Jon Landau once famously wrote, ‘I have seen rock and roll’s future and its name is Bruce Springsteen.’ A couple of nights ago I didn’t so much see rock’s future as revelled gloriously in its past. The Country Tones play Americana classics, and at the Thomas Trip in Chr...

Christmas doesn’t start in our house until two things have happened. First of all, I have to hear Bruce Springsteen’s version of ‘Santa Claus is Coming to Town’ on the radio, and secondly the family has to gather to watch the Muppet Christmas Carol. The second of those is cur...

K is for Knopfler, Mark. A man who – through no fault of his own – plays a crucial role in Dave’s early downfall in Dead Man Singing. It’s easy to forget just how huge Dire Straits were in the 80s, although I think Dave would have favoured the sparseness of their earlier work...

J is for the Jericho Tavern, the location of the first scene in Dead Man Singing. A confession: despite living in nearby Thame for a couple of years in the 90s, I have never been to a gig at the Jericho. It first rose to wider national notoriety as the legendary venue for early Radiohead gigs, but t...