Betsey Trotwood, Farringdon: Sunday 17 May 2026 This was an interesting proposition; an acoustic show in a tiny venue I had never been to before, just ahead of my birthday, and a matinee show to boot - how could I refuse that temptation! To make things more intriguing, I last saw Chris Stamey play, with his old dB's songwriting sidekick, Peter Holsapple, way back in 1991. I only really knew the album they were touring behind at that time (Mavericks) - and to be fair, I have o

I.R.S. is a record label that has interested me for a long time; well since I started to get into R.E.M. in the late 80s and saw that until recently, they had been on that label. The name interested me - I knew enough about the USA to know that there was some government association with this initialism. Before we dive a little bit into the labels history and some of the key bands that were a part of it (we will focus on the original version of it, rather than the time since 2

There have been many musicians over time, that are indelibly associated with a particular artist, as a well known side person; Mick...