When: 7.30pm on Wednesday 8 February 2012
Where: The Castle Hotel, 66 Oldham Street, Manchester M4 1LE

We’re pleased to be working with Michael Weston King for the first time.

Michael Weston King is widely acknowledged as one of Britain’s finest singer songwriters. Admired by the likes of Chris Hillman, Ron Sexsmith, Jackie Leven and the legendary Townes van Zandt (who recorded one of his songs), he draws his influence from a wide range of styles, from pop to folk, from country to soul, from gospel to blues. He is the former leader of British alt-country pioneers The Good Sons, with whom he made four critically acclaimed albums in a seven year career, which was celebrated by the double album, Cosmic Fireworks – The Best of The Good Sons (1994-2001). Mojo wrote: ‘The band who must rate as England’s very own Uncle Tupelo. A truly thrilling collection.’

For the past ten years he has been a solo troubadour, touring all over the world, performing with the likes of Nick Cave, John Cale, Roger McGuinn, Steve Earle, Guy Clark, America, Chris Hillman, Nils Lofgren, Ron Sexsmith, Arlo Guthrie,  Steve Forbert, Son Volt and many more, and releasing six studio albums, three live albums and a career retrospective dvd, The Crowning Story, along the way.

Many different artists have recorded King’s songs, while a number of his songs have also been used in TV shows in America and Germany. Beautiful Lies, a songbook of his work, was published in 2005,  Happy Infidels, a play by the Irish writer Brian Richmond, was based around twelve of Michael’s songs, and he is currently working on a book about some of the greatest ‘lost’ songs of the past forty years. A solo retrospective collection, The Tender Place, was released in November 2006, while his 2007 studio album, A New Kind of Loneliness, including contributions from Chris Hillman, Ron Sexsmith and Jackie Leven, was met with high critical acclaim, and was widely hailed as his best album to date.

His 2008 live album, Crawling Through The USA, recording during a grueling tour of North America, perfectly showcased the man alone with just his guitar and songs for company.  The album features Michael’s stunning interpretation of the Townes Van Zandt song, Marie. Last year saw Michael address the serious issues facing everyday people in such difficult modern times, when he released I Didn’t Raise My Boy To Be A Soldier – an album made up entirely of protest songs, some new, some old, and some going as far back as the 1900s.  Since its release Michael has appeared at a number of protest festivals, political rallies, and human rights events in the UK, Germany, Scandinavia, North America and, in May 2011, his first ever concerts in China.

The latter half of 2011 will see another musical departure, with the release of an album of country duets, recorded with his wife Lou Dalgleish, under the name of  My Darling Clementine. Entitled How Do You Plead?, it contains twelve brand new MWK songs, paying homage to the likes of George Jones & Tammy Wynette, Porter Waggoner & Dolly Parton, Delaney & Bonnie. It will be released initially in Europe in November 2011.

‘Michael Weston King has a voice part Nashville balladeer and part alt-country hero… a cross between Nick Cave and Rodney Crowell‘ – The Independent

‘Like Tim Hardin, Phil Ochs or Townes van Zandt, King transmutes squalor and self-laceration into pure gold’ – Mojo

Tickets are available from the bar, Common (both no booking fee), Piccadilly Records,Vinyl Exchange, Seetickets.com, WeGotTickets.com, Ticketline.co.uk, Ticketweb.co.uk and on 0871 220 0260.

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