Music

Music has always been important to me and it's rare that a day passes without listening to some music. In the long ago past it would have been playing an album (LP) or two, and late night viewing the brilliant Old Grey Whistle Test. LPs would of course come to be superseded by CDs, and they in turn replaced by today's streaming services. I still have a collection LPs and even some singles, and a turntable on which to play them, but will my grand-kids even know what they are?

I'm pleased to say I've always liked a wide range of music, everything from pop, rock and folk to reggae, jazz and 'world music'. My formative decade was of course the 1970s with rock bands like The Who, Free, Pink Floyd, The Grateful Dead and Bob Marley to name a few, and singer/songwriters from Neil Young, John Martyn and Van Morrison to Loudon Wainwright III, Rikkie Lee Jones and k.d. lang.

Loudon remains a favourite of mine even after all these years and in fact, is one of the very few artists that I've ever asked for an autograph. He comes from a ridiculously musically talented family, which includes his sister Sloan, his son Rufus and daughters Martha and Lucy and even his first wife Kate McGarrigle! I suppose you could say that the Wainwright clan has been one of my minor obsessions.

Fortunately I didn't get stuck in 1970s and one of the many pleasures in life is discovering new bands or artists...