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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

Rodney Rice “Same Shirt, Different Day” (Moody Springs Music 2020)

November 3, 2020 Gordon Sharpe 0
You’ve just got to look at the cover of this CD to realise that Rodney Rice is a man with a sense of humour, ‘SAME SHIrT DIFFERENT DAY‘,  indeed.  It’s been said that Rice wears his […]
Features

10 songs about truckers and trucking – Part 2

October 27, 2020 Gordon Sharpe 6
So many good things were left out of the recent first offering that here’s a second helping of songs about truckers and trucking, including two very different takes on the same track, some thoughts about female […]
Album Reviews

Josie Bello “Have Purpose Live Long” (Independent, 2020)

October 20, 2020 Gordon Sharpe 5
Josie Bello is a multi-instrumentalist singer/songwriter born and raised in New York City and now residing on Long Island. ‘Have Purpose Live Long’, is her second album, the first, ‘Can’t Go Home’, having been released in […]
Features

10 songs about truckers and trucking – Part One

October 19, 2020 Gordon Sharpe 11
Here are 10 songs about truckers and trucking, hopefully without a dodgy bro-country reference in sight.  The myth of the road is part of American folklore but here in the UK and especially here in Cheshire […]
AmericanA to Z

Americana A – Z: Chris Whitley

October 1, 2020 Gordon Sharpe 0
Chris Whitley’s itinerant childhood in the southern states seemed to be reflected in his restless musical output, a determined musical quest that often meant the last album was not necessarily a guide to the next and […]

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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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Classic Clips

Classic Clips: Diana Jones “Henry Russell’s Last Words” – BBC Four Songwriters Circle, Bush Hall, London, 2012

November 28, 2025 2
If asked to name americana artists who most faithfully carry the spirit of the roots of the genre in their original songwriting, Diana Jones will always be in the forefront of my mind, along with Gillian […]
Album Reviews

Mamma’s Marmalade “Fakin’ It: Covers Deserving Coverage”

September 7, 2022 0
Giving some old songs a new, genuine, bluegrass identity. Whatever the occupation, but particularly anything creative, a period of reflection and taking stock can be very beneficial. Whether that bright light of innovation has dimmed or […]
Videos

Video: Jerry Leger “Canvas Of Gold”

September 19, 2019 0
Jerry Leger’s new album ‘Time For Tomorrow‘ is out on November 8th.  This is the first single from it and it’s a great song.  Interesting video to go with it too.

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