Thankfully it's been a bit warmer this week. I'm not a fan whatsoever of snow and ice and the past two weeks have seen plenty of that. We in West Yorkshire (sheltered by the Pennines) avoided the worst of it but the one night it did choose to come down of course I had a gig! Sadly I had to turn back from going to play with Atlanta Soul in Stockport but the following night's solo gig at nearby Greetland went ahead as planned.

There's not been that many gigs of late but that's about to change with a busier week or so ahead. This Saturday it's Altanta Soul again, this time on my side of the hills and the The BitterSweet Shop is back and playing at The Ship in Leeds on Tuesday night (the 21st). On Thursday 23rd it's the return of the Acoustic Trio at the Chemic and then on Saturday I'll be performing with Morris & The Minors in Bingley.

I've been listening to some interesting music lately. I finally heard my first Ryan Adams album 'Ashes And Fire' a few weeks ago. After years of mistakenly thinking people were talking about Bryan (I'm joking slightly, but it did once happen!) I thought it was time to find out why so many people rate him so highly. Well, I can sort of see what they mean but I think if you've already heard plenty of Jackson Browne and Bob Dylan the result is less impressive. Also the lyrics didn't move me in the slightest. The production is excellent and it's all real instruments and vintage sounds but I'm afraid I'll stick my old man mentality and say music 'ain't what it used to be' and 'it's all been done before'.

I moved on to listen to Noah & The Whale's 'Last Night On Earth' album. I was forewarned this was more derivative and there is one track which is a dead ringer for Tom Petty's 'Don't Come Around Here No More.' It's a good album though, and short too. There's no unwanted songs on there.

After what I said about Adams, Ryan I thought it would be a good idea to dig out some Bob Dylan. I selected his 80s release 'Oh Mercy' and was immediately more moved by the lyrics. There wasn't one song on here that I'd heard before but there were several I would listen to repeatedly, which shows the sheer depth of his writing if nothing else.

Inspired by the Strictly Come Dancing touring band (!) I also listened to 'Club Classics Volume 1' by Soul 2 Soul. This was never my thing back in the day but bloody hell fire it is now. What a brilliant record, with very little evidence of 80s dating in the sound. It may have taken me 22 years, but I'm now a big fan of this album!!