Bookshop Blues

A couple of weeks ago I ordered a book from an independent bookshop in Chorley. On the payment page of their website I chose the Google Pay option which I rarely use but as it already had my credit card details saved I assumed that I must have used it before. What was a bit surprising was that in the next 24 hours I received no confirmation of the order so dropped the shop an email. I checked my bank statement online and saw that the payment had gone through.

When I received no reply to my email I tried messaging them. They then came back to me and said that they use the Post Office 48 Hour delivery service and suggested I wait another day or two. This was somewhat frustrating as I had hoped to give the book to my wife as a St Valentine's Day present.

On the following Monday the book had still not arrived so I messaged them again and they said they would check with the PO. I then received screenshots from them showing that the book had been delivered on the Monday but to the wrong address. Unbeknown to me, Google Pay had my old address as my Legal Address along with my current address but for reasons best known to them they gave the bookshop my old address. So that's why it was delivered there.

The bookshop is refusing to give me a refund unless the people at my old address return the book to them. This is despite the fact that I had no opportunity to check that they had the correct delivery address.

As I paid on my credit card I have contacted my bank to dispute the transaction. I would rather not have to waste my time doing this but the bookshop has left me with no option. They could have offered me a partial refund which I would have accepted but no, they are being completely intransigent. And by their own admission, their website is "struggling". 

Off The Beaten Tracks 23 February 2026

Tracks from new albums by Aisling Urwin, Beans on Toast and The Haar on my latest show which will be broadcast on Ginger Feather FM from Monday the 23rd. 

Listen now on Mixcloud. 

Martin Simpson - Trouble Brought Me Here
Tommy Emmanuel w/ Larry Campbell and Teresa Williams - Everybody Loves You
ATFK - This Town Is Big Enough For The Both Of Us
Allison de Groot and Tatiana Hargreaves - Dry
Aisling Urwin - Flare
Beans on Toast - A Real Rock 'n' Roller
Dave Swarbrick & Simon Nicol - The Poor Ditching Boy
Dave Swarbrick & Simon Nicol - End of a Holiday
Tommy Emmanuel w/ Yasmin Williams - Mombasa
Honey and the Bear - 5500 Miles
The Haar - The Rocky Road to Dublin
The McCalmans - Applecross Bay
Ross Ainslie - Concrete Jungle
Mossy Christian - Homeward Bound 

Off The Beaten Tracks 9 February 2026

A radio show with a St Valentine's Day theme as you'll be able to tell from the playlist - lots of songs with love or lover in the title. Listen on Mixcloud or from Monday on Ginger Feather FM.

Richard Thompson - Nearly In Love
Janice Burns & Jon Doran - True False Love
Steve Knightley - Hook of Love
Bert Jansch - Go Your Way My Love
Swarb's Lazarus - Two Constant Lovers
Graham Parker - The Madness of Love
Kate Rusby - Friday I'm In Love
Oysterband w/ June Tabor - Love Will Tear Us Apart
Ralph McTell & Wizz Jones - Tell Her You Love Her Right Now
Emily Smith - Sweet Lover of Mine
Merry Hell - Lean On Me, Love
Roger Wilson - Fair and Tender Lovers
Mike Waterson & Eliza Carthy - Valentine Waltz 

Transatlantic Sessions concert review, The Glasshouse, Gateshead

The Transatlantic Sessions have been going for quite a few years now and one of the singers in this year’s line-up, Kathy Mattea, appeared in the very first series on TV. She recalled how she got a call asking if she’d be interested in coming over to Scotland to stay in a mansion and play with musicians from both sides of the Atlantic. Her response was, how soon can I pack?

She and fellow American singer songwriter Darrell Scott are joined on the current UK tour by Karine Polwart and Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh who represent the home nations.

The house band includes such regulars as Michael McGoldrick, John McCusker and John Doyle along the long time participants Aly Bain and James Mackintosh. Jerry Douglas does the between-songs patter and adds his fine dobro playing to the mix but sadly Phil Cunningham has not been able to take part this year. Instead, on the accordion and piano we have Donald Shaw who has been involved with the Sessions for many years. The younger generation is represented by bluegrass duo Tatiana Hargreaves & Allison de Groot.

Of the guest singers Karine Polwart was, for me, the best of the bunch and there was a lovely instrumental tribute to Danny Thompson written by Michael McGoldrick and featured new double bass player Daniel Kimbro. Whether it was by accident or design that they got another bass player called Danny I don't know, but Mr Kimbro is certainly a worthy replacement. He has a nice sense of humour as we discovered when he got to come out front and sing a song borrowing Darrell’s guitar which was made by a luthier based in the North East.

There was perhaps inevitably talk about the political situation back over the other side of the pond with Daniel feeling torn between wanting to go home to see his family but reluctant to go back to the MAGA mania in the States.

While the audience was encouraged to sing along to choruses, with such a big band on stage - by folk and roots music standards - it was really only when Karine Polwart finished the night with Wild Mountain Thyme that our voices in the auditorium could really be heard. An encore of one final selection of tunes sent the Gateshead crowd off happily into the cold night with the singers and musicians off to their double decker tour bus and on to the next date on their tour.

I’m now back home in Lancaster listening to Allison de Groot and Tatiana Hargreaves’ album Hurricane Clarice which is well worth a listen if banjo and fiddle music is your bag. As Jerry Douglas commented, bluegrass music is in safe hands with such talented youngsters keeping the old traditions going.

Colin B
05/02/2026

Americana mix 30 January 2026

A North American mix featuring some of the musicians and singers who are taking part in the Transatlantic Sessions concerts at Celtic Connections in Glasgow this weekend and the subsequent tour around the UK. See the website for all the tour dates. 

Guest vocalists from the USA include Darrell Scott and Kathy Mattea with Jerry Douglas and Daniel Kimbro being part of the house band. 

Listen now on Mixcloud or from Monday at 8pm on Ginger Feather FM.

Tim O'Brien - Everything Is Broken
Darrell Scott - Southern Cross
Patti Smith - Helpless
Martin Harley & Daniel Kimbro - Feet Don't Fail Me Now (w/Jerry Douglas)
Kathy Mattea - Ode To Billie Joe
Bob Dylan - Lay Lady Lay
Carolina Chocolate Drops - Why Don't You Do Right
Eric Bibb - Needed Time
Darrell Scott - It's a Great Day to be Alive
Neil Young - Four Strong Winds
David Crosby - Almost Cut My Hair (demo)
Janis Ian - At Seventeen
Saso - Rolling Stone Blues
Reverend Freakchild - Little Red Rooster 

Folk mix 22 January 2026

A mostly English and Scottish mix this week with a few well known songs including an extended version of Scarborough Fair sung by Martin Carthy when he was a member of the Imagined Village. 

Listen now on Mixcloud or from Monday on Ginger Feather FM 

Bert Jansch - Edge of a Dream
Cara Dillon - Blackwater Side
Davy Graham - Sally Free and Easy
Eddi Reader - My Love Is Like A Red Red Rose
The Imagined Village - Scarborough Fair
GNOSS - Keefa Hill
Leveret - Princess Amelia's Birthday / A Habit Of Hills
Ninebarrow - Coming Home
Macmaster Hay - Stay With You
The Young 'Uns - Gafoor's Bus
Steeleye Span - To Know Him Is To Love Him [ft David Bowie]
Tide Lines - The Last Song
Gilmore Roberts - Fleetwood Fair (live)
Darwin Song Project - The Earl of Darwin's Farewell 

Patti Smith - music and writing

In May 2007 Patti Smith played in the Cumbrian town of Ulverston. She was participating in a poetry festival nearby and the gig was a rare opportunity to see her playing live with her band in the north of England. By some stroke of luck we had managed to get seats in the front row of the balcony and strangely there were several empty seats in the row behind, the gig most probably having sold out within days of tickets going on sale. 

Her show featured many of the tracks from the covers album Twelve which she had just released. Coincidentally it was a cover version of one of her songs which introduced me to her music, namely Dancing Barefoot by The Mission. I recall midway through the gig Patti removing her jacket to squeals of delight from members of the audience with herself being somewhat bemused that people still saw her as some kind of sex icon now in her late 50s. 

Ulverston is probably best known for being the birthplace of Stan Laurel who crossed the ocean to find fame and fortune in America with his partner-in-comedy Oliver Hardy. I don't recall Patti name-checking many comedians in her book but there are plenty of authors, poets, artists and musicians, both living and dead, who grace the pages of this memoir. 

I must admit to not having read any of her previous books but her writing style, especially towards the end, can be somewhat flowery and esoteric. The final chapter reminded me of a line in the Alex Cox film 'Repo Man' where Otto the punk is in conversation with odd job man Miller in the car pound. Miller is rather an eccentric character who is trying to explain some theory or other to Otto by talking about a plate of shrimp. Otto, in response, comes out with the line, "Did you do a lot of acid Miller, back in the hippie days?"

But "Bread of Angels" is far from being the ramblings of an acid casualty. Rather, Patti is someone who is extremely well-read, has a particularly good memory and cannot help but see the world through the pens, paintbrushes and musical instruments of all the culture she has absorbed (and created) over the last seven or eight decades. 

Other reviewers will give you a chapter-by-chapter breakdown of her book but I was inspired to write this after reading a review by Molly Morrison on the indiependent.co.uk website. She is obviously a big fan of Patti's writing, which stretches across the generations, and shows that if you put the technology to one side, we are still the same human beings who get the urge to write poetry or prose, make music, create paintings or make sculptures out of stone or wood.

I have recently downloaded the 50th anniversary release of Patti's debut album Horses which is probably a good place to start if you are new to her music. I'd also recommend Twelve. Her version of George Harrison's Within You Without You is up there with Wayne Hussey singing Dancing Barefoot. 

Colin Bertram
18/01/2026