“We're all broken boys and girls at heart,” claims Frank Turner in “The Fisher King Blues”, pinpointing the tight focus of Tape Deck Heart, in which bouts of rollicking Mumfordry help cauterise the blunt exposure of emotional scars.

Born London, read physics at Oxford, dropped out, went to work, had four kids and then released a debut album as his 50th birthday approached.

A genuinely odd collaboration, this, between the classical pianist Dinnerstein and the country singer-songwriter Merritt.

From art to sport, poetry to nature, travel to food, history to music: our writers select the best of the year’s books in a comprehensive guide to the highlights in every shade of the literary spectrum – except grey

Sir Philip Green has boasted his Bhs-to-Miss Selfridge Arcadia retail empire is now debt free after he sold a 25 per cent stake in Topshop and Topman to a US private-equity firm for a larger than expected £500m.

"In America, we feel a pressure to be cheerful," quips Suzanne Vega, a songwriter not renowned for her chirpy material. However here celebrating the 25th anniversary of her finest album, Solitude Standing,she appears relaxed and engaging.

It'll cost you a grand to get VIP seats for the Rolling Stones at the 02 arena - but maybe it's worth it to see the passing of a piece of modern history

Young Cajun garage-rockers Mama Rosin have found their perfect producer in Jon Spencer: an alliance of primitivist spirits keen to keep a roots music-form out of the museum, much as with Spencer's earlier work with bluesman RL Burnside.

Music fans have been told that two UK concerts by singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen have been switched to a different venue about 75 miles away.

Success in songwriting is as much a lottery as a measure of true quality.

After two dozen albums in two decades, Sun Kil Moon's Mark Kozelek remains as melancholy as ever.

Respected music magazine The Word is to close after nine years.

If you see a wilder hour on a British stage this year, I'll eat his hat

After his 1980s comeback, Jones spent two decades milking his kitsch appeal. Now, he wants us to take him seriously (and turn a blind eye to his participation in BBC1's execrable The Voice).