Americana UK

  • News
  • Reviews
    • Album Reviews
    • Live Reviews
    • Book Reviews
  • Features
    • Archive
      • Americana Bedrock
      • Americana Roots
      • AmericanA to Z
      • A Night to Remember
      • Dirty Dozens
      • Home Life
      • I Write the Songs
      • Lost Albums
      • Political Pops
      • Shuffle
      • Small Venue Heroes
      • Studio Life
      • The Other Side of Me
      • The Twang Factor
      • Top 10 Americana Albums Ever
      • Top 10 Americana Albums of the 21st Century
      • Top 10 Greatest Ever Americana Artists
      • Unsung Heroes
      • Van Life
      • Whatever Happened To…
      • What Should I Do…
      • WITATA
    • Anniversary Cheers
    • AUK Mini-Gigs
    • Can’t Live with it, Can’t Live without it
    • Classic Americana Albums
    • Classic Clips
    • Essentials
    • Fiction
    • For The Sake Of The Song
    • More People Really Should Know About
    • Obituaries
    • Top 10 Americana Songs of All Time
    • VERSIONS
  • Interviews
  • Videos
  • Tracks
  • Columns
    • Sounds from the Shed
    • Vox Continental
  • Podcast
  • Forum
  • Info
    • Contact Us!
    • Review submission FAQ
    • Support Americana UK
    • Want to write for Americana UK?
    • Daily Digest Sign-Up
    • Advertise on Americana UK
    • Privacy Policy
Our latest posts
  • [ June 12, 2026 ] Something for the weekend: Starpainter “I Found a River” Videos
  • [ June 12, 2026 ] Kris Drever “Doing This For Love” Album Reviews
  • [ June 12, 2026 ] Classic Clips: Jesse Colin Young “Darkness Darkness” – All Star Jam, Capitol Theatre, Passaic, New Jersey, 1984 Classic Clips
  • [ June 12, 2026 ] Kiefer Sutherland “Grey” Album Reviews
  • [ June 12, 2026 ] Live Review: Aldous Harding + Vera Ellen, The Barbican, London – 31st May 2026 Live Reviews
HomeAuthorsMartin Johnson

Articles by Martin Johnson

About Martin Johnson
I've been a music obsessive for more years than I care to admit to. Part of my enjoyment from music comes from discovering new sounds and artists while continuing to explore the roots of American 20th century music that has impacted the whole of world culture.
Features

For The Sake Of The Song: Bob Frank “Red Neck, Blue Collar”

April 22, 2024 Martin Johnson 0
Memphis legend Jim Dickinson called Bob Frank “The greatest songwriter you never heard”, having known him from the early ‘60s Memphis music scene. While Bob Frank styled himself as a folk musician he wrote his own […]
Features

The Song Remains: Richard “Dickey” Betts (1943-2024)

April 22, 2024 Martin Johnson 2
Innovative guitar player for one of history’s iconic bands. As of 18th April 2024, when Forest Richard Betts died at home in Sarasota, Florida, of cancer and COPD, Jai Johnny Johnson AKA “Jaimoe” became the last […]
Album Reviews

Sin City “Another Round”

April 17, 2024 Martin Johnson 0
Pub rock from Down Under for the 21st Century. Sin City are new to Americana UK, but not to Australian and New Zealand roots music audiences. They were formed by New Zealanders Nick Armstrong and Jack […]
Interviews

Interview: Wesley Stace AKA John Wesley Harding on touring the UK after a 15-year absence

April 16, 2024 Martin Johnson 1
A continuum of songs, novels, opera and variety shows. There was a time in the ‘80s when Demon Records seemed to be a beacon for good music in the UK with its reissues and new releases […]
Album Reviews

Various Artists: “The Power of the Heart: A Tribute to Lou Reed”

April 5, 2024 Martin Johnson 0
A career spanning tribute by artists spanning various musical genres. Tribute albums are as old as long-playing records themselves, and as you can imagine, their quality has been extremely variable over the decades. The best ones […]

Posts pagination

« 1 … 20 21 22 … 99 »

Recent Forum Posts

  • RE: What are you listening to at the moment?

    Ryan Adams - The Suicide Handbook (vinyl)

    By Peter Thompson , 20 hours ago

  • RE: What are you listening to at the moment?

    Mudcrutch - Mudcrutch (vinyl)

    By Peter Thompson , 5 days ago

  • RE: There's no future in nostalgia

    Stonehenge was a fucking mess every time but it was a b...

    By Keith Hargreaves , 5 days ago

  • RE: What are you listening to at the moment?

    Great shout John I’m new here -Gil Scott Heron wh...

    By Keith Hargreaves , 5 days ago

  • RE: What are you listening to at the moment?

    Neil Young - Citizen Kane Jr

    By John , 6 days ago

  • RE: What are you listening to at the moment?

    Clarence White would have been 82 today. A little remin...

    By Martin Johnson , 1 week ago

  • RE: What are you listening to at the moment?

    Ryan Bingham and The Texas Gentlemen - The Call Us The ...

    By Peter Thompson , 2 weeks ago

  • RE: What are you listening to at the moment?

    The Highwomen - Live at The Gorge 2023 (streaming - Qob...

    By Peter Thompson , 2 weeks ago

  • RE: There's no future in nostalgia

    By Jeff , 2 weeks ago

our latest posts

Something for the weekend: Starpainter “I Found a River”

Videos
June 12, 2026 0
artwork for Kris Drever album "Doing This For Love"

Kris Drever “Doing This For Love”

Album Reviews
June 12, 2026 2
Cover art for Jesse Colin Young album "Light Shine"

Classic Clips: Jesse Colin Young “Darkness Darkness” – All Star Jam, Capitol Theatre, Passaic, New Jersey, 1984

Classic Clips
June 12, 2026 0
Cover art for Kiefer Sutherland album Grey

Kiefer Sutherland “Grey”

Album Reviews
June 12, 2026 0

Live Review: Aldous Harding + Vera Ellen, The Barbican, London – 31st May 2026

Live Reviews
June 12, 2026 0
Videos

Something for the weekend: Starpainter “I Found a River”

June 12, 2026 0
Well that’s it from us for this week and we leave you dear reader with a new video for a new song by Alberta-based sextet Starpainter which YES I KNOW we ran last week, but Jon […]
artwork for Kris Drever album "Doing This For Love"
Album Reviews

Kris Drever “Doing This For Love”

June 12, 2026 2
Meditations on the unglamorous, but with melodic hooks, from Scottish folk-award winner Anyone coming to this album for their first experience of Kris Drever may well be expecting something fairly traditional in light of his many […]
Cover art for Jesse Colin Young album "Light Shine"
Classic Clips

Classic Clips: Jesse Colin Young “Darkness Darkness” – All Star Jam, Capitol Theatre, Passaic, New Jersey, 1984

June 12, 2026 0
Jesse Colin Young passed away just over a year ago, on the 16th of March, at the age of eighty-three. Born Perry Miller and raised in Queens, New York, to musical parents, Young initially found fame […]

  • Something for the weekend: Starpainter “I Found a River”
  • Kris Drever “Doing This For Love”
  • Classic Clips: Jesse Colin Young “Darkness Darkness” – All Star Jam, Capitol Theatre, Passaic, New Jersey, 1984
  • Kiefer Sutherland “Grey”
  • Live Review: Aldous Harding + Vera Ellen, The Barbican, London – 31st May 2026
  • The latest AUK Podcast now available featuring Fruit Bats’ Eric B Johnson
  • The Joel Affair “Honest Opinion” – thank you Jeff Tweedy
  • Video: The Hanging Stars “Let It Slide” – you sold all my clothes for a cheap night out
  • Essentials: The Top 10 Americana Tribute Albums
  • Book Review: Paul Slade “Blood On The Leaves”
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
  • Martin Johnson: My pleasure, Jeremy. Given his ability to transform the sessions he plays on, and the rich nature of his own…
  • Peter Thompson: Many thanks to all who have commented, I think the best thing about the Essentials series is the way it…
  • DavyT: Has no one heard Aliens on Motorcycles? I love it and quite recent. <5 years. Theyre still going and producing.…

Latest interviews

Interviews

Interview: Dirk Powell on “Wake” and bridging modern and age-old roots music

June 11, 2026 2
Dirk Powell is a special kind of musician, someone who, through family connections, knows and understands both Appalachia and Cajun music, and is at the same time comfortable with modern music technology. He has won four […]
Interviews

Interview: Ma Polaine’s Great Decline is thriving

June 10, 2026 0
With influences in blues, jazz and country, Ma Polaine’s Great Decline is actually thriving on their fifth album, Monster Swan (2025). Based in Somerset, England, Beth Packer’s distinctive, emotive vocals, coupled with her evocative lyrics, create […]
Interviews

Interview: Greg Loftus – As both musician and carpenter, he would like to knock on wood

June 5, 2026 1
Greg Loftus comes from the town of Bourne, not far from the bridge that connects Massachusetts to Cape Cod. It is there that he practices woodworking, operates a club in nearby Falmouth and makes rock music […]

You may have missed…

Live Reviews

Birds of Chicago, Stables Stage 2, Wavendon, 15th May 2018

May 18, 2018 0
The road works and long diversions conspiracy almost robbed us of the chance, but in the end tickets were grabbed from the ticket office, and a rapid relocation to Stage 2 enabled entry just as Birds […]
Album Reviews

Jimmy Fretwell “Analog Dream”

February 5, 2026 0
Acoustic intimacy draws on thirty years of songwriting rooted in the deep south. Jimmy Fretwell, formerly Jef Fretwell, grew up in Georgia and spent a decade criss-crossing the American south, frequenting bars and backrooms, coffee houses […]
Tracks

Mary Gauthier “Dark Enough To See The Stars” – gaining clarity from grief

May 16, 2022 0
The singles really are coming thick and fast from Mary Gauthier’s upcoming album ‘Dark Enough To See The Stars‘, which is released on June 3rd.  Not that we’re complaining – we love Mary Gauthier so really […]

© Americana UK 2026, a website based in the People's Republic of Liverpool