The Sound Lounge

Paul Sexton's Live Archive is a new and exclusive series at the Sound Lounge, in which the music journalist, broadcaster and bestselling author invites you into his personal conversations with some of the world’s greatest artists. Each night will include live interpretations from the featured star's songbook by our host’s favourite performers on the scene today. As part of the series, every ticket holder will come away with a printed transcript of the interview highlights as featured on the night, a personal introduction written by Paul, and a branded Kraft archive envelope in which to keep and collect them. These will build into a permanent record of each event to ensure that the stories shared and our time together are never forgotten. The first featured artist is Bonnie Raitt, from a conversation that Paul recorded with the great blues-rock singer-songwriter and guitarist in the famous Capitol Tower in Los Angeles in March 1994. The occasion was the release of the album Longing In Their Hearts, Bonnie's 12th studio set and her second to reach No. 1 in the US, during the incredible upswing in her commercial and critical fortunes that had begun with 1989's Nick of Time and continued with Luck of the Draw in 1991. For this inaugural Live Archive, we're delighted to announce that our very own Hannah White and Keiron Marshall will be performing, along with the fine vocalist and songwriter Siobhán Parr, who played a stunning set at our recent Record Store Day weekend with guitarist Rick Batey. Completing a great line-up are the emerging Connolly Hayes, featuring Frankie Connolly and Jess Hayes, the dynamic and soulful pairing who were UK Emerging Act of The Year nominees at the UK Blues Awards 2024. During the evening you'll hear extensive excerpts from Paul's vintage interview with Bonnie, tracks from Longing In Their Hearts and many other Raitt classics both earlier and later. She enthuses about her early days as a music fan, listening to Ike & Tina Turner, Bob Dylan and Aretha Franklin, and talks candidly about getting signed, not wanting to be a star, how she writes a song and working with her heroes.