Richard Hawley knows “who kicked the rock and roll barn door open” & shows us the best records ever

Richard Hawley’s dad was a guitarist who played with John Lee Hooker and Memphis Slim so he grew up in a home full of old blues, rock and roll and country. He started playing Sheffield clubs himself at the age of 12. A third of his records belonged to his parents, many saved when his dad had to sell some in the steel workers’ strike of 1980. He was born in 1967 but firmly rooted in the ‘50s. This podcast was recorded in his music room where pulls out a handful of his favourite singles and shows us a 1955 jukebox so hardcore it’ll “play a pizza” and a Bond-style portable record-player in a suitcase. And talks about his new double ‘best of’ compilation ‘Now Then’. Also included …

… a story about Sonny Boy Williamson that’ll make your eyes water.

… the revelation of “the source of the rock and roll river”.

… a Monkees-related gift from Mike Nesmith.

… tales about his Uncle Frank who ran the Mojo Club in Sheffield.

… meeting Steve Mackay (of Pulp) when he was working in the record section of a Sheffield ironmongers.

… the old bluesman who spat blood into a spittoon before he went on.

… the effect of seeing the Cramps and Echo & the Bunnymen.

… getting the call from Peaky Blinders about recording Dylan’s Ballad Of A Thin Man.

… and some records the whole wide world should hear, among them …
Brand New Cadillac by Vince Taylor
Me And My Chauffeur by Big Mama Thornton
How Much Land (Does A Man Need) by Frank Minion
Ramblin’ Rose by Beauregard and the Tuffs
Dear Dad by Chuck Berry
My Baby’s Coming Home by BB King
Tainted Love by Dave Phillips & the Hot Rod Gang
I Got Loaded by Little Bob
Flatfoot Sam by Oscar Wills
The Fantastic Expedition Of Dillard & Clark
… and “the funkiest record ever made!”

Order ‘Now Then’ here …
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Then-Very-Be...

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