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Our latest posts
  • [ February 20, 2026 ] Something for the weekend: Toad the Wet Sprocket “California Wasted” Tracks
  • [ February 20, 2026 ] Live Review: Midlake + The Bretheren, Electric Ballroom, London – 6th February 2026 Live Reviews
  • [ February 20, 2026 ] Anniversary Cheers: Slim Dunlap’s “Every Little Word” is a reissue of his two solo albums 30 years on, with added extras Anniversary Cheers
  • [ February 20, 2026 ] Exclusive AUK Mini-Gig: BIRD AUK Mini-Gigs
  • [ February 20, 2026 ] Classic Clips: Chris Whitley “Big Sky Country” – Live At Les Nuis L’Emission, 29th February 1992 Classic Clips
HomeColumnsPolitical Pops

Political Pops

AUK’s Paul Villers has a weekly look at the news with an accompanying Americana song

Features

Pick of the Political Pops: Jack Greene “Statue of a Fool”

December 6, 2019 Paul Villers 0

Our Americana-UK election – a sort of microcosm of the country at large’s descent into folly – is going swimmingly and as the big day approaches we become more half-arsed about it by the minute…er…sorry that […]

Features

Pick of the Political Pops: Big Star “Don’t Lie To Me”

November 22, 2019 Paul Villers 0

  Mirroring the country at large our own election process is in full swing as you know and the position of Editorship is up for grabs. We have had the ballot papers printed – featuring just […]

Political Pops

Pick of the Political Pops: Tim McGraw “My Best Friend”

November 8, 2019 Paul Villers 0

As we pointed out last week (our regular reader will remember) The Editor – ever a man to reflect the zeitgeist – has determined that now is the time for the Americana-UK decennial election. For the […]

Features

Pick of the Political Pops: Billy Joel “We Didn’t Start The Fire”

November 1, 2019 Paul Villers 0

The Editor – a surly cove to some and a man of wealth and taste to others – has determined that it is time for the Great Americana-UK Towers Decennial Electionfest. Much, much, much more to […]

Political Pops

Pick of the Political Pops: Counting Crows “A Long December”

October 25, 2019 Mark Whitfield 1

If you’re the type of person for whom December is basically the unbearable run up to the 25th then you’ll be delighted to hear that added to that mix there might now be a general election. […]

Posts pagination

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our latest posts

Something for the weekend: Toad the Wet Sprocket “California Wasted”

Tracks
February 20, 2026 1

Live Review: Midlake + The Bretheren, Electric Ballroom, London – 6th February 2026

Live Reviews
February 20, 2026 0
Slim Dunlap at The Mad Riplle Hootenanny 27thNovember 2007

Anniversary Cheers: Slim Dunlap’s “Every Little Word” is a reissue of his two solo albums 30 years on, with added extras

Anniversary Cheers
February 20, 2026 0

Exclusive AUK Mini-Gig: BIRD

AUK Mini-Gigs
February 20, 2026 0
Chris Whitley from a 1990s benefit concert in New York City

Classic Clips: Chris Whitley “Big Sky Country” – Live At Les Nuis L’Emission, 29th February 1992

Classic Clips
February 20, 2026 1

  • Something for the weekend: Toad the Wet Sprocket “California Wasted”
  • Live Review: Midlake + The Bretheren, Electric Ballroom, London – 6th February 2026
  • Anniversary Cheers: Slim Dunlap’s “Every Little Word” is a reissue of his two solo albums 30 years on, with added extras
  • Exclusive AUK Mini-Gig: BIRD
  • Classic Clips: Chris Whitley “Big Sky Country” – Live At Les Nuis L’Emission, 29th February 1992
  • Rose’s Pawn Shop “American Seams”
  • Charley Crockett makes it a hat trick of albums in a year with “Age of the Ram”
  • The latest AUK podcast is available now featuring Katherine Priddy and Band of Heathens
  • Awolk “Into The Void” – sometimes the void looks back
  • Video: Tenderness “The Salt Flats” – living in the moment of gentle panic
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  • David Walker: "Slug Line" almost made it to my top ten, and IMO opinion it has qualities that are greater than some…
  • Peter Thompson: Hi Matt, Thanks for taking the time to comment. You make some good points and you make them well. I…
  • Matt: Peter, The songs are good, and I respect your opinion, but I really question first, your definition of "Americana" and…

Latest interviews

Interviews

Interview: Mean Mary answers six of one and half a dozen of the other

February 18, 2026 0

The banjo is a glorious instrument that can do a lot of ill in the wrong hands. It’s not easy to proudly, confidently pluck out some hot licks and really hard to play it with the […]

Behind the Songs

Behind the Songs: Polite Company “Please Go Wild”

February 17, 2026 0

Alan Gregg is a native Kiwi transplanted to North London with a spotty resumé to his credit. Not intending to be impolite, but prospective employers might be taken aback, curious as to what he has been […]

Interviews

Interview: Jim White on Trey Blake and the backstory of “Precious Bane”

February 12, 2026 2

If you’ve heard anything about Jim White, you’ve probably heard about the surfing, the modeling, the cab driving, and the unlikely way David Byrne changed his life with a record deal. You’ve heard about the junk […]

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Live Reviews

Live Review: Maya de Vitry + Joel Timmons, Green Note, London – 21st April 2024

April 25, 2024 0

An unusually cold April evening saw a good-sized crowd gathering at the Green Note on a Sunday evening to see the return of Maya De Vitry to North London. De Vitry, accompanied on guitars and backing […]

Features

Songs for the apocalypse: Bernard Fanning “Songbird”

June 4, 2020 1

16 years ago I returned to Sydney for a holiday, a place where I lived as a child for a short time, and was dismayed to find that all the artists I loved first time around […]

Album Reviews

Wesley Stace “Wesley Stace’s John Wesley Harding” (Yep Roc, 2017)

February 14, 2017 0

A dream combination – Stace backed by the Jayhawks. Novelist and compere par excellence, the former John Wesley Harding releases his twentieth record. This time around he’s enlisted the help of Minneapolis’s finest. Stace has always been […]

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