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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
Book Reviews

Paperback Riders: Kenneth Allsop “Hard Travellin'”

October 27, 2021 Gordon Sharpe 1
A wide-ranging account of the American hobo life by a rather forgotten man of English broadcasting. Kenneth Allsop died in 1973 and until now he has been nothing more than a dim memory in the head […]
Album Reviews

Ana Egge “Between Us”

October 5, 2021 Gordon Sharpe 0
Quality always shines but more can sometimes be less. Ana Egge was born in Estevan, Saskatchewan to parents who were teachers, farmers and sometime hippies. They lived in Ambrose, North Dakota, later moving to Silver City […]
A Night to Remember

A Night to Remember – Ryan Adams, The Bridgewater Hall, Manchester, 2006

October 5, 2021 Gordon Sharpe 12
Tonight the bottle let him down. It’s an obvious thing to say – but memory is a very funny thing. I had not just to think but also do some proper research to recall details of […]
Martin Carthy
News

Preview: Words and Music Festival – Nantwich South Cheshire, October 11th – 17th

September 28, 2021 Gordon Sharpe 0
As live music slowly finds its feet again it seems a good idea to give as many shout-outs as possible for upcoming events. On that basis we bring to your attention the ‘Words and Music Festival’, […]
Book Reviews

Paperback Riders: William Least Heat-Moon “Blue Highways”

September 23, 2021 Gordon Sharpe 2
An influential if at times flawed travelogue from the late 1970s. When I was about ten I went to see ‘Born Free’ with a friend. This involved walking from Thornhill down to Low Mill along the […]

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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 1

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 1
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
  • 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…
  • keith: Oh yes the whole album is great actually. If you want a deep dive, the best album for me is…

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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News

Charley Crockett makes it a hat trick of albums in a year with “Age of the Ram”

February 20, 2026 0
Charley Crockett has announced the release of Age Of The Ram, which will come out on April 3rd and marks his third album in a year and his third full-length LP with GRAMMY® Award-winning co-producer Shooter […]
News

Another one bites the dust… Cambridge Folk Festival postponed for a year

January 22, 2025 0
The Cambridge Folk Festival has announced the cancellation of this year’s festival with a headline statement stating that the festival would return in 2026. Simply stating “ the four-day folk and roots music festival hosted annually on […]
Tracks

The OK Factor “Love Song For Lucy” – she’s a dog

September 28, 2022 0
We are breaking one of the unwritten rules of the site here – no songs about your lovely kid, no songs about your great dog.  Two topics that seem to be able to bring the unbearably […]

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