Cover Story: (12) Dirty Old Town. Pogues, Dubliners or Ian Campbell Folk Group for Ewan MacColl's song?

It is hard to believe (as I update this introduction in 2021) that more than 70 years have passed since Ewan MacColl wrote his second best known song, Dirty Old Town. MacColl composed compellingly on many subjects, from the challenges... Read more →


'Can I please be Linda Thompson?' Rachel Unthank's dream

What a heroine and what a tribute. Moonlighting from her band, Rachel Unthank joined another North-eastern artist, Paul Smith, for a short tour, which our Andrew Curry caught at the Bush Theatre in London. The heroine? Linda Thompson, once famously... Read more →


Elephants in the room. Leon Rosselson’s life of song and protest

Here's one for the media studies class. How do you get a complimentary piece about a radical leftwing enemy of the capitalist system into a newspaper nicknamed the house journal of the Conservative party? Do you damn with faint praise,... Read more →


Hammersmith bound: T with the Maggies, four astonishing female Irish talents

On St Patrick’s night, I was privileged to be present (as Gerry Logue's guest) at an excellent and enthusiastically received performance by Three Men and a Dog at the Irish Cultural Centre in Hammersmith, west London. There is more on... Read more →


Celtic Connections: the curtain comes down with Bonny Light Horseman and dreams of Elvis

Salut! Live is immensely grateful to Andrew Curry for his series of outstanding reports from the Celtic Connections festival in Glasgow. See all instalments by clicking that link. It has clearly been a tremendous event and Andrew has found some... Read more →


Celtic Connections: young blood and lesser-spotted folk talent

For the fourth part in his superb series looking back at the Celtic Connections festival in Glasgow, Andrew Curry considers the important role played by performers whose names and music may be less familiar than the event's headliners …. Herkja:... Read more →