This edition of The Essential 10 , our quickfire introduction to a wide range of my favourite artists, features 10,000 Maniacs ; an act that managed 5 albums over a career that spanned 1981 to 1993 (this is point of Natalie Merchant 's departure - they have been going since then with various line-ups and released 4 more albums). I have trawled the entire catalogue to come up with ten of my favourite tracks by them, including a few surprises (although, if you don’t know much a

I recently realised that after more than three years of listening, watching and writing (and of course, waffling) about music - I was...

We recently had a very pleasant afternoon out at a large country estate we had never been to before. The added incentive was that they...

The next few weeks has a few fairly random anniversaries with one central connection - and that seemed a good enough reason for our next...

Today we are wishing a very happy 60th birthday to one of my favourite singers - Natalie Anne Merchant - born on this day 1963, in...

Specifically, the Natalie Merchant years. With no disrespect to the versions of the band that have recorded and toured for the last...