10. Alasdair Roberts, David McGuinness and Amble SkuseWhat News

I’ve known Alasdair a long time. He’s such a good bloke, with such integrity. I remember him sending a very early album of his to me, and I liked it, but I didn’t love it. His singing quickly came into its own though, and it’s especially fine on this album, which is one of my favourites of recent years. He doesn’t dramatise anything, but he always gives me goosebumps, and he knows old songs so very, very well. I saw him upstairs at a pub in Laugharne a few years ago and he was wonderful. Nobody handles a ballad like him.