A bit of Rough

How the launch of Rough Trade Records in 1977 opened the door for generations of renegade music-makers

A Quick One

Waiting for the mag? It’s not early, it’s

“We hit the godhead”

Octogenarian folk trailblazer Bonnie Dobson is born again in the company of The Hanging Stars

I got the blues

How did a young Manchester lad in an M&S cardie obtain candid photos of all the R&B and rock’n’roll greats? Brian Smith explains

HAVE MERCY

When sudden tragedy struck, NATALIE BERGMAN found solace in the New Mexico desert. Shedding indie rock for psychedelic gospel-soul, music played a big part in her healing – while her latest album finds fresh hope in new life. “People form bands because we’re lost,” she tells Kevin EG Perry. “We’re like: ‘Hello, we’re looking for our home here on Earth.’”

HOME BODIES

Natalie Bergman on five key influences on My Home Is Not In This World …

BERGMAN ON FILM

Four essential movie and music video appearances

ENJOYING THE RIDE

From Ken Kesey’s Acid Tests to extended residencies at Las Vegas’s hi-tech phenomenon the Sphere – and, soon, the storied stage of the Royal Albert Hall – it’s been a long, strange trip for BOBBY WEIR . But the guardian of the GRATEFUL DEAD ’ s legacy still has further to go. “Am I still on the bus now? Yeah, I am,” he tells Nick Hasted

THE OTHER ONE

Bobby dazzler: a buyer’s guide

LOVE AND PEACE IN LAS VEGAS

The Dead’s 21st-century Trip

How Long Do I Have To Wait For You?”

From Rikers Island to Amy Winehouse and “Uptown Funk”: how a late-blooming diva and an indie-label clique helped rejuvenate a classic sound

TIME LINE

1996 Sharon Jones sings backing on Lee Fields’

MUSIC FOR PLEASURE

Deep inside his London studio, BRIAN ENO is busy bringing “playful” experimental strategies to the studio graft – as his new collaborative albums with conceptual artist Beatie Wolfe attest. But, over pastries, an uncharacteristically digressive Eno finds time to discuss Scott Walker’s voice, communal living with Harmonia, mid-‘60s ‘happenings’ and his deep enthusiasm to create anew. “I’m sorry to be so shamelessly enthusiastic about my work,” he tells Tom Pinnock

“WE’VE PLAYED THE SAME GUITAR AT THE SAME TIME!”

Beatie Wolfe on her “restorative” work with Eno

THE ROAD TO LUMINAL & LATERAL

How Eno got to the ambient Western drift of his new albums

Peggy Seeger

Taking her bow after an extraordinary career, the godmother of Anglo-American folk looks back at her landmark releases

ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE MIDWEST

Away from his day job as The National’s lugubrious frontman, MATT BERNINGER has reached back into his Ohio upbringing for a ruminative new solo record. But behind the childhood tales of gang fights, drowned train cars and Christmas tree farms lurks midlife melancholy. “I’m writing about trying to understand my own fear,” he tells Laura Barton

THE ROAD TO GET SUNK

The new album’s antecedents

NATIONAL TREASURES

A serial collaborator, here are three of Matt Berninger’s best partners

AFTER FOREVER

What is this that stands before me? Only the original lineup of BLACK SABBATH , gathered together for the final time! To celebrate the event, Uncut hears their story from the secret ingredient of the band’s heavy swing: drummer BILL WARD . “I jump into a song and explode,” he tells John Robinson

FILLS TO PAY THE BILLS

Bill’s Top 10 Sabbath masterworks

“I’VE NO IDEA WHEN WE GO ON”

Back To The Beginning: Bill’s inside track

TIME HAS TOLD ME

A trove of unreleased music shines revelatory new light on NICK DRAKE ’ s acclaimed debut, Five Leaves Left , mapping the album’s genesis via outtakes, alternate versions and rediscovered recordings. Crucially, these also allow us to hear from the shy, elusive songwriter himself, as he explains the ideas behind his remarkable music from a distance of over 50 years. In the company of Drake’s closest collaborators, Nick Hasted pieces together the true story behind one of the most mythologised albums of all time. As one confidant confirms, “No-one’s ever been that close to these tapes…”

“WE WERE VERY OPEN TO EVENTS”

Julian Lloyd on photographing Nick Drake

“THE FINDINGS WERE TRULY ASTONISHING!”

The search for the ‘lost’ music on The Making Of Five Leaves Left

“MORE INTIMATE, MORE REALISTIC…”

Joe Boyd on Five Leaves Left’s strings

Feedback

Send your brickbats, bouquets, reminiscences, textual critiques, billets-doux and all forms of printable correspondence to letters@uncut.co.uk

Crossword

Win £50 of Rough Trade vouchers!

Gwenno

The trilingual folk-pop star on her musical utopias: “There’s a purity to what it expresses”

Uncut

On the cover: Nick Drake by Estate Of

Rock it from the tombs

As Queens Of The Stone Age release a revelatory new stripped-down concert film, Josh Homme recounts his “near-life experience” in the Paris catacombs

Friendship

WE’RE NEW HERE

Uncut Playlist

On the stereo this month...

The New Sounds

15 tracks of the month’s best music

AN AUDIENCE WITH... ARTHUR BAKER

The electro super-producer on Bob, Bruce, Beastie Boys’ food fights and upsetting Fleetwood Mac

PULP More ROUGH TRADE

THE UNCUT GUIDE TO THIS MONTH’S KEY RELEASES

THE ROAD TO MORE

How Jarvis Cocker stopped worrying and learned to love domesticity

Q & A

Jarvis Cocker : “It’s going to be interesting…”

ALAN SPARHAWK With Trampled By Turtles SUB POP 8/10

Fellowship, easement and instinct on the songwriter’s second after Low.

Q & A

Alan Sparhawk : “I was still feeling pretty

A to Z

This month…

BC CAMPLIGHT

A clean break: Brian Christinzio, aka BC Camplight

NEIL YOUNG AND THE CHROME HEARTS Talkin To The Trees REPRISE 7/10

A ‘new’ band, family dynamics, country hymns: it’s all to play for in Neil’s 80th year.

KELSEY WALDON

Every Ghost OH BOY 8/10

AMERICANA ROUND-UP

ALYSSE GAFKJEN EARLY August sees the solo

JAMES McMURTRY

James McMurtry: “I could hear a melody”

POOR CREATURE All Smiles Tonight RIVER LEA 8/10

Lankum meet Landless in drone-folk heaven. By Nick Hasted

Q & A

Ruth Clinton and Cormac MacDiarmada : “There was an extra level of heavy”

VAN MORRISON

Remembering Now VIRGIN MUSIC 8/10

SLOW MOTION COWBOYS Wolf Of St Elmo ARKAM 9/10

Ravishing Americana from a state-hopping urban explorer.

Q & A

Pete Fields : “I’m committed to exploring every

DIONNE WARWICK

Make It Easy On Yourself: The Scepter Recordings 1962–1971 SOULMUSIC

VERY DIONNE

Three key stopping-off points beyond the Scepter recordings

MIKE OLDFIELD

Hergest Ridge (50th Anniversary) UNIVERSAL/ISLAND 8/10

STEP UP TO THE MIKE

Oldfield’s career high-water marks

A to Z

This month…

THE BETA BAND

The Beta Band (Steve Mason second right): reissued

REDISCOVERED

Uncovering the underrated and overlooked

SUPER DJATA BAND DE BAMAKO

Authentique Vol 2 Feu Vert 81–82 NUMERO GROUP 8/10

ELECTRIC AVENUES

Three more lost classics from Mali

THE SPECIALIST

VARIOUS ARTISTS All The Young Droids: Junkshop Synth

“It’s a very poignant time”

The Who bow out? Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend call a press conference to announce their final US tour

Seeing for miles

Breaking America was the making of The Who . Photographer Tom Wright was there to document it all

MARK EITZEL

Moth Club, London, April 29

MARGO CILKER

Voodoo Rooms, Edinburgh, April 29

SCREEN

A satisfyingly bittersweet British comedy; a bloody, multicultural late-1700s yarn; a true tale of Nazi resistance; and more…

REVIEWED THIS MONTH

THE BALLAD OF WALLIS ISLAND Directed

ALSO OUT...

Ballerina BALLERINA RELEASED JUNE 6 Ana

WHEN BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN CAME TO BRITAIN BBC 8/10

Fans and industry folk celebrate 50 years of UK shows in a new Boss doc.

BOOKS

I N The Last Great Dream ,

B&W’s wireless speaker just got even better

BOWERS & WILKINS ZEPPELIN PRO EDITION

Not Fade Away

Fondly remembered this month...

Uncut

Kelsey Media, The Granary Downs Court, Yalding Hill,