A word about my musical 'heroes'. As a singer-songwriter myself, my musical heroes have' rather obviously, also tended to be singers and songwriters. For many years my two favourite singers have been Ray Charles and Aretha Franklin. There are lots of good singers around, but these two have always been in a league of their own. I don't try to emulate then (I couldn't even if I wanted to), but for me they are a benchmark of quality. ​ My first real musical hero was Buddy Holly. He was around at just the right time for me, and I was, (and still am!) so impressed by his song-writing skill. I still find it hard to believe that he was only recording for a couple of years. I saw Little Richard recently in London and although he has obviously aged somewhat (he was 72 at the time) his voice was still as visceral as back in the old days when he could knock your socks off. Chuck Berry, although for me not a great singer, is definitely one of the great songwriters. So witty and perceptive... I love his stuff. ​ Elvis, of course, (although, for me, only the early stuff - particularly the Sun period). And Jerry Lee - as exciting as you can get! ​ I recently put a lot of different tracks onto an ipod (to play my practice guitar against) and discovered that by far the largest amount of stuff was by Bonnie Raitt. Tasty. ​ And one track by Sister Rosetta - 'The Lords Prayer' has always been in the back of my mind - brilliant improvisation and great feeling. ​ And then of course there are the blues men. Most of my blues heroes play acoustic guitar (I'm not as keen on the later Chicago-type blues), as there's something fantastically impressive about a single artist taking on all the musical tasks - singing, writing, guitar accompaniment, - and so it follows that they spontaneously produce an individual, and a naturally cohesive, music. I'm thinking about such wonderful artists as Robert Johnson, - but also the 'blind boys', as they tend to be called, such as Blind Willie Johnson, Blind Boy Fuller, and Blind Gary Davis. All truly great individuals. ​ There are many, many more....