Paul McCartney secures first Number 1 solo album in 31 years.
After a close battle with Taylor Swift’s Evermore (2), The
Beatles legend’s 18th solo studio album secures the festive top spot. The UK’s
most successful albums artist of all time, McCartney’s new release McCartney
III is the third and final chapter in a trilogy of albums, starting with his
chart-topping debut album McCartney in 1970 and followed by McCartney II in
1980.
Celebrating the news, McCartney told OfficialCharts.com: “I
just want to say Happy Christmas, Happy New Year, and a big thank you to
everyone who helped get my record to Number 1 in the album charts.”
McCartney III is the music icon’s first solo Number 1 album
since 1989’s Flowers In The Dirt. It’s also not the first time he has claimed a
Christmas Number 1 album – scoring one 20 years ago when The Beatles’ greatest hits 1 topped the Christmas charts in 2000,
with the Fab Four earning a further six festive chart toppers during the 196
Never mind all of the rubbish going on in the world at the moment and never mind all of the political duplicity. There are people in the world in a far worse situation than we are.
So, let us be positive, look to the future, stay positive, stay safe, raise a glass and have a great Rock 'n' Rolling Lockdown Christmas.
Join Belshazzar’s Feast for a 45-minute
concert themed around The Sound of Music. Julie Andrews will be played
by Paul Sartin, whilst the Von Trapp cockney rhyming will be covered by Paul
Hutchinson. That’s something the Queen’s speech certainly doesn’t offer. This
concert is being held for charity, and all ticket sales will go towards the
NSPCC and their Childline service.
Foggy Mountain
Breakdown by Earl Scruggs is considered the hardest bluegrass song to
play!
Earl Scruggs' "Foggy Mountain Breakdown"
established the banjo as the star instrument in bluegrass music. That song is
still perhaps best known as the accompanying theme for a pair of roving
gangsters in Arthur Penn's 1967 film Bonnie and Clyde. A bright and quick tune written by a quiet North Carolina
country musician that introduced American bluegrass to new audiences around the
world.
Written by Earl Scruggs Earl
Scruggs, banjo - Glen Duncan, fiddle - Randy Scruggs, acoustic guitar - Steve
Martin, 2nd banjo solo - Vince Gill, 1st electric guitar solo - Marty Stuart,
mandolin - Gary Scruggs, harmonica - Albert Lee, 2nd electric guitar solo -
Paul Shaffer, piano - Jerry Douglas, dobro - Leon Russell, organ - Glenn Worf,
bass - Harry Stinson, drums.
Christmas Eve Carols at the The Cumberland
Arms - 24 December 2020 – 6 pm GMT
The Cumberland Arms in Byker, Newcastle Upon
Tyne UK, is a pub usually filled with folk sessions or concerts most nights of the
week; and crowding into the room above the pub to sing Christmas carols
together is an annual North East festive tradition. This year, the tradition
continues with a virtual version, so wherever you’re based you can join in from
home.
Free event but you can also donate to the
Cumberland if you so desire. Link to follow and video will be posted at 6pm so
we can watch together and feel a sense of community just in our own homes.
Eric Gales has pushed back his February 2022 UK tour to March
and April 2022.
The American blues-rock guitarist will now open his tour at
Brighton Concorde 2 on Wednesday 23rd March 2022 and conclude at Leeds
Brudenell Social Club on Sunday 3rd April 2022. The Gateshead Sage show will
sadly no longer be going ahead.
Danny Bryant remains as the very special guest at the 2022
concerts.
Previously bought tickets for all shows are still valid. Customers
unable to attend the rescheduled date should contact their original point of
purchase for a refund. The remaining tickets are on sale now.
The Lumineers' new rendition
of "Silent Night" serves a higher purpose: The next years’ worth of
proceeds from the band's cover of the Christmas classic will benefit the
National Independent Venue Association's Emergency Relief Fund in the USA.
Wesley Schultz and
Lauren Jacobson's harmonies make this version of "Silent Night" the
Lumineers' own. They're accompanied throughout, simply. by Jeremiah Fraites on
piano, while strings take the place of their voices to conclude the song.
A video for the
Lumineers' version of "Silent Night" spotlights some of the United
States' most beloved independent music venues, which have been forced to close
for most of 2020 due to the novel coronavirus pandemic.
European readers may be interested in The
Lumineers’ rescheduled European dates…
New
Dates:
June 18 2021 | Hurricane Festival, Scheessel, Germany | Ticket Info June 19 2021 | Southside
Festival, Neuhausen ob Eck, Germany | Ticket Info
Monday 21- Wednesday 23 June 2021 | INmusic Festival, Zagreb,
Croatia | Ticket Info
Monday 21 June 2021 | AXA Arena NTC, Bratislava,
Slovakia | Ticket Info
Tuesday 29 June 2021 | Neumünster Abbey, Luxembourg City, Luxembourg | Ticket Info Thursday 1 – Sunday 4 July 2021
| OpenAir St. Gallen Festival, St. Gallen,
Switzerland | Ticket Info Wednesday 14 – Saturday 17 July
2021 | Colours of Ostrava Festival, Ostrava, Czech
Republic | Ticket Info
If you are a fan of country
music check out a guy named Bradley Walker.
Born in 1976 Bradley Walker
is a native of Athens, Alabama. He was born with muscular dystrophy, and has been in a wheelchair all his life. He was a
student at East Limestone High School where he played percussion in the
school band.
Bradley's parents shared a love of
music and his mother worked in a music store before he was born. He started singing when he was only four years old, and he grew up
on a steady musical diet of vintage country, bluegrass, and gospel. Bradley started
singing in talent competitions at the age of seven, and when he was 11, he
appeared on the TV series Nashville Now, singing with the Oak Ridge
Boys. A year later, when the Oak Ridge Boys sang on Jerry
Lewis' annual fundraising telethon for the Muscular Dystrophy Association, they
brought him along to perform with them.
In 1998, Walker formed a band, The Trinity Mountain
Boys, and began to perform at bluegrass festivals. In
2001, he joined the Georgia-based group Lost Horizon. He
was signed to Rounder Records, and released his debut album, Highway of Dreams, in 2006.
The album was produced by Carl Jackson. For
his performance on the album, he won the Male Vocalist of the Year Award from
the International
Bluegrass Music Association.
Walker's second album, Call Me
Old-Fashioned, was produced by Rory Feek and
recorded at the Joey + Rory studio out on their farm in 2016. Walker had known Joey and Rory
Feek since 2007, and he was asked by Rory Feek to sing the hymn "Leave It There" at the funeral of Joey Feek in
accordance with her wishes. Bill Gaither of the Gaither Music Group, who was also at the funeral
service, heard Walker's performance and signed Walker to his label. The
album includes a posthumous duet with Joey Feek, "In The Time That You
Gave Me", using vocals she recorded before her death.The
album was released on September 23, 2016 and
debuted at No. 9 on the Top Country Albums chart.
In 2019 Bradley
appeared at Eric Clapton’s Crossroads Guitar Festival.
n 2020, walker collaborated with Jimmy Fortune, Ben Isaacs, and Mike Rogers to release an
album Brotherly Love and a concert DVD/TV special filmed at Rory
Feek's barn/studio near Columbia, TN.[13] The album was released digitally on May 29,
2020, and the DVD and CD released on September 4, 2020.[14] The concert film aired on the Circle network on October 20, 2020
To find out
more have a look at Bradley’s website…
