Once upon a time, out of Middlesbrough, there came a trio whose music remains the very epitome of Englishness, albeit an Englishness informed by the universality of Jazz, Blues and the sort of Folk Music as such we might only hear in our dreams. In 2003 they did a couple of concerts to promote a new album (their first in thirty years!) in their old home in The Lion Inn on Blakey Ridge, North Yorkshire, and, sadly, since that time two members of that trio have passed on.

Whether not the name Back Door means anything to anyone here I know not; likewise that of Ron Aspery, Tony Hicks or Colin Hodgkinson, though chances are a few of you are aware of the legendary bass playing of the latter; but the music of this unique trio remains as English as anything WAV might dream of in his nationalistic culturally challenged idyll.      

Here's a YouTube clip from that 2003 concert high on the North Yorkshire Moors. Next time I'm passing, I'll pop in and drink a pint or two in thanks and gratitude that such music existed at all; English music to be truly proud of.

Back Door - Askin' the Way