This post was going to be about festivals, and the joys (and otherwise) or doing three on consecutive weekends but that will have to wait for another day as today is the day that the new Greg Trooper album Incident on Willow Street dropped through my letterbox.
Now, I’ve been a Trooper fan for years so might be considered biased but this really is a magnificent work. Larry Campbell’s guitars are all over it and they provide the perfect setting for Trooper’s songs. And what songs they are. Trooper sings of the streets, the down and outs, those who are hanging on in quiet desperation and those who cling to their hope in face of impossible odds and find beauty in the most unlikely places.
The accompanying flyer with Trooper’s UK tour dates didn’t make pleasant reading though. In a country which embraces Americana in all it’s many shades Trooper has only managed to get seven dates, four of which are in Scotland. It’s as good a definition of underrated as you could find. I shall be making the 200 mile round trip to the Green Note in London on October 9th (a Wednesday) to catch him and if anyone actually reads this in time I urge you to head over forthwith to http://gregtrooper.com/ and book tickets for the gig nearest to you. You won’t be disappointed.
jeremy searle 
hi Jeremy, you can always come along to my little house gig in high Wycombe ! for the sum of ten pounds I will throw in some drinks & eats.
paul kemp.
yeah the cd is a cracker.
Hi Paul,
Very kind of you and I’d give it serious consideration but i’m othwrwise engaged sadly. Hope it goes well.
Jeremy
Yeah it’s a complete mystery to me why Greg isn’t much better known amongst the Americana fraternity people like Jim White and Otis Gibbs get much bigger followings yet having booked Greg for a gig in Beverley I’ll be surprised if I get past the 50 break even point.