The Bookshop Band

In conversation with Shaun Bythell, author of The Diary Of A Bookseller

In Season 1 we talk to authors who's books have inspired songs on album, EMERGE, RETURN. In this episode we talk to Shaun Bythell, author of the international bestselling The Diary Of A Bookseller. Shaun is the owner of The Bookshop, in Wigtown, which is Scotland's Book Town. We first arrived in Wigtown in 2013, after a gig cancellation elsewhere, and a Google search revealed a cluster of bookshops on the SW coats of Scotland. We played in Shaun's bookshop, spent a wonderful couple of days in his hospitality, and joked all the way to Newton Stewart that one day we should move here. In 2017 we did. Shaun wrote about the night we arrived in his diary, and our song is a response to that, as we felt his entry was a little short. The song is called The Night We Came To Wigtown (Scotland's Famous Book Town) and is on our new album, EMERGE, RETURN, produced by Pete Townshend. Conversation meanders around topics including answers to questions such as... what makes a good second hand bookseller? What to look out for in old books. Are second hand bookshops curated? Does he get annoyed or excited by a rude customer? What was Wigtown like before it became the Book Town of Scotland? What are Shaun's favourite bookshops in the UK (and which really is the largest bookshop in Scotland?) What music does Shaun listen to? Vinyl verses digital, ebooks versus physical books - discuss, and other great books about bookshops. You can find out about the album here: www.emergereturn.com [https://www.emergereturn.com] You can see Shaun's book here: https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/the-diary-of-a-bookseller-shaun-bythell/939003?ean=9781781258637 [https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/the-diary-of-a-bookseller-shaun-bythell/939003?ean=9781781258637] And you can find out more about the band here: www.thebookshopband.co.uk [https://www.thebookshopband.co.uk]

In conversation with Robert Macfarlane, author of Underland

Robert Macfarlane is a best selling British author, best know for his books on landscape and nature, including The Old Ways, The Lost Words (with Jackie Morris), and now Underland, an exploration of the weird and wondrous realms, both natural and man made, that exist beneath our feet, and beyond our perception of time. Deep time. The Bookshop Band wrote a song inspired by Robert Macfarlane's book Underland, called Deep Time, from their 14th studio album, produced by music legend Pete Townshend. Their conversation touches on Winter Soltise mistakes, which owls to take underground, working with musicians, including Johnny Flynn, pot-holing mistakes and loosing cellos to caves, recording the song with Pete Townshend, metaphors of the underground and the detail of the dark, Christmas cards from Stanley Donwood and Household Worms, plus an exciting cover reveal of the new album (doesn't work so well on audio).

In conversation with Pete Townshend

This episode takes place in Mr B's Emporium of Reading Delights in Bath, the birthplace of The Bookshop Band. Nic Bottomley, the owner, talks to the band and legendary musician Pete Townshend about how they first met, and ended up working on the band's 14th studio album, EMERGE, RETURN, together. They talk on hearing the band for the first time, the recording process and producing the music, on the panic writing of songs and authors reactions, and indeed on remembering songs, with diversions into Bert Jansch’s best products, Pete’s love of books and bookselling, and buying £50 organs on eBay. Buyer collects. www.emergereturn.com [https://www.emergereturn.com] www.thebookshopband.co.uk [https://www.thebookshopband.co.uk]