Authors
Clinton Heylin
Clinton Heylin is one of the leading rock historians in the world, with over two dozen books to his name. These include biographies of Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, Bruce Springsteen and Sandy Denny. Route publish Clinton’s account of Bob Dylan’s gospel years, Trouble In Mind; the infamous turning electric era of 1965/66, JUDAS!; a history of Fairport Convention and English folk-rock, What We Did Instead of Holidays; and his explosive look at the birth of punk, Anarchy in the Year Zero.
Helen O’Hara
Helen O’Hara is a violinist, composer, musical director and arranger. She was a key member of Dexys Midnight Runners from 1982-1986 and was Tanita Tikaram’s violinist from 1988-1990. She has recorded two solo instrumental albums, Southern Hearts and A Night In Ireland.
Iain Matthews
Iain Matthews first gained public attention in 1967 as a founding member and vocalist for the innovative music group Fairport Convention. In 1970 he created his own band Matthews Southern Comfort and had a worldwide hit with Joni Mitchell’s ‘Woodstock’. During the 1980s Matthews turned his attention to the business of music as an A&R person for both Island and Windham Hill Records, but was encouraged by Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin to rekindle his creative flame. In 2000, Matthews moved to the Netherlands where he currently lives and works.
Ian Clayton
Ian Clayton is an author, broadcaster and storyteller from Featherstone, West Yorkshire. His stories are about making sense of where we come from. His books include Bringing It All Back Home, a bestselling book about music; Song For My Father about his lifelong search for a father figure; Our Billie about loss; and It’s The Beer Talking, about adventures in public houses.
John Bauldie
John Bauldie was raised in the northern English town of Bolton. Throughout the seventies, alongside his work as a lecturer in English literature, he was an avid collector of rare and unreleased Bob Dylan recordings. In the eighties, he established The Telegraph, a popular quarterly journal of Dylan studies, which he edited from 1981 until his tragic death in 1996. He was a staff writer at Q magazine and Mojo, edited several books, and wrote the liner notes for Bob Dylan’s Bootleg Series Volumes 1-3 box set, for which he received a Grammy nomination.
Michael Gray
Michael Gray is a critic & public speaker. He pioneered the serious study of Dylan’s work with Song & Dance Man: The Art of Bob Dylan, 1972, the first such critical book. Born in 1946, he grew up on Merseyside and studied History & English Literature at York University, where he interviewed British historian A.J.P. Taylor and chatted with visiting American guitarist Jimi Hendrix. His books include the massively updated Song & Dance Man III (1999), The Bob Dylan Encyclopedia (2006), and Hand Me My Travelin’ Shoes: In Search Of Blind Willie McTell (2007).
Michael Nath
Michael Nath was brought up in South Wales and Lincolnshire. He is a senior lecturer in English at the University of Westminster. His major teaching and research interests are in Creative Writing and Modernism, as well as in Shakespearean Drama. His first novel, La Rochelle, was shortlisted for the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction.
La Rochelle is his first novel. His stories also feature in Wonderwall, Ideas Above our Station, Bonne Route and The Route Book at Bedtime.
Paul Hanley
Paul Hanley was the drummer in Manchester legends The Fall from 1980-85 and now plays with Brix & The Extricated. He’s currently completing his English degree with the Open University and occasionally writes for Louder Than War. He’s married with three children and once got 21 on Ken Bruce’s ‘Popmaster’.
Simon Wolstencroft
Simon Wolstencroft is a musician from Manchester, England, best known for playing drums with The Fall between 1986 and 1997.
Steve Hanley
Steve Hanley is a legendary bass player best known for his time with iconic Manchester band The Fall.