Quite a week coming up as the Joe Solo gigging machine finally grinds to a halt for 2016.

We finish with a flourish though, starting at Cafe INDIEpendent in Scunthorpe with my Punk Soul Brother Daniel Lucas AKA Boss Caine on Saturday November 26th. We’ll be singing songs of hope and heartache and everything in between, and collaborating on my song ‘Halo’ too, so it will be a cracking night in one of the best venues in the world.

From there to Monday. It will be quite a day. First up I’ll be heading to Snaith to master the next album ‘THE FUTURE NEEDS US NOW‘ ready for a January release. Really excited about this record, I’ve put a lot into it and I hope you all get a lot out of it too. The sleeve artwork based on an Alan Morgan image is immense, and Kevin Pearson‘s work on the 8-page booklet is simply stunning. Monday is my annual pilgrimage to Strange Reality Studios where Chris Miley will press ‘The Good Button‘ and the whole album suddenly comes into focus…..at least that’s how it seems anyway….it’s probably way more complicated than that in truth 😉

Monday also sees the much-anticipated release of ‘Merry Christmas From Hatfield Main‘ by Joe Solo & The Hatfield Brigade. The response to this song and the accompanying video have blown us all away and the solidarity we are witnessing from people up and down the country and around the world has been nothing short of breathtaking. Skybet currently have us at 33/1 to take the fabled #XmasNo1 spot, and the Facebook version of the video has been played more than 25,000 times! Watch it HERE on YouTube:

The single will be available for download from all the usual suspects…Amazon, Spotify, i-tunes etc….and your support in our #Miners4No1 campaign would be greatly appreciated. Every penny raised from sales will go to food banks and a new crisis fund in the pit villages of South Yorkshire. Please join in with this little bit of history.

…..and on top of all that,Monday is my birthday too.

Tuesday sees a VERY special gig at Unity Works Theatre in Wakefield as I play my second gig for the #JC4PM tour and I’m joining a bill including Jeremy Hardy, Francesca Martinez, Norman Lovett, Grace Petrie, Robb Johnson, Tiernan Douieb and hosted by Matt Abbott. As if that wasn’t enough I’ll be joined on stage by The Hatfield Brigade to sing what might very well be the only live performance of ‘Merry Christmas From Hatfield Main‘ so get yourselves to the online ticket office NOW before they are all gone!

Then the final gig of a frantic and genuinely incredible year will be at Shakespeares in Sheffield on Friday December 2nd with my musical brothers Boss Caine, Mark Wynn and Dave Woodcock. A cracking way to finish off.

Would be good to see you along the way.

January brings a new album and then I’ll be locked in t’shed dreaming it all up again as I start to write the next one…..

In the meantime though, let’s finish what has been an awful political year by planting the miners at No.1 and saving Christmas for a lot of people.

Bring it on.