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Our latest posts
  • [ September 21, 2026 ] Stamping on the passion: Why AI written PR is a bad thing for music Features
  • [ September 21, 2026 ] Carla Gover and Friends “Williams Branch is Hard to Find” Album Reviews
  • [ September 21, 2026 ] For the Sake of the Song: Grateful Dead “High Time” Features
  • [ September 21, 2026 ] Genre changing Buena Vista Social Club album 30th Anniversary Edition out now Previews
  • [ September 21, 2026 ] Paper Verses “Windstill” Album Reviews
HomeAuthorsGordon Sharpe

Articles by Gordon Sharpe

About Gordon Sharpe
Retired music fan longing to get back to the Lakes and hoping to visit Scotland before much longer - somehow South Cheshire just doesn't cut it. Still seeking the grail in terms of a convincing description of what Americana really is but really enjoying the search. And still wondering when Kenny Rogers will get his just deserts
Album Reviews

Suitcase Sam “Goodnight Riverdale Park”

May 10, 2021 Gordon Sharpe 0
Stylised debut album with signs of promise. Suitcase Sam, also known as Leon Stanislaus Czologosz was born as far as I can gather, in California, where his father was a railroad engineer (is that what we call […]
Book Reviews

Book Review – Loren Glass “Tapestry”

April 30, 2021 Gordon Sharpe 0
Concise readable overview of a classic ’70s album. The Bloomsbury 331/3 series has produced another in its 150 plus catalogue of volumes about specific albums. The next in line is Carole King’s, ‘Tapestry’, described as, ‘An anthemic […]
Piers Faccini album cover Shapes of the Fall
Album Reviews

Piers Faccini “Shapes of the Fall”

April 26, 2021 Gordon Sharpe 0
Well crafted intimate and evocative music. It feels like this reviewer has been living on the edge recently – the edge that is of whatever genre definitions might normally apply. There has been a succession of […]
A Night to Remember

A Night to Remember: The Grateful Dead, Alexandra Palace 1974

April 13, 2021 Gordon Sharpe 14
Country boy hits the city – the city hits country boy, who is Grateful he isn’t Dead. I’ve always been of the, perhaps lazy, view that experiences are best seen as an undifferentiated stew, the details […]
Book Reviews

Paperback Riders: James Agee “Now Let Us Praise Famous Men”

March 30, 2021 Gordon Sharpe 2
A Convoluted Wordy Tale of Hard Times – But is it a Classic? Paper Back Riders is a new occasional series intended to highlight books that are considered a fundamental backdrop to Americana Music.  There won’t […]

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our latest posts

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

Features
September 21, 2026 2

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

Album Reviews
September 21, 2026 0
Ad for American Beauty album 5th December 1970

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

Features
September 21, 2026 0

Genre changing Buena Vista Social Club album 30th Anniversary Edition out now

Previews
September 21, 2026 0
Album art for Paper Verses Windstill

Paper Verses “Windstill”

Album Reviews
September 21, 2026 0
Features

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 […]
Album Reviews

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
Features

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

September 21, 2026 0
“You told me goodbye, how was I to know/You didn’t mean goodbye, you meant please don’t let me go?” Well. It’s the age of nostalgia, so it feels just about right to reminisce about an old […]

  • Stamping on the passion: Why AI written PR is a bad thing for music
  • Carla Gover and Friends “Williams Branch is Hard to Find”
  • For the Sake of the Song: Grateful Dead “High Time”
  • Genre changing Buena Vista Social Club album 30th Anniversary Edition out now
  • Paper Verses “Windstill”
  • Sounds from beyond the Shed 245 “Stop….thief…”
  • Brown Wimpenny “Shady Grove” – chugs like a fast train
  • Video: Ethan Setiawan & Fine Ground “Ships at Sea” – wonderfully-warm and woozy
  • Something for the weekend: Teenage Fanclub “Be With You Tonight”
  • Benjamin Tod “Country is Dead”
Billy Bragg Bob Dylan Bruce Springsteen Chuck Prophet Courtney Marie Andrews Dean Owens Drive By Truckers Emmylou Harris Jason Isbell Johnny Cash John Prine Lucinda Williams Margo Price Neil Young Peter Bruntnell Robert Vincent Ryan Adams Steve Earle Sturgill Simpson The Band The Byrds The Delines Tom Petty Wilco Willie Nelson
  • Jonathan Smith: Bravo! Thoughtful and smart piece of writing, on a subject that matters. Thanks, Tim
  • keith hargreaves: Great article Tim
  • Patrick Hurley: A most unexpected list to kick things off with. It seems only reasonable to repeat here a definition I’ve come…

Latest interviews

Behind the Songs

Behind the Songs: Maya de Vitry – “All My Faith”

September 15, 2026 0
Behind the Songs: Maya de Vitry – “All My Faith”If you arrive at All My Faith looking for something that sounds like Gillian Welch, you might find your thirst briefly satiated by No Time to Rush, the final […]
Interviews

Interview: Adam Chaffins on what is great about flea markets, dive bars and trailer trash

August 28, 2026 1
As one of the most resourceful songwriters in americana, Adam Chaffins welcomes you to the latest from his wacky, witty world in Trailer Trash: Doublewide (Spirit Nashville Recordings, 2026), a collection of narratives about schemers, dive […]
Interviews

Video Interview: Richard Olson of the Hanging Stars and Tim Prottey-Johns of the First Time Flyers on the Long Road Festival

August 26, 2026 0
Why musicians love the Long Road Festival. In preparation for Americana UK’s David Jarman‘s preview of the Long Road Festival, he interviewed Richard Olson of the Hanging Stars and Tim Prottey-Jones of the First Time Flyers. […]

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Interviews

Interview: Heartless Bastards’ Erika Wennerstrom explains why she isn’t

September 15, 2021 0
Despite rumours to the contrary, protest music is alive and well thanks to Erika Wennerstrom and the Heartless Bastards. Heartless Bastards founder, lead vocalist and songwriter Erika Wennerstrom proves herself to be anything but when she […]
A Night to Remember

A Night to Remember: We’re seeing who?!

May 18, 2021 3
A night to remember? We sure do like to set ourselves a challenge – and part of that is to avoid some gauche “bragging rights” list. Honestly, it’s the gigs I could have made but missed […]
Artwork for Oka Vanga "Oka Vanga"
Album Reviews

Oka Vanga “Oka Vanga”

April 1, 2021 0
Refreshingly bright and wholesome. South-African born Angie Meyer and Londoner Will Cox, the duo known as Oka Vanga, released their debut album back in 2014. This self-titled album is the third album from the pair. With […]

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