Columns
Sounds from beyond the Shed 195 “Tears”
I’ve noticed that I’m crying more, or at least shedding a few more tears. I’ve always been fairly in touch with my emotions, but in the last few years, I have definitely been prone to the […]
Natalie Merchant
Features
Let’s Unpack The Haul… Once More…
Another dull day another chance to re-run the trope of showing off the shiny bangles that one has purchased as we make an almost analogue model of the YouTube influencer video. Here, though, the sales pitch […]
AUK's Chain Gang
AUK’s Chain Gang: Christy Moore “Motherland”
This week we go from Peter Churchill’s choice of Carter Sampson’s ‘Holy Mother’ to another song with a maternal reference written by Natalie Merchant in 2001. ‘Motherland’ was recorded by Merchant a few days before 11 […]
Columns
Sounds from beyond the Shed – Week 89
Soft skills for an employable, healthy future This last week has seen the school return (at last) to showcasing its musicians in a formal free-to-enter concert and this time the music was interspersed with dramatic pieces […]
Classic Americana Albums
Classic Americana Albums: Billy Bragg and Wilco “Mermaid Avenue”
Prior to the release of ‘Mermaid Avenue’ in 1998, for many people, the name of Woody Guthrie invoked images of a free-spirited, freight train hopping, American troubadour armed only with an acoustic guitar, who wrote political […]