Americana
Chuck Prophet, Mid Sussex Music Hall, Hassocks review - the good AmericanTuesday, 04 March 2025Forty years ago, Chuck Prophet was the Keith Richards-like guitar hotshot in Green On Red, peers of R.E.M. and among the raw country-punk architects of what became Americana. Now he’s 61 and playing in a sold-out pub back-room in Hassocks, a... Read more... |
The Last Showgirl review - Pamela Anderson stars as a middle-aged Vegas dancerFriday, 28 February 2025![]() Shelly (Pamela Anderson) is a dancer. She’s been with Le Razzle Dazzle, an outdated Las Vegas show that’s full of “breasts, rhinestones and joy”, in her words, for 30 years. And now it’s closing. Where can she go, at the age of 57?The third feature... Read more... |
Mickalene Thomas, All About Love, Hayward Gallery review - all that glittersWednesday, 26 February 2025![]() On walking into Mikalene Thomas’s exhibition at the Hayward Gallery my first reaction was “get me out of here”. To someone brought up on the paired down, less-is-more aesthetic of minimalism her giant, rhinestone-encrusted portraits are like a kick... Read more... |
Album: Sam Fender - People WatchingThursday, 20 February 2025![]() While discourse on many topics grows toxic and polarised, it’s the voices who speak plainly about the reality of everyday lives that provide some sanity and make us feel heard. Enter Sam Fender, whose straight talking and pride of his working-class... Read more... |
Mrs President, Charing Cross Theatre review - Mary Todd Lincoln on her life aloneWednesday, 05 February 2025![]() The phenomenal global success of Six began when two young writers decided to give voices to the wives of a powerful man, bringing them out of their silent tombs and energising them and, by extension, doing the same for the women of today. Its... Read more... |
Album: Larkin Poe - BloomSaturday, 18 January 2025![]() The Lovell sisters Rebecca and Megan can be heard supporting Ringo Starr on his new album of country songs, while at the same time their seventh album hits the shelves, and with some heft and punch, too, on the raw strength of the scuzzy guitar-led... Read more... |
Albums of the Year 2024: Amelia Coburn - Between the Moon and the MilkmanFriday, 13 December 2024![]() I’ve known for some time that Ariel Sharratt & Matthias Kom’s Never Work is my Album of the Year. This lividly witty, no-filler take-down of workplace servitude arrived on vinyl in May. The creation of two Canadian indie-folkies (from The... Read more... |
Album: Lucinda Williams Sings The Beatles from Abbey RoadSaturday, 30 November 2024![]() When first I clicked on the stream for this album, I really wasn’t sure about it. In fact, I thought I wasn’t going to like it, much as I had wanted to. But I’ve had it playing almost continuously while I’ve been dealing with mindless stuff – and I’... Read more... |
Album: Silkroad Ensemble with Rhiannon Giddens - American RailroadThursday, 14 November 2024![]() Conceived in 1998 by the renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma to remind the world of the benefits of globalisation in bringing people together, Silkroad is a non-profit organisation with a mission to create “music that engages difference, sparking radical... Read more... |
Album: Dolly Parton & Family - Smoky Mountain DNA - Family, Faith & FablesWednesday, 13 November 2024![]() This is almost too much to bear. This sprawling 37-track collection begins with the sainted 78-year-old Dolly Parton providing a jaunty spoken narration of her family’s history in music and the church. It’s old-school Disney documentary in tone, but... Read more... |
Album: Garfunkel & Garfunkel: Father and SonFriday, 08 November 2024![]() A father and son union – the first joint collaboration by Garfunkel père et fils. Art Junior it seems has already released two solo albums, Wie Du and Evergreen, Simon & Garfunkel covers, both of which charted in Germany, from where the... Read more... |
Tucker Zimmerman, The Lexington, London review - undersung old-timer airs songwriting excellenceThursday, 07 November 2024![]() Tucker Zimmerman is singing a number called “Don’t Go Crazy (Go in Peace)”. At 83, he performs sitting down. Surrounded by support band Iji, who act as his pick-up, he approaches the song in a whispery, affable voice. At the start of his set he was... Read more... |
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