Colin Randall writes: On first hearing of the Pitmen Poets' new album Re-union, experience told me to stand by for a rebuke from Bob Fox. Twenty-four years ago, when I made Fox's Dreams Never Leave You my Daily Telegraph folk... Read more →
Colin Randall writes: By very welcome coincidence, Andrew Curry's fascinating article on the role of music and humour in the story of coalmining appeared just before Ed Pickford posted at Facebook his song about the Durham miners' gala, a great... Read more →
Colin Randall writes: an anniversary worth noting is that of protracted miners' strike of the mid-1980s. For musical illustration, I have chosen Ed Pickford's lament for a vanishing trade, Farewell Johnny Miner, by Dick Gaughan, Blackleg Mining Man by Pitmen... 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 →
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 →
SCROLL DOWN FOR THE BBC FOLK AWARDS Well, you've had the substance of the Salut! Live interviews with Ed Pickford. He has turned out, much as expected, to be an absorbing, intelligent and thought-provoking subject and I am grateful for... Read more →
