This is What I Want to Say

Throughout a career spanning 40 years, nearly that many albums and thousands of live performances, the Welsh singer-songwriter with the masterly guitar chops has remained committed to making music that is relevant, challenging and vital to his audience. “Really what I do,” he contends “is to try and write songs that might step up and make some sense of a moment in time. A good song makes you feel like you’re not alone in the world.” Having looked back and taken stock of his own life on his last, lockdown-influenced album 1960, here he’s very much in the shared present. Hopeful songs like ‘Grateful’ and ‘It’s a Fine Thing’ acknowledge that, for a man sometimes dubbed ‘The Welsh Springsteen’ and for us all, it ain’t no sin to be glad you’re alive. Meanwhile, the BBC Radio 2-commissioned ‘Albert’s Place’ chronicles the volunteer work of the Sunderland Community Soup Kitchen, daily serving hundreds of people, down on their luck, with food, clothing and shelter. That’s a powerful and provocative scenario but not, Joseph wants us to notice, one that ought to paralyse us with fear.