An alternative (and occasional) music posting highlighting something out of the ordinary.
Perhaps of limited appeal, unconventional, experimental or just far-out !
Call it what you like (or switch it off, if you don't like). 

By way of a follow on from last Friday's Star Track featuring John Cougar Mellencamp singing about his 'Small Town', I discovered after coming across this artist, that he was from the same 'small' town of Seymour, Indiana, as him.

Stephen Wilson Jr. is a Country and Rock singer with a colourful backstory. (An 18 minute YouTube video is worth a watch, if you want to, click here). He is currently on a 'Gary the Torch' tour (playing Brixton Academy on October 22nd). And he definitely likes a name song: 'Henry', 'Billy' and this track called 'Gary' (On The Road). 

His story begins quietly enough by singing about 'there aren't a lot of boys named Gary these days' and builds to a more energetic pedal-steel guitar play out, which is wild. It's a bit Springsteen vocally with Stephen Wilson Jr.'s unique blend of country and grunge influences > Gary !

‘Gary’ was released in January 2026 as Wilson's first single. 

NB: Not to be confused with Steven Wilson, the British prog rock musician. 

  

"We all remember our hometown? Where we were born and grew up! Yet when you go back now you hardly recognise it." 

Once a small town, now part of a bigger community as boundaries overlap, it's no wonder it now feels different. But the line 'Well, I was born in a small town' still rings true for many.

You might see where I'm going with this and further references are coming in the weeks ahead (watch this space). For now it's John Cougar Mellencamp and his 1985 song 'Small Town'. That town is Seymour, Indiana and the song was recorded virtually up the road in his recording studio in Belmont - which also sounds like a small town. 

Such a great song >>>

No, I cannot forget from where it is that I come from

I cannot forget the people who love me

Full lyrics are here - so you can sing along, on the ride, in the video.

  

An alternative (and occasional) music posting highlighting something out of the ordinary.
Perhaps of limited appeal, unconventional, experimental or just far-out !
Call it what you like (or switch it off, if you don't like). 

On our recent holiday in Guernsey we ran into (not literally) a competition taking place at the harbour in St. Peter Port to find Guernsey's Strongest !

As sizable men and women lifted and ran with 40 and 50 kilo sandbags, back and forth over a short course, that still left you exhausted just watching their efforts, loud and appropriate music blared encouragement over the PA to motivate them. 

Among the various tracks we heard the wonderfully named Dropkick Murphys with 'Blood' (You want blood, we'll give you some) caught my attention. 

The track is from the American Celtic punk band's 2017 album '11 Short Stories of Pain & Glory'. Appropriate enough I think.  

   

Jim Croce recorded his final album in the Summer of 1973.   

The title track 'I Got a Name' released as a single on the day after he sadly died in a plane crash in September of that year. The album was released posthumously in December. 

The final song on the album is ‘The Hard Way Every Time', so it's likely this was the last recording he made, though he clearly wouldn't have known it. As he sings "Wouldn'ta done it any other way", it's quite a moving parting statement that's hard to beat. All the lyrics are in today's video.

The story is I recently bought this album on vinyl for a £5, roughly double what it would have cost when it first came out. I confess I didn't really know of Jim Croce until American friends spoke of him so highly in 1978. So this is for all of them. Wherever they are... 

As this week marks a year since the start of these Thursday night sessions at our local, a review therefore seems in order. So this is my 'Folk, Blues & Beyond' JUKEBOX.

Jason McNiff would open the show, the guests would follow and then he'd finish the evening. My Jukebox mirrors that with a selection of guests who I especially enjoyed. 

Click on the video windows to listen OR play the Jukebox in a more traditional way by clicking on the numbered buttons 1 to 10 at the end. 

 J 1   JASON McNIFF with 'Song of Everything' - almost solo

From his 2024 'Everything's a Song' album

 J 2   TREVOR MOSS & HANNAH LOU: 'A Proud Surrender' 

They've been on BBC Radio 2 'Bob Harris Sunday' show

 J 3   PEPE BELMONTE - ‘No Word of a Lie’

(BJ Cole adds some great pedal steel guitar to this track)

 J 4   BENITA JOHNSON: ‘5 Miles Wide’

There's a live version of this track on YouTube

 J 5   SAM SENIOR - ‘You Look Different’

(Young singer from Hailsham)

 J 6   ZOE FITZGERALD CARTER: 'Better Things To Do'

(From California, USA) Our first 'special' in the garden gig

 J 7   DAN RAZA - ‘Home Again’

(With his 'travelling' fold up guitar, track has BJ Cole: Pedal Steel and Fiddle: Barbara Bartz)

 J 8   HOUSE ABOVE THE SUN - 'Time I Got Goin'

(Title track from an EP by London band, lead by singer/songwriter/guitarist Jim Moreton)

 J 9   TONI MONSERRAT INC. - 'Collision Course'

(Toni and his band over from Majorca, Spain) on a road trip

 J 10   JASON and BAND - 'My Mississippi'

From a live show in Hastings 

(Matt Armstrong: bass: Richard Moore: violin; Lyle Zimmerman: mandola)

Play the Jukebox: by pressing (clicking) on the appropriate numbered buttons 1 to 10. 

 J   1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9  10

  

"Rock Me, Mama" was originally penned by Bob Dylan during the 'Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid' sessions in 1973. 25 years later Ketch Secor of Old Crow Medicine Show added verses (some of which are geographically inaccurate, as the hitchhiking Southbound journey unfolds) and he called the song 'Wagon Wheel'. Then in 2013 Darius Rucker, ex lead singer of Hootie & the Blowfish recorded his version and it became huge. 

It's a great singalong track, you'll soon pick it up... 

  

I've had this song lined up for a while, waiting patiently to be played. Last Monday's Dylan show at our local provided the perfect cue.

I know Bob Dylan features a lot in these blogs, directly or as inspiration to others. I make no excuses for this as I would argue he is the greatest songwriter of our age. 

'Changing of the Guards' was the opening track on the 'Street Legal' album, released in 1978 just before I saw him in London on 20th June. This was the tour that saw him rework many of his best known songs so that when they were played you didn't recognise them until the lyrics came in.

It seems todays track wasn't part of that night's set (according to setlist.fm). Later shows on the tour list it as an encore. But what I can say for certain is our tribute band (of Jason McNiff and Richard Moore) played it last Monday.

Critics have praised 'Changing of the Guards' for its originality and the haunting effect of the backup singers (Carolyn Dennis, JoAnn Harris, Helena Springs) echoing Dylan's words throughout the verses. Lyrical references and disguised personal content, it's one of his typical no chorus compositions - hit it

  

Somehow we haven't had one of these in awhile. That is my regular feature of an artist or band I've only recently discovered.

From Toronto, Canada we have Elephants and Stars. Formed in 2020 their bio tells us :

"Elephants and Stars are real. Much like both real elephants and the stars above us, they are mature. They spend their time in rehearsals and in the studio crafting rock songs with hooks and lyrics with a bite that might take more than one listen to fully appreciate."

My take is they've master the art of the 3 minute rock song. And if the initial hook doesn’t get you by the time of the chorus it will have you !

Their line-up is: Manfred Sittmann - vocals, guitar; Adam Seed - lead guitar; Michael MacMillan - bass; Stewart McKinney - drums, with keyboards by: Simon Head.

I've picked ‘Strangers on a Train’ as my Star Track, because the 'fish-eye' video is so good. But I could have chosen anything by them, there's loads of great tracks, to many to list (and plenty of videos too). I can highly recommend the 'Dreamland' (EP) and the 'Under the Earth and Above Heaven' album, for starters, having bought both of these. 

Bandcamp is the place to go to buy their music - download prices are in Canadian dollars [$1.88 to the pound] so they are really good value. Link is here.  

Let's Rock & Support Canada 

   

Today's track needs no introduction, but it's going to get one...

Next week marks 40 years since the release of 'Graceland' by Paul Simon. 

Partly recorded in Johannesburg, Paul Simon had become fascinated with 'mbaqanga', South African street music and was criticized at the time for breaking the cultural boycott due to the policy of apartheid in South Africa. He said the record showcased collaboration between black and white people and raised international awareness of apartheid. With some praising him for helping popularize African music in the West.
In 1987 the album won the Grammy for Album of the Year and is now considered one of the all time great albums.

Picking one track of the record isn't easy but I've gone for this as it heavily features the male choral group Ladysmith Black Mambazo.  

'Diamonds On The Soles Of Her Shoes' (from The African Concert, 1987)

  

Having suggested this Summer was feeling like one of those from the sixties. How about I pick a year and ask you what you were listening to ?

The Summer of 1968: here's a few singles in the charts > 'Young Girl’ Gary Puckett and the Union Gap; 'My Name is Jack' Manfred Mann; 'Dance to the Music' Sly & the Family Stone; 'Mrs Robinson' Simon & Garfunkel; 'Fire' by Arthur Brown. 

The Beatles 'Yellow Submarine', animated musical film was on release, so perhaps you were in the cinema ? Or maybe you remember this forgotten hit, by Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich called 'Last Night in Soho'. 

If you didn't already know, the group were five friends from Wiltshire, David John Harman (Dave Dee), Trevor Leonard Ward-Davies (Dozy), John Dymond (Beaky), Michael Wilson (Mick) and Ian Frederick Stephen Amey (Tich).
I saw a 2021 film of the same name earlier this year. This British psychological horror filmed around London's Soho, had dream sequence flashbacks to the 1960s, and cast members from that era, including Terence Stamp and Rita Tushingham. The Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich Top Ten single played over the final credits.

The video is from Beat-Club, a West German music programme that ran from September 1965 to December 1972.