (Independent, 2019)

December 4, 2019 Alasdair Fotheringham 0

In the 1970s cult science-fiction comedy novel ‘The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’, given the billions of planets floating around the universe, the description for Planet Earth is limited to two words: “mostly harmless”. And, regrettably, […]

Karen & The Sorrows “Guaranteed Broken Heart” (Ocean Born Mary Music, 2019)

November 6, 2019 Alasdair Fotheringham 0

One of the music industry’s most time-honoured clichés is that an artist’s third album represents a critical creative crossroads – even way back in the 1980s, Essex folk singer Billy Bragg wryly subtitled his immortal […]

Stamping on the passion: Why AI written PR is a bad thing for music

September 21, 2026 2

If a music writer opens ten press releases this month, they’ll spot something odd. They all sound like the same person wrote them. Not because the artists share a publicist, or because there’s a house style […]

Carla Gover and Friends “Williams Branch is Hard to Find”

September 21, 2026 0

A cycle of Appalachian folk songs from writer and activist Si Kahn, subtitled Songs for Strong Kentucky Women The subtitle for this album is “Si Kahn’s Songs for Strong Kentucky Women”. Si Kahn is one of […]

Ad for American Beauty album 5th December 1970

For the Sake of the Song: Grateful Dead “High Time”