LOCKDOWN has tested so many people in so many different ways and we all have our stories to tell.  

For those of us who are performers, used to spending weeks on the road every year spreading the word to live audiences and doing our best to help those who need it, things have been really difficult and we have had to learn new ways to reach out — I know I have.  

Over the past year, some absolute heroes have emerged in the radical DIY music scene and, for me and so many others, head and shoulders above them all has been the inspirational Joe Solo.  

As the co-founder of the brilliant We Shall Overcome initiative he has helped raise tens of thousands of pounds for Pauline Town’s community outreach project based at the Station pub in Ashton-under-Lyne and, when lockdown hit, he and his comrades simply moved online and carried on the good work.

At the same time, Joe has chosen a different community fundraising group each week and, under the banner of Lockdown Solidarity, has raised loads more desperately needed funds for people in need all over the country with a combination of sponsored running — a mile a day before work —  merch sales and online live stream gigs.  

During lockdown he has recorded two brand new albums and all the proceeds from A Northern Soul, the first to be released in CD and digital formats, are going to it. What a statement.

The most incredible thing about all this is that he has done it while also holding down a full-time job, plus overtime, as a washing-machine engineer.

One of his most successful online fund-raising efforts during the last months was a rather surreal lecture about washing machine maintenance and washing powder tactics and my wife and I can vouch for his expertise — when he came down from Yorkshire to perform at my Glastonwick festival a couple of years ago he repaired our machine before going on stage.

His energy, commitment and selflessness is beyond description. And he is a fantastic songwriter, recording engineer and producer too.

A Northern Soul is overflowing with optimism, courage, defiance and belief in a better world and I can guarantee that it will warm the heart and lift the spirit of anyone feeling defeated and alone in these difficult times. The beautiful melody and stirring words on the title track “I’m a Northern soul and I’ll keep the faith” — certainly provided some Southern comfort to me here on the West Sussex coast.

Pick Up That Guitar has a stirring autobiographical element to it and it sends a simple message to all aspiring musicians — keep going, don’t let put-downs get to you, follow your chosen path.  I can very much relate to that one too. It’s another memorable tune, tunes are important, and Joe’s heart is full of them.

Very poignantly, the songs No Matter How Old (You’ll Always Die Young) and Never Over Till It’s Over, consciously or not, are I am sure a salute to a much-loved comrade known to many of us. Pivotal to the We Shall Overcome movement, he died before his time.  

Hugs and Handshakes, with backing vocals from bostin’ young Black Country singer-songwriter Jess Silk, looks forward to the days when we performers can once again get in front of live audiences and is another one I can relate to 100 per cent.

Stockton-on-Tees and Old Empire Island confront fascist ideas then and now, while Music Will Find a Way is, for me at least, a defiant statement on Tory Brexit and its destruction of the touring prospects for musicians of all kinds and The Revolution Will Come ends on a note of quiet reassurance. Never give in.

Rebekah Findlay provides some beautiful violin and as well as his trusty acoustic, Joe plays another guitar which sounds positively harp-like. The whole thing is an absolute tour de force. BUY IT from joesolomusic.bandcamp.com. It’s in a very good cause.

I’m writing this with a hangover. Brighton won at Anfield last night...