MIK SABIERS savours the first headline solo show of the stalwart of Brighton’s indie-punk outfit Blood Red Shoes
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Album reviews with Tony Burke
Latest releases from Dan Penn, Afel Bocoum and The Allman Betts Band
New releases reviewed by IAN SINCLAIR
STEVEN ANDREW is moved beyond words by a historical account of mining in Britain made from the words of the miners themselves
CAILEAN MCBRIDE welcomes a refreshing and timely study of the way officialdom creates structures that exclude LGBT+ rights and humanity
The bard mourns the loss of comrades and troubadours, and looks for consolation with Black Country Jess
CHRIS MOSS relishes the painting and the life story of a self-taught working-class artist from Warrington
MARY CONWAY is disappointed by a star-studded adaptation of Ibsen’s play that is devoid of believable humanity
Dan Penn
Living on Mercy
(The Last Music Co.)
★★★★
DAN PENN is a blue-eyed country-soul songwriting genius and, at the age of 79, this is his first solo album in 26 years, recorded in Muscle Shoals and Nashville.
Hailing from Vernon, Alabama, among the big hits he penned are James & Bobby Purify’s I’m Your Puppet, Aretha’s Do-Right Woman, Do-Right Man, James Carr’s Dark End of the Street, You Left the Water Running by Maurice & Mac, plus hits for Percy Sledge, Bobby Patterson, The Box Tops, Bobby Bland and Albert King.
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