Something surprising happened recently. A friend mentioned a band that I had never previously heard anyone talk about. 

Immaculate Fools, formed in 1984 in Kent by two sets of brothers: Kevin Weatherill (vocals, guitar) and Paul Weatherill (bass, vocals), and brothers Andy Ross (guitar) and Peter Ross (drums). It was 1990 when I first heard of them in a shop that was playing their album 'Another Man's World'. By now the Ross brothers had left and other personal changes, notably Barry Wickens now playing violin, had occurred, while singer and main songwriter Kevin Weatherill was still there.

Back in the shop: the opening title track had caught my ear. Track 2: 'Sad' was also really good, so by the time of track 3: 'The Prince', I was happily handing over a tenner to purchase the record (one of the first CDs I ever bought).   

So today's Star Track is from Immaculate Fools - one of the best bands hardly anyone has heard of ! The album 'Another Man's World' (actually produced by ex-guitarist Andy Ross) doesn't have a duff track on it and stands the test of time. 

‘Falling Apart Together’ is my choice (really could have been anything off this excellent CD). There is a live version available but the quality and sound isn't so good, so it's an album cover only video (but I do have another link to a really good video full of memorabilia, covers & pictures of the group).

 

Other links: fyi

'Live' version - click here.

Track ‘Come on Jayne’ - must see: video of memorabilia, covers & pics right here. 

Footnote: (or actually headliner)

Kevin Weatherill has these days lost all his hair - all gone [so 'Sad']...

  

Our Vinyl Night theme this week was Female Artists. Coupled with a request I'd had to feature today's singer, and I have the ideal excuse to listen to the music of Sandy Denny. 

She has been a Star Track previously, amazingly over 10 years ago now, with her song 'Who Knows Where The Time Goes', written when she was just 20 years old: (see here).

For those of you unfamiliar with her, this article on her life is really good. From 'Nostalgia Central" - click on this link.

Being it's Friday how about a 2-4-1 special (one track hardly seems enough).

First, this is a favourite of mine and was the first song on the Fairport Convention album 'What We Did on Our Holidays'. 'Fortheringay' was also the name of her short lived band in the early 70s. I have found an excellent tribute video by her daughter Georgia Rose Lucas that imagines the time of Mary Queen of Scots and Fortheringhay Castle.

Track 2

Is off the 1975 'Rising For The Moon' LP and is 'White Dress' - nice video images that begin with some rare live footage that has survived. Written by Dave Swarbrick and sung by Sandy Denny.

In Fairports at this time was her husband Trevor Lucas on acoustic guitar.

   

My notes for this week read 'something seasonal' ! Meaning Autumnal...

It begins with the warm harmonies of 'All The Birds' sung by Golden Oak, an indie-soul-folk band from Maine, fronted by sister-and-brother duo Lena and Zak Kendall, from their most recent album release 'All the Light in Autumn'.

Continues with 'Masquerading as a Star', 'Glass Bottles', 'I’m Not the Only Thing', 'The Flood' and 'Some say dreams / They can get you by / But all the birds are leaving / In the autumn light' - from the track 'Geese'. 

There's a clear bird theme running here [including the future environment / reoccurring dreams / paradise / greed / reflections on living]. 

Any of the above songs are Star Tracks, but 'Geese' has a nice loosely animated lyric video - as opposed to the others, that just feature the album cover: 'All the Light in Autumn' >

 

Check out Golden Oak's previous album 'Room To Grow'. 

And give this short video of '‘The Stable Song’ by Gregory Alan Isakov a listen - a wonderful vocal harmony cover by the group : Lena and Zak with Mike Knowles.

Finally that album cover featuring 9 birds - click here. 

   

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