Occasionally, our Editor Mark, here at AUK, sends out requests for writers to join the team. This is how I ended up writing this column; I answered a call to arms back in 2004. So what is the life of a writer for Americana UK, you ask? Well, essentially, it fits around everything else that happens in life. Job, parenting, caring for parents, etc, etc. And depending upon your role, there is plenty of scope for creativity and listening to a lot of music (not all of it very good).
I started with some live reviews and then graduated to album reviews. In those days, the postman delivered a lump of CDs once a month, and you had five albums to write up in the space of four weeks. I can’t imagine the logistical nightmare that Mark had to endure every month, sending these out. It became such a regular occurrence that on the day of my monthly delivery, I had to open the package in front of the postman, and we would discuss the artwork and, if any, our knowledge of any of the artists for a couple of moments. I occasionally miss those days. As your review count grows, you are then invited to contribute to the various features or even to edit a section of the site.
More recently, after serving a 15-year apprenticeship, I have been allowed to co-edit the news section of the site, which is a busy role that takes a bit of time as you have to sift through various PR missives, only some of which actually relate to the genre. Then you are editing these often gushing outpourings into a factual piece that will sit comfortably on the site with all the appropriate images in the right places. I have also now been allowed to create our Podcast, which is rolling along nicely.
To be fair, I’m so busy with my main roles that I have stopped reviewing albums or shows and even stopped writing features, but I was persuaded (it didn’t take much) to write an article as part of the Top Ten Americana Songs of All Time series. The article was published this week, but was at least three months in the cogitation and creation, and it was everything that writing for this site should be. It encouraged me to dive into my music collection for great periods as I searched to honestly answer the brief. My final list was the one that I would have gone to war for on the specific day I uploaded it, but it was, of course, out of date the moment you press publish. Every single writer has at some stage added a caveat to their choices that their list is fluid. And I think that’s the point, these things create conversation and investigation. What could be better than talking about music and listening to it? These articles do exactly that. Job done!
So what missed out on mine? Here are two that should have been there, perhaps. One could argue that this Dylan track should have been number one on everybody’s articles, as without it, the genre may not even exist. And the Stones track, perhaps, brought americana to the mainstream modern audience. Or perhaps not. The radio show is a feast of old and new, featuring Brown Horse, Danny George Wilson, amongst others, and a classic album from The Felice Brothers. As ever…
