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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
HomeFeaturesI Write the Songs

I Write the Songs

Features

I Write the Songs – Pat Alger

September 27, 2022 Rick Bayles 0

Pat Alger is one of those quiet, unassuming songwriters that many will never have heard of; but if you’re a fan of americana music you can’t have failed to have heard his songs. Other considerations aside, […]

Features

I Write the Songs – Matraca Berg

August 26, 2022 Rick Bayles 0

It’s one of the unwritten rules of the music business that you have to have looks as well as talent if you’re going to be a success as a performer. It’s a sad reflection of the […]

Features

I Write The Songs – Paul Craft

July 25, 2022 Rick Bayles 2

Paul Craft is one of those writers whose name is not widely recognised. In fact, he was not a particularly prolific songwriter, but he wrote a number of songs that have been extensively covered and his […]

Features

I Write The Songs: Jimmy Webb

June 24, 2022 Rick Bayles 2

How could we have a series about songwriters and not include the outstanding Jimmy Webb! Of course, Webb’s songwriting isn’t focused on Americana, per se. He has written for a host of artists that have nothing […]

Features

I Write The Songs: Gretchen Peters

May 27, 2022 Rick Bayles 0

After a string of songwriters who made their names in the early days of country and what we now consider to be Americana, I wanted to turn our attention to a songwriter who is still very […]

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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  • Debbie: Well said! Loved Living With The Law when it came out and think it is a masterpiece. I have played…
  • Jay: Linda Ronstadt was the 1970s Queen of Rock.
  • Jonathan Hincks: Good call Mark. Added to my California playlist, in close proximity to California Sober (Billy Strings/Willie Nelson, or Post Malone/Chris…

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 […]

You may have missed…

Tracks

Something for the weekend: Fountains of Wayne “Valley Winter Song”

April 1, 2022 0

Well that’s it from us for another week dear reader. Today is the second anniversary of the passing of the Fountains of Wayne’s Adam Schlesinger, one of the first musicians whose life was taken by Covid. […]

Videos

Video Premiere: Lazer Lloyd “Tomorrow Never Comes”

April 27, 2020 0

Here is the characterful voice of Lazer Lloyd, sharing wise words about the needs to simplify our lives.  The video shows Lloyd recording the final take in the studio and it’s a chance to see a […]

Album Reviews

Toby Goodshank “Truth Jump Fall”

January 17, 2022 0

Ex-Moldy Peach rereleases tenth anniversary re-master of this Antifolk classic. Toby Goodshank, formerly of The Moldy Peaches, a stalwart of the New York Antifolk scene, became something of a one man music factory during the period […]

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