Posted on

Richard Hawley concludes tour at Scarborough Spa on Thursday after In This City They Call You Love goes top five

Richard Hawley: Made in Sheffield, performing in Scarborough on Thursday. Picture: Dean Chalkley

RICHARD Hawley concludes his 13-date tour with the only Yorkshire gig at Scarborough Spa on Thursday night.

On the heels of his Olivier Award-winning Sheffield musical Standing At The Sky’s Edge opening a six-month West End run at the Gillian Lynne Theatre, the South Yorkshireman will be showcasing his May 31 album, In This City They Call You Love.

Released on BMG, the track listing is Two For His Heels; Have Love; Prism In Jeans; Heavy Rain; People; Hear That Lonesome Whistle Blow; Deep Space; Deep Waters; I’ll Never Get Over You; Do I Really Need To Know?; When The Lights Go Out and ‘Tis Night.

Latest single Two For His Heels is a blues rumble reminiscent of Link Wray and Duane Eddy: a sparse, atmospheric and cinematic song about a deal that goes wrong.

The album title is derived from the lyrics for People, a hymn to his beloved home of Sheffield, the steel city’s proud industrial past and the enduring determination of its citizens.

Summing up his new material, Hawley, 57, says: “I’ve made three albums where I had the title before I’d even begun to record, where I had an agenda. One was Truelove’s Gutter. Another was Standing At The Sky’s Edge, when I wanted to turn everything up and make the music a lot more aggressive, and then this one.

“I wanted it to be multi-coloured in a way…focusing on the voice and what voices can do together. I deliberately only played a handful of guitar solos, to keep it focused on voices, the song and space.”

Two decades have elapsed since Hawley abandoned band life full-time, first with The Longpigs  and then as  Pulp’s guitarist. Nine studio albums have ensued, along with film scores, a self-titled mini album and the 2023 compilation Now Then: The Very Best Of Richard Hawley, his fourth Top Ten album.

The cover artwork for Richard Hawley’s new album, In This City They Call You Love

In addition, he has worked with such collaborators as Arctic Monkeys, Manic Street Preachers, Elbow, Paul Weller, Duane Eddy (co-producing his 2011 album Road Trip), Nancy Sinatra and English folk royalty Martin Carthy and Norma Waterson on 2013’s Bright Phoebus Revisited tour.

In 2002, he co-wrote Clean for Robbie Williams’ debut solo album, Life Thru A Lens; in 2009, he wrote the smouldering ballad After The Rain for Shirley Bassey, and down the years he has performed with All Saints and Texas.

His song Tonight The Streets Are Ours was featured in The Simpsons and Exit Through The Gift Shop: A Banksy Film and Hawley numbers have featured in television dramas Peaky Blinders, The Full Monty and Hijack.

Dear Alien (Who Art In Heaven), co-written with Jarvis Cocker and Wes Anderson for Anderson’s film Asteroid City, was shortlisted for Best Original Song in this year’s Oscars.

Premiered at Sheffield’s Crucible Theatre, the musical Standing At The Sky’s Edge combines 20 Hawley songs with a book by University of York-educated Chris Bush. Winner of Best New Musical and Best Original Score at the 2023 Olivier Awards, the show has moved to the Gillian Lynne Theatre after sold-out Crucible and National Theatre runs.

In 2023, Hawley played five shows with American musician John Grant, former frontman of The Czars, performing the songs of country legend Patsy Cline. 

In This City They Call You Love has become his sixth Top Ten album in a row, available on digipack CD, standard black vinyl, limited-edition transparent blue vinyl exclusive to HMV and indie stores and transparent yellow vinyl, on sale exclusively from the official store, richardhawley.co.uk. 

Richard Hawley, supported by James Bagshaw, Scarborough Spa, June 20, 7.30pm. Also plays Don Valley Bowl, Sheffield, with The Coral and The Divine Comedy, on August 29. Box office: Scarborough, scarboroughspa.co.uk; Sheffield, richardhawley.co.uk.

Posted on

Barbara Dickson & Nick Holland add second night at All Saints Church, Pocklington

Barbara Dickson: Second night added at All Saints Church, Pocklington

AFTER their October 4 gig sold out in record time, Scottish folk singer Barbara Dickson and her pianist Nick Holland are adding a second acoustic performance at All Saints Church, Pocklington, on October 16.

On each night, they will explore her catalogue of songs in this intimate and historic setting, where the pair will let the words and melodies take centre stage as they draw on Dickson’s folk roots, contemporary greats and her classic hits, Answer Me, Another Suitcase In Another Hall, Caravan and the million-selling chart-topper I Know Him So Well. 

The shows are the second collaboration between All Saints and Pocklington-based Hurricane Promotions and follow on from a sold-out event in December with BBC Radio 2 Folk Award winners The Young’uns. Two further shows are due to be announced later this month. Watch this space.

Emerging from the late-Sixties’ Scottish folk scene, Dickson has become Scotland’s best-selling female album artist, earning six platinum, 11 gold and seven silver albums. Her stage career has included the roles of the original Mrs Johnstone in Willy Russell’s Blood Brothers and Viv Nicholson in Spend Spend Spend, both bringing her an Olivier Award for Best Actress. In 2002, she was awarded an OBE for her services to music and drama.

Holland joined her touring band in the 2000s, playing keyboards and adding vocals on her  September 2004 album Full Circle, the first to feature the style of music she now performs. 

Dickson and Holland work as a duo where she plays guitar and piano, her vocals being complemented by his keyboards and harmonies, whether in cathedrals, festivals or theatres.

 “It’s a different experience to working with the bigger band, but just as enjoyable, and gives the music breathing space,” says Dickson, 76.

All Saints Church is “always delighted to see the church used for community events”. “Churches historically have been the social hubs of their communities, bringing people together for fellowship, entertainment and the sharing of ideas and opinions,” says the church statement. “This concert wraps those three things up in one great package.”

Barbara Dickson & Nick Holland, All Saints Church, Pocklington, October 4 (sold out) and October 16, 7.30pm. Also: Leeds City Varieties Music Hall, October 20, 7.30pm. Box office: barbaradickson.net; Leeds, leedsheritagetheatres.com.