Plague here brings eventually depopulation, migration and a total standstill of commerce, a little like our current situation but whereas governments in our day have instigated restrictions on gatherings and conducting trade, in Mary’s late 21st century commerce eventually dies through the steady tide of the plague itself.
Colin hits big notes as a performance and recording artist, but it is in the moments when he ´loses´ himself in a song and his voice sails downstream to faraway places that I most love his singing.
no English traditional dancing team had the same Romantic clout, or visible presence, as the black-faced, skirt wearing, clog dancing ‘Coco Nut Dancers’ of Bacup in Lancashire just to the north of Rochdale.
I’ve never lost that initial interest nor the sense of excitement in improvised music from around the world in all its forms.
So , let us all step out whenever we can or are allowed to (literally and figuratively) support the arts, and find our comfort and solace in doing so,
We all have stories, we all have heartache, and we all have sadness and we all have joy. Golden moments.
Even when they lost some of the greatest among them, like Kenny Rogers, John Prine, and Charley Pride, (commemorations by Sidetracks & Detours remain available in our archives) country musicians found the strength to stay engaged with fans (if only through live streams and zooms etc), fight for much-needed social change and share some truly stellar records in the process.
This concert had given hope that 2021, post-vaccines, and with tourists returning might prove a better year for the arts than has been this one so we wish all our arts-loving readers a happy, hopeful and healthy New Year.
sales are truly global and he has helped artists place their works in locations as diverse as Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, New York, Dubai and India.
if you knew three chords, you could play a lot of the songs you heard on the radio. And if you knew four chords, you could pretty much rule the world !´
