As 'Jake', John Clark was an inspired member of the little team that made Salut! Sunderland a half-decent site for fans of Sunderland AFC, also respected by many supporters of other football clubs. At the end of 2019, repeated technical... Read more →
Rolling Stone magazine, as I read online yesterday, places Sandy Denny 164th in its list of 200 “greatest singers of all time”. If that seems insultingly low, as it initially did to me though it was hardly any surprise, imagine... Read more →
Just when I thought I had one solution to the failure of my attempts to showcase Ed Pickford's noble anthem in appreciations of ordinary people, The Workers’ Song, as sung by the Pitmen Poets, a much better one popped along.... Read more →
Salut! Live wishes as a happy Christmas and prosperous a new year as our masters will allow. It's been a strange year for this site, exhilaration at some astonishing statistics recording many hundreds and sometimes even thousands of daily visitors... Read more →
December 2022 update: thoughts of reviving this post from my Cover Story series, this instalment comparing different versions of the heartwarming song of farewell, The Parting Glass, came to mind as I joined relatives, friends and acquaintances at the funeral... Read more →
I do not always nominate a best-of- year album or other piece of work. This year, I feel bound to do so. I have heard nothing better all year than the Pitmen Poets' rousing and timely rendering of one of... Read more →
In praise of Linda Thompson. It'll take just a little while to get there unless you scroll down ... One of the perks of working for the arts desks of the bigger newspapers was, in happier times for journalism, the... Read more →
Colin Randall writes: into my e-mail inbox popped a seasonal offering from the Albion Band, one of the most important evolving musical projects from decades of British folk and folk-rock. I am not the world's greatest fan of Christmas songs,... Read more →
