So you think all record companies are backwards… Anyway, the company with the most antiquated catalog, Rhino, is jumping into Spotify in a big way. They asked me to do a playlist every week. Of course I’m getting paid, would you do it for free? But to use my ancestral language, it’s bupkes. It’s a […]

Please don’t dominate the rap JackIf you’ve got nothing new to say Either those lyrics are burned into your DNA or you’re clueless, there’s no middle ground. If I play you "New Speedway Boogie" you won’t say RIGHT, I remember hearing that on the radio… Either the closing track on side one of "Workingman’s Dead" […]

"A Little Bit Of Everything" It’s about that damn chicken wing. Records reveal themselves to you over time, you don’t digest them fully on the first play, you can get an insight listening even decades later. That’s the thrill of discovering a great new album, the way it reveals itself to you, like a new […]

I don’t believe in tribute albums. Too often populated with the work of second-rate artists or stars phoning it in, you’re better off listening to the originals. But what if you don’t know the originals? I’ve got seven John Martyn tracks in my iTunes library, I love "Head & Heart", but to say I’m familiar […]