2025 Album Review Journey

Albums inspiring the writing bug in 2025.


































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Gig Review: Merry Hell - Katie Fitzgerald's, Stourbridge. Sunday 17th December 2023

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www.merryhell.co.uk From the cotton mills of Wigan to the glassworks of Stourbridge, Merry Hell cherish a distinguished English heritage wrapped in a progressive blanket of unity, while expunging differences at every opportune moment. Blending a fiery fervour with wry humour, this seven-piece band deliver an amenable basket of relatable folk-rock inviting people of all persuasions to join the affray. The key to the appeal is that no previous experience is required to bask in their crafted humility. Accessible lyrics are heartily sung from the floor with minimal instruction and being part of a crusade for justice is an immediate fix. All was in place as they closed a gig year in several quarters with a debut Stourbridge performance that raised the roof of Katie Fitzgerald's cellar venue. For many years my hometown of Stourbridge has been been the departing point for a gig journey, but far too infrequently the destination. Shows that pierce the core of a musical odyssey crop up from ...
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Festival Review: The Long Road - Stanford Hall, Leicestershire. Friday 22nd August to Sunday 24th August 2025

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  The sixth staging of The Long Road Festival had an instant different feel to the previous five. Firstly, the main stage known as the Rhinestone was expanded to host acts on the Friday evening, a timely move to align with other events of a similar size. Secondly, the whole lifestyle aspect seemed on another level with an apparent expansion of live-in vehicles leading to a re-organisation of the parking situation for day visitors. Thirdly, there was a pre-festival consensus that the Americana music offering was considerably lighter than the immense levels of previous years. The last point is purely subjective and within the boundaries of the beholder. If you subscribe to a view that Americana is an all-encompassing indescribable concept offering solace to music that doesn’t quite fit then 2025 was teeming with artists trawled by an event with a mission of inclusivity.   The Long Road can be whatever you want it to be, and is a safe and welcoming place. Finding plenty of engagi...
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Gig Review: Maverick Festival - Easton Farm Park, Suffolk. Friday 3rd July to Sunday 5th July 2026

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  Friday Maverick fizzed into life on the stroke of five o'clock. A brace of options lay in front of early Easton Farm Park arrivals, both resident festival favourites. Violin-playing Chris Murphy got the nod over hard rocking Jon Langford on the basis of a couple of interesting releases this year. Murphy was once again appointed Artist-at-Large, meaning he could literally pop up playing on anyone’s set, and his own ignited an evening of fine music on The Peacock Stage with an improvised solo performance. Loops, vocals, audience ventures and virtuoso violin playing gave substance to this LA-based musician’s set. From a fresh off the press record produced by fellow fiddle player Seth Lakeman, an engaged crowd enjoyed ‘ Clean Break ’ and heartily joined in on ‘ Never Learned to Drive ’ dedicated to that marginalised LA community- non drivers. A great start to the weekend. The Peacock Stage, with its barn location and iconic backdrop, proved the major chosen space for the evening w...
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