Focus Music Notes. "Out of the Blues". Popular music through the decades

Olly Murs will release his debut single on August 29. The track ‘Please Don’t Let Me Go’ is co-written by Olly along with Steve Robson and Claude Kelly. A major radio network has already added the single to their playlist, 9 weeks upfront of release. The single will be available as a CD and download, with b-side/extra track ‘ This One’s For The Girls ’. Following his appearance on the X Factor, Olly signed a deal with Epic, who are responsible for the phenomenal success for JLS, and Syco Music. Olly said “ I’m so excited to be releasing this track which I co-wrote with Steve and Claude. It was important to me to be releasing an original song, and you can blast this one in the car with the windows down and the sun shining ”. Olly is currently working on his debut album due for release later this year. He is collaborating with Roy Stride from Scouting For Girls, John Shanks (Take That), Eg White (Adele, James Morrison, Duffy), Claude Kelly (Jason Derulo, Miley Cyrus, Kelly Clarkson), S

Melodica, Melody and Me release their debut single, ‘Piece Me Back Together’ on Monday 12th July 2010 through Everybody’s Stalking and confirm lead support on Bombay Bicycle Club’s acoustic tour. Check out the beautiful new video: click here Brixton’s original folksteppers Melodica, Melody and Me announce the release of their debut single, Piece Me Back Together , through Everybody’s Stalking on Monday 12th July 2010. The new single will be available on limited edition seven-inch vinyl and download. Huw (Vocal/Guitar), Rudi (Guitar, Charango, Kora, Melodica), Emilio (Kora, Melodica, Charango), Anna (Vocals, Melodica), John (Bass) and Greta (Drums) uniquely combine their folk influences of Bert Jansch and Victor Jara with their Dub and Reggae heroes Augustus Pablo and Lee Scratch Perry and have become Britain’s go-to band for all-night skanking and festival stomping. From their first proper gig supporting Whitest Boy Alive at Hoxton Bar Grill MMM's infectious live set has been c

Tom Jones teams up with producer Ethan Johns (Laura Marling, Kings of Leon, Paulo Nutini, Rufus Wainwright) to release a remarkable new album on 26th July on Island Records . Entitled ‘ Praise and Blame ’, the album is a captivating collection of songs drawn from the American spiritual repertoire. Tracks include interpretations of works by Susan Werner, Bob Dylan and John Lee Hooker, alongside takes on traditional songs previously rendered by the likes of The Staple Singers, Mahalia Jackson and Sister Rosetta Tharpe. Tom and producer/player Ethan Johns lead a small band of players - drummer Jeremy Stacey and bassist Dave Bronze, through tracks that were recorded wholly live in singular performances at Real World Studios in Bath. Further guest contributions come from Booker T. Jones, Chris Holland, Gillian Welch and Orin Waters. ‘ Praise and Blame’ is an evocative collection, with Tom going back to his roots on stripped down interpretations of gospel, blues, traditional and countr

Jackson Tennessee born, London based singer-songwriter Lauren Pritchard, a new artist with a remarkable voice and a rare song-writing talent to match, follows the release of her acclaimed debut “ The Jackson Sessions ” ep with the r elease on July 19th of her new Island ep “Painkillers” . Written by the 22 year old Pritchard and produced by Eg White , best known for co-writing and producing Adele’s Grammy-winning classic hit “Chasing Pavements” and Duffy’s worldwide smash “Warwick Avenue”, the track features legendary sticksman and Roots founder Questlove on drums. The full track listing is as follows: 1. Painkillers 2. Try A Little Harder 3. Painkillers (Body Language Remix) 4. Painkillers (Flotilla Remix) Since the beginning of the year Lauren has performed live across the UK building an ever growing fanbase. The young American was personally invited by Paul Weller to join him on stage during his recent In Concert Radio 2 session after he had heard her debut ep The Jackson

Half Rwandan and half Belgium Stromae produced European Billboard no.1 hit ‘Alors On Danse’ on his computer at home with a desktop mic. Even more remarkable, he created his buzz when filming homemade ‘lessons in how to make a hit’ for his Youtube channel, starting in January 2009 (‘Les Leçon De Stromae’ or ‘Stromae’s Lessons’). Lesson no. 8 ‘Alors On Dance’ became a viral sensation and then a real hit on Europe’s radio airwaves, getting to no.1 across the continent and running up 7 million Youtube plays. It started when the internet excitement from his music production Youtube shows caught the attention of DJ Julie on the dance specialist NRJ Mash Up Show of France’s biggest radio station in June 2009. Getting rave reactions on the specialist show it was moved to playlist rotation proper and from there it shot to no.1 in both France and Germany. French language blog Fluo Kids described ‘Alors on Danse’ as like ‘Calabria X tranxene’. ‘Calabria’ referring to Alex Gaudino’s 2007 dance hi

For the first time since 2008, Robyn brought the party back to London with a one off show at Heaven last week. Now she is pleased to announce a series of UK dates later in the year. The first of three albums – Body Talk Pt 1 – was released on June 14 with the lead single ‘ Dancing On My Own ’ becoming her fourth UK Top 10 hit. The second album – Body Talk pt 2 along with its single ‘ Hang With Me ’ will be released on September 6.  Pre-sale tickets for October will be available from www.robyn.com Dates: 18/10 Glasgow ABC 19/10 Manchester Academy 2 21/10 Brighton Concorde 22/10 Shepherds Bush Empire WHAT THE PAPERS SAY "Is there a more inspiring pop star on the planet than Robyn?" NME “Dancing On My Own, a digital torch song worth of Confessions-era Madonna’ The Times ‘Watching Robyn is comparable to seeing a one woman rave…she’s infectious” Daily Star

Mumford & Sons are pleased to announce details of a UK tour this autumn , their biggest headline shows to date. The dates in October will follow a relentless touring schedule for the band, that has taken them across India, Australia, Europe and America over the past 12 months. Tickets are on pre-sale now from www.mumfordandsons.com for £18.50/£20 (London) and on general sale from Wednesday. In addition to the live dates, fans have the option to pre-order a limited EP called ' Volume 1 ' under the band's alter ego, The Wedding Band . 'Volume 1' was produced by Ethan Jones and Dom Monks within two days at a London studio, with some of the band's old friends. The EP comprises of songs that are regularly heard played out on the band's tour bus, but very rarely live on stage. The 10" EPs will be limited to 100 copies per show, and can only be bought via www.mumfordandsons.com in conjunction with the purchase of gig tickets. Any remaining copies of the