You stop and give a homeless man a fiver. Does he: a). thank you kindly. b). appreciate it but ask if you could run to a tenner. c). say it’s way too little and anyhow he could have really done with it last month. Music venues have a similar dilemma over the Government’s £1.57bn support package for the Arts. Who wi...

One of the privileges of having a platform on which to write about music is the thrill of show and tell. New artistes can come seemingly out of nowhere and so amaze you with what they’ve got that you simply have to pass on the lead. A.A. Williams was pretty much unknown, only making her stage debut in April last ye...

According to CNN, the organisers of a Wisconsin music festival scheduled for July with the Trumpian title of the COVID Herd Immunity Fest has changed its name this week to the innocuous, though scarcely inoculated, July Mini Fest after a social media backlash. Back here in Blighty, while we can each enjoy safe, soc...

Next weekend would have marked a true cultural milestone; the 50th anniversary of the Glastonbury Festival. There might be no camping this year, other than in your own socially distanced back garden, but the BBC has come to the virtual rescue by hosting a number of classic sets across TV, radio and online. Among th...

Scarcely prolific in terms of recorded material, but invariably high on quality, Andrew Maxwell Morris has announced a new album, Save The Light, available now digitally with a vinyl release to follow soon. A criminal lawyer by day, Morris was born in Australia but for some years has settled in suburban Surrey, a m...

"Let’s move on." We’ve heard that a lot recently from the UK Government in relation to the travels and travails of one Dominic Cummings while the phrase can now even slip into to discussions about Covid-19 fatalities. Such pronouncements are sweeping only in deference to carpets but in a world where populism is rea...

In an attempt to impose some discipline on the writing process and get some new music out there more often than has been my wont, Friday seemed as good a day as not to begin; Friday 29 May in particular as it ties in with the release of a simply stupendous song, “Café Disco” – the first single from the forthcoming...

There may be no live final this year but there’s still a final eight. After three weeks of deliberation, the Glastonbury Emerging Talent judging panel has made its collective call which is great news for eight of my Round 1 colleagues who each have an act represented. And, of course, for the artistes themselves. Al...

Somewhat naively, I held out the hope that writing about music might eventually lead to paid work. Then, in this imaginary scenario, that a regular column might materialise, a screenplay or two and even a novel. Well, you have to start somewhere so here is an attempt at topical humour coupled with the opportunity t...

No social distancing here? Photo by Maja Smiejkowska

Perhaps inspired by the knowledge that this summer would have marked the festival’s 50th anniversary, over 6,300 acts entered this year’s Glastonbury Emerging Talent Competition. As we all know Glastonbury now has to miss its 2020 birthday party but the good news...