After the spiky punk riffs and power pop melodies of 'Happiness in Magazines' and 'Love Travels At Illegal Speeds', Graham took a very different path for his seventh solo album, 2009's 'The Spinning Top'.

Buying himself a vintage Martin acoustic guitar, he sat at his kitchen table for weeks on end teaching himself the complex fingerpicking style of his folk guitarist heroes.

Featuring contributions from Robyn Hitchcock, Martin Carthy and late Pentangle double bassist Danny Thompson, The Spinning Top is one of the most ambitious and rich records of Graham's career, its bucolic atmosphere and narrative arc taking in a huge variety of styles and moods. 

"It was like going to the bloody gym for six months," recalls Graham with a laugh. "These songs started appearing while I was sat at the table with a pot of tea, and my love for things like Davy Graham, Bert Jansch and John Martyn started bubbling up."