Real Ale, Real Music

At this time of year like a lot of people I always enjoy looking back and choosing my favourite music of the past 12 months. It's not always easy and there is always a chance that something put to one side initially or that you've not managed to hear will in the future emerge as one of your best-ever albums. But...as of today and after much deliberation these are the 10 albums that have consistently given me the most pleasure over the year and remain a delight each time I return to them. I have mentioned a couple of them in previous blogs, so feel free to check them out for more information. In no particular order we have: Royal Blood - Royal Blood(Explicit) This album came crashing upon us early Autumn, the best, noisiest, kick-ass, adrenalin-fuelled driving rock I heard all year. Amazingly, it was just 2 guys from the South Coast, Mike Kerr and Ben Thatcher, one on bass, one on drums and that's it. No lead guitar. This was the album I heard more people talking a

OK, I only started blogging back in March and some of what I write is very much first time around. Whether this becomes a regular feature I don't know. But...some of my friends have delivered some fantastic music which is continually evolving and which has made Sunday teatimes at either The Beck or at The Cock of The North one of my favourite times of the week and in my view they need to be applauded. The Rainey Street Band have consistently been entertaining us over the year with their mix of Americana and Bluegrass, with songs from the likes of Simone Felice and The Old Crow Medicine Show. Rainey Street is in Austin, Texas, where a couple of years ago band founder, Dave Kennedy and his mate, and now fellow band member, Tom Firth, headed for a holiday and to pick up on what was happening in the burgeoning local music scene over there.  Dave had originally played solo, then linked up with ace local harmonica player Ian Crabtree, who has been playing with local legends Blood, S

Friday night was damp, murky and miserable. The traffic was slow, the M62 having had long delays between J25 and J26, and arriving in Leeds, despite the sat-nav getting us close to the venue, we struggled to find it. Still, having won a couple of tickets to see Belinda O'Hooley and Heidi Tidow I was not going to let these frustrations undermine my underlying good mood. All Hallows Church is situated in that warren of streets between Burley Road and Hyde Park, where you can be yards from where you want to be - as we were - but alleys and walls conspire to block your route. We finally made it after a few minutes circling the streets, spotting a larger, lighter modern building. We walked in to a large airy room, which acts as place of worship, meeting room and, as in tonight's case, concert venue. We were immediately made to feel very welcome, a far cry from some other, larger venues. Our hands stamped, we trotted over to the bar, bought a couple of pints of Elland Brewery

" The rain falls hard on a humdrum town" The Smiths, 'William, it was really nothing" . I thought of these lyrics the other Monday when I decided to take a tour round Manchester's Northern Quarter and the city's more gritty next door neighbour, Salford. I'd stayed in the Premier Inn on Dale Street and wandered through the Northern Quarter, stopping off at Trof. Now this is a venue with gigs and a bourbon bar, but it was the fact it does breakfast - very nice ones too - that drew me there. It was there that I decided I would try to find the Salford Lads club, which was pictured on the inner sleeve of The Smiths classic album 'The Queen is Dead' and featured in the video for 'Stop me if you think you've heard this one before'. I was inspired by Phill Gatenby's excellent little book 'Morrissey's Manchester' which is like a Rough Guide to places in the city and around frequented by the quiffed one and fellow members of

The first thing that strikes you about Craig Finn, the lead singer with The Hold Steady, is that this guy doesn't look like he's in a rock band. Indeed, short, bespectacled, and with a thinning thatch, he looks bookish, maybe an accountant, or an IT guru. A more than passing resemblance to Woody Allen and football manager Martin O'Neill, you might think. Indeed, the bookishness extends to the lyrics of the elaborate stories contained within the songs. What other band would have the crowd singing along to a chorus of "Sub peoned in Texas, sequestered in Memphis"? But don't let this fool you. The Hold Steady can rock with the best, as last night's gig at Manchester Academy 2 demonstrated. I first came across the band back in the mid-noughties, Shaun, a guy I knew from Stalybridge Buffet Bar, sadly no longer with us, rated them. The title track from their 2008 album 'Stay Positive' then became something of a mantra as I had a bad time that year.

One of my favourite places is the area of Wharfedale around the beautiful village of Appletreewick. Something of a bolt hole, it is only an hour's drive from home but feels like a different world. Situated on the opposite side of the valley to the Bolton Abbey to Grassington road, you turn off by Barden Tower and drop down towards the river, crossing over the narrow 17th Century Barden Bridge, follow the road round for another couple of miles or so, and you're there. I visited the area today, taking advantage of the early Autumn sunshine to walk a few miles alongside the River Wharfe. As usual when it's a year or two when you've visited a favourite place, you get the same sense of wonder that you get on your first visit. Surrounded by some lovely wooded countryside, Appletreewick is overlooked by Simon's Seat, part of an extensive hillside but with a distinctive rocky summit. Appletreewick, Wharfedale The two pubs in the village, the New Inn and the Crav

People often ask me why I use Facebook. Today something happened that exemplified why.  A former work colleague, many years younger than me, fell victim to cancer. This tragic loss of life, meaning that kids have lost their Mum and a husband has lost his wife, would have passed me by completely had we not been friends on Facebook. This is where Facebook can be a force for good, it means people can keep in touch, pay their respects and share in the sorrow, albeit to a minute extent of what the family are facing. It enables family and friends to keep in touch with those who have moved away to far-flung corners of the world, or simply another town. Or it helps the lonely, the old, the retired and the infirm to keep in touch with people they haven't seen for ages. Those people who are still busy, involved, active, or in a similar situation to themselves. In the old days, people moved on, there was the odd meeting-up, the occasional letter, followed by the infrequent phone call. I

Sat in the Sun Hotel, Coniston. And I'm feeling pretty pleased with myself. Today I walked up my first proper Lakeland fell for a few years. Pleased because I had sort of given up. OK, recent company had not been up for it, and I suppose I used it as an excuse for not doing anything too strenuous.  Along with my age, my weight, any excuse, you name it. But today, as I drove to Langdale to 'look at the view', I saw those fantastic fells and the old desire took over. I needed to give it a go again and so it was that I  parked up at the Old Dungeon Ghyll Hotel. Upper Langdale I decided to do Pike O'Blisco because I'd done it several times and with the weather at that point being showery I didn't want to try anything too 'ambitious'. Passing the farm at Stool End, with the slopes from the Oxendale valley looking ever steeper, I began to question my decision. Walking, huffing, and puffing up those steep slopes, I realised I had lost my marbles complet

Last night I went to Holmfirth to see the 'Bard of Barking', Billy Bragg at the Picturedrome. A lovely sunny evening, I caught the 310 from Huddersfield Bus Station and after a surprisingly pleasant journey through the heavily-wooded Holme Valley, arrived in Holmfirth, which is gearing up for the Grand Depart, as indicated by the many little yellow bicycles and posters around the town. The great thing about Holmfirth is the compact nature of the centre. Within a hundred yards or so of the Bus Station there are pubs, places to eat, and the town's main venue, the Picturedrome. A former cinema, it hosts a regular stream of popular and often established artists. Coming up in the next few months are acts like Gary Numan, the Levellers and Ian Hunter and the Rant Band, interspersed with names like Think Floyd and Let's Zep, who, I assume, are tribute acts.  The Picturedrome, Holmfirth First things first. A pint of Spotland Gold at the Brambles, pleasantly quiet for

Mali is a massive, landlocked country in North West Africa covering an area of around 1.24 million square kilometres(480,000 square miles in old money). Covering such a wide area, the terrain ranges from desert to savannah and then on to cultivated land.With a population of around 14.5 million, as you can imagine,it is also not very crowded, Bamako, the capital, has about 1.8 million residents, but otherwise it is predominantly rural. I must admit, I don't know a lot about the country although I am eager to learn. In 2012 there was an uprising in the north by Tuareg rebels, which was ultimately quelled by the Malian army, aided by the French for whom at one time Mali was a colony. Agriculture is the country's main economic activity, but with rich reserves of gold, kaolin and salt, mining is also important. Mali first hit my consciousness when I went to see Andy Kershaw, former Radio 1 DJ, journalist and now Todmorden resident promoting his excellent book, 'No Off Switch

Every month with 'Uncut' magazine you get a free CD featuring tracks from some of the latest albums, which  is a great way to pick up on new artists that you might not get to hear on the radio. Indeed, some of my favourite music of the past few years has come from artists I came across via this route - John Grant, Beach House, Besnard Lakes, Jonathan Wilson, Low, the list goes on. This is also how I first came across New York band, We are Augustines, who, in their new trimmed-back guise as Augustines, I saw last Wednesday at the Manchester Academy 2. I had previously seen them at the Academy, back in 2012. Not known as well in those days, they were shunted off to Academy 3, a smaller hall, still in the Students Union building, where the previous week I had seen the much-missed Oldham-based indie-punk band, Here Lies Nugget, along with around 50 other family members, friends and aficionados. What a contrast! Crammed in with around 300 people we were treated to an inten

When I was a lad, my favourite time for a pint was late on of an evening. I would go out anytime after 8 and would quite happily be there at 11 or later. I am pretty sure I can remember when this changed. I went to work for Family Hampers in Seacroft, Leeds in the late 80's. My boss, Mike, liked a pint, and a few days after I started he invited me to go for an after-work pint with some of the other lads. Keen to be accepted by new colleagues I went along.  We went to the Dexter, a modern-ish Tetley's pub in Alwoodley. The beer was ok, the food wasn't bad, and just happened to be round the corner from where Mike, and our accountant, Malcolm, lived. It soon became a regular haunt, the teatime pint becoming the norm. We moved offices to Sweet Street in Leeds, next door to the Commercial, where mine host was Leeds United legend, Peter Lorimer, and where the time from my desk to the bar was less than a minute. After several years the company was sold on and we uprooted an

One of my favourite pubs is in the Midlands, the Griffin at Shustoke, in Warwickshire. Now Warwickshire may not be the first place us Northerners think of when searching for good pubs, but in my experience from towns like Rugby and Leamington to North Cotswold villages such as Lower Brailes and Shipston-on-Stour there are some gems in the county of the bear and staff. The Griffin is in the north of the county, in attractive rolling countryside between Atherstone and Coleshill. I first came across it many years ago, when, stuck in slow-moving traffic on the M42, I sought an alternative route to get to the NEC. In those pre-satnav days it was a case of searching on the map and so it was that I spotted a twisting route off the A5 which came out at Coleshill, within a whisker of my destination. I headed down the A5 for a couple of miles and then headed off up the interestingly-named Boot Hill through the former mining village of Baddesley Ensor, then through Grendon and wooded countr

Went to Bury a few days ago. Famous for black puddings and its market, it also houses a great local concert hall, the Met. My reason to be there - the chance to see rising Huddersfield folk stars, Belinda O'Hooley and Heidi Tidow on the tour to launch their excellent album 'The Hum'. Checked in to the Premier Inn - minutes from the town centre - and headed out for some pre-gig food. Within minutes I came across the Art House. What a place, a lovingly restored art-deco cinema now part of the Wetherspoon empire. Now I am not a fan of all of their properties, but this one is excellent, with balconies, velour curtains and bags of nostalgia. Thursday night, Curry Club, so opted for the Flaming Dragon(the one with 5 chilli symbols) with free pint for £5.99. It hit the spot, so fed and watered I headed a few minutes round the corner to the venue. The Met is a classic local town theatre and concert venue, the sort we need to support. A great benefit of the Met is its Good Bee