Record Collector - March 2008 - Terry Staunton
MORE SONGS FOR WHOEVER - ****

The often forgotten half of The Beautiful South’s songwriting team, Dave Rotheray, started his own group, Homespun, as a diversion while
Paul Heaton and friends took time away from the pop charts. Short Stories….is the band’s third album, their first since the demise of the
South, and has much in common with the more casual and countryesque elements of that more famous outfit.  

Sam Brown’s quivering voice is perfectly suited to low-key laments and tearjerkers such as Memo to Self (which cutely rhymes “gorilla”
with “serial killer”), My Sorrow Learned to Swim and The Screen Goes Black. There’s still a rich vein of humour to Rotheray’s songs,
coupled with a winning eye for detail that frequently recalls Morrisey at his most self-effacing – albeit a Moz staring into an empty glass
while propping up the bar of a seedy saloon.

Guest vocal turns from Mary Coughlan and Eleanor McEvoy give the tunes a healthy smidgen of modern folk credibility, as does the
understated playing of a bang-up troupe of musicians, but it’s the warm wit and cold honesty of Rotheray’s words that stick with the
listener. An unassuming and unpolished gem that shines ever brighter with every play. 

MOJO - March 2008
Short Stories From East Yorkshire ****
Third album from the now ex-Beautiful South's Dave Rotheray.
Low key yet touching Short Stories From East Yorkshire is a folksy, unassuming record, that punches far above its weight. The reasons
are twofold: Sam Brown sings 10 of the 12 songs with her breathy and luscious vocal delivery, bringing expert shadings and nuances
to the table. And then there’s Rotheray’s songs themselves – catchy but downbeat, profound yet deadpan: “Cos I’m never happy and
I’m never sad,” sings Brown on The Screen Goes Blank, a powerful and emotional piece of writing about a son’s love for his mother.
The First People on Earth, with its almost Elizabethan styling, also ponders the human condition while Memo to Self and Short Story
tell almost sitcom style just how bloody useless men really are. On the evidence of this collection, Hull must really be the emotional
epicenter of the country after all.  


Belfast Telegraph - March 2008
Short Stories From East Yorkshire
They say it's the quiet ones you have to watch - and on that premise we should be paying particular close attention to former Beautiful
South 'backroom boy' Dave Rotheray. While Paul Heaton - and a bevy of female vocalists - were the band's acceptable face, Rotheray
was content to stay well away from the limelight.

But, without Rotheray's fine songwriting and musical skills, the Beautiful South would have paled in comparison. With Homespun - a
BS spin-off if you like - Rotheray's talents have come to the fore. Latest album, the band's post Beautiful South record, reflects
Rotheray's obsession with country music. And to help him deliver what is a corking collection, he has enlisted the likes of Mary
Coughlan and regulars such as Tony Robinson (Super Furry Animals), Claire Mactaggart (Portishead), Melvin Duffy (Robbie Williams)
and Gary Hammond (Nina Simone band).

Homespun is a terrific vehicle for Rotheray's songwriting. Like the Beautiful South, melody is everything with the band. You get a fair
slice-of-life storytelling backed by easy-on-the-ear arrangements - also a la BS. Elsewhere, there are piano-led laments and a whole
array of gentle fireside songs that are soaked in a good old traditional pedal-steel-laced country dressing.

Rotheray's songwriting has never been stronger - on the tracks like First People on Earth. And The Driver, featuring Coughlan's
whiskey-throated vocals, is an exceptional song. But the best of the bunch are The Magician's Daughter and A Yorkshire Ghost.
Rotheray will surely find it difficult to match the quality of these two exquisite pieces of genius.

 

The Scotsman : SHORT STORIES FROM EAST YORKSHIRE 

to create a home for a batch of "fireside" songs he had written, Homespun has become ex-Beautiful South songwriter/guitarist
Dave Rotheray's principal musical outlet. Sam Brown remains his vocalist of choice, but Mary Coughlan and Eleanor McEvoy
both make appearances here. Like, indeed, a more homespun take on his previous band's bittersweet brand of pop, Short
Stories from East Yorkshire is a collection of folk-tinged musings which ambles along pleasantly enough, occasionally packing
a wry putdown, such as "honey, when I think of all the things that you've done for me, I come up with a short short story".