We’ve always liked Thea Gilmore who once crossed America with Joan Baez in a pre-Election campaign tour and has released 21 albums (“I’ve got musical ADHD!)”. She looks back here at the first shows she ever saw and played which involves …

… a deep dive into Jake Thackray – “Last Will And Testament still makes me cry”

… spotting her dad in the crowd in the 1970 Isle of Wight Festival movie and why “My dad treated Dave Pegg’s dog” jump-started her career…

… what Joan Baez did on their pre-Election American tour the night George W Bush won a second term

… “Thea Gilmore looks Borstal-bound”: her first review, in Mojo in 1998

… two weeks’ life-changing work experience at Fairport’s Wormwood studios

… “there’s no point writing songs if you don’t perform them”

… which are easier, small gigs or big ones?

… Ani DiFranco getting the audience to harmonise on When Doves Cry, “an epiphany”

… intense stage fright versus the “precocious teenage belief that I was interesting”

… the impact of first hearing It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)

… and when someone leaving “reduces your audience by a fifth”

Tickets for Thea Gilmore’s tour here: https://www.theagilmore.net/live

Order ‘Thea Gilmore - My Own Private Riot 2008-2015,' 7CD Box Set here: https://www.cherryred.co.uk/thea-gilmore-my-own-private-riot-2008-2015-7cd-box-set

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Roger Armstrong co-founded the legendary Rock On record shop and was running the Chiswick label long before the punk rock explosion of independents, a believer that you could license rare R&B, soul and rockabilly classics while cutting new records with rising stars (Shane MacGowan, Kirsty MacColl and Joe Strummer among them). He then co-founded Ace Records and talks to us here about the thrill of trawling through American label vaults, locating vintage tracks and finding them a whole new audience. Along with …

… seeing Ella Fitzgerald and the Beatles in Belfast in the early ‘60s

... inventing a new Irish rock circuit and turning showbands into soul bands

… how American Graffiti, Gaz’s Rockin’ Blues and the mod revival all chimed with Ace Records’ re-issues

… promoting ‘Tin’ Lizzy (“that’s what it sounded like on the phone”) and being immortalised in one of their lyrics (“I get my records at the Rock On stall”)

… Joe Strummer in the 101-ers – “sensational, full-tilt, as if playing a stadium”

… releasing Dylan’s Theme-Time Radio Hour box-sets and the size of his record collection

… finding a Little Richard demo and making an Elvis Presley speech album a money-spinner

… being a pioneer tape rat and crate-digger and Ace Records quality control – “Stack ‘em low, sell ‘em high!”

… “think of the strapline, then choose the tracks”: making compilations with Jon Savage, Bob Stanley, Bobby Gillespie and Paul Weller

… plus reflections on John Martyn, Carol Grimes, Brinsley Schwarz, Rocky Sharpe, Irma Thomas, Arthur Alexander and the Count Bishops (“like the Stones at 78”).

Order ‘Chiswick Records 1975 - 1982 Seven Years At 45 RPM’ here: https://www.acerecords.co.uk/chiswick-records-1975-1982-seven-years-at-45-rpm

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On the menu at the rock and roll state banquet …

… Into the Mystic, Meet On The Ledge, In My Life, Tom Waits’ Take It With Me and other perfect songs for a last farewell

… the day we joined the world’s best band

… Robert Redford’s blinding handsomeness and the greatest moment – all three seconds of it – in Butch Cassidy And the Sundance Kid

… best-looking rock stars

… were the Shadows really a UK Eurovision entry?

… “very special guests” and the new age of the stadium rock “bring-on”

… how John Prine and Iris DeMent won the big door prize

… “the movie camera is the biggest lie-detector in the world”

… strange double bills of our time - the Foo Fighters and Rick Astley, Bo Diddley and the Clash

Plus Cary Grant smoking, watching Brad Pitt do ordinary things and birthday guest Steven Way on the subtle billing of support acts.

Find out more about how to help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.