Beth Simpson
Beth Simpson is a freelance music writer and music expert whose work at MusicRadar centres on narrative-driven pieces that link musicians’ personal stories, their instruments and the wider culture around their records. Her coverage stands out for the way it combines emotionally frank interviews, gear-focused anecdotes and archival research into landmark releases. She writes across news and features, but always with an ear for the human detail behind the music.
Interviews that foreground musicians’ stories
Simpson’s interviews focus on how artists’ lives shape the music they make, often drawing out moments of vulnerability or regret rather than simple promotional talking points. In her conversation with Mike D about the loss of Adam Yauch, she explores how grief affected his ability to make music over a long period, keeping the emphasis on his emotional response rather than just career milestones. She uses similar depth in pieces with guitar-based artists, such as Snail Mail’s Lindsey Jordan reflecting on the beloved red Stratocaster she once sold for just $25, turning a gear story into a reflection on youthful decisions and attachment to instruments.
Her interview with The Primitives’ PJ Court about a live TV performance hinges on a small technical mishap — a fuzz box left unplugged — but she uses it to tell a broader story about live pressure, tone, and the way one mistake can colour the memory of a hit single. In a feature on the DJ behind what is billed as the first rave album for babies, she folds in details like faster infant heart rates to explain why drum ’n’ bass rhythms might work in that setting, blending science, humour and a portrait of a niche project. Across these pieces, she favours quotes that show artists thinking aloud about their choices and experiences, and she builds the structure of the articles around those voices.
Retrospectives on pivotal records
Simpson also writes retrospective features that revisit important records with a strongly reported, archival approach. Her Blue Monday piece, built around the long headline about walking on, pressing a button and letting the gear play the song, traces the decisions and mistakes behind New Order’s classic single, including references to literary and cultural sources that fed into its title and concept. The article looks at the song’s construction and mythos rather than just its chart impact, giving readers context on how technical innovation and chance combined.
In a 40th anniversary retrospective on Public Image Ltd’s Album, she brings together archive interviews with John Lydon to reconstruct the making of the record, situating it in the wider arc of his post-punk career. These pieces show her interest in how records age, how their stories are remembered or misremembered, and how studio decisions can become part of music history. They distinguish her from more generic album coverage by emphasising primary voices and specific moments in the studio rather than broad critical verdicts.
News and culture around live music
Alongside features, Simpson covers news that connects major acts with broader social and cultural themes. In her report on Metallica’s initiative to encourage blood donation in the run-up to a Cardiff gig, she focuses on the band’s efforts to support those who rely on donated blood and frames the campaign as part of a culture of looking out for one another around live shows. The piece combines event information with a clear explanation of the cause, showing how she handles artist-led philanthropy without losing sight of the human beneficiaries.
Her forward-looking feature on trap and shoegaze as possible “sounds of 2025” scans the music industry for emerging styles, using examples and commentary to suggest how these genres might shape the near future of pop and rock. Together, these articles underline that her beat is not confined to albums alone; she covers the intersection of touring, trends and fan culture, with an emphasis on how big names engage with their audiences and the world beyond the stage.
Work across music magazines and long-form projects
Beyond MusicRadar, Simpson writes about music for magazines including Classic Rock, Classic Pop, Guitarist and Total Guitar, giving her a broad vantage point on guitar-led music and classic repertoire. She also writes for other outlets covering music and environmental issues, including work for Classic Rock, IDJ, Metro and Guitarist, which points to experience in both specialist and more general readerships. This mix of titles suggests she is comfortable tailoring her style from enthusiast audiences to mainstream readers while keeping a clear focus on music.
Her long-form interests extend into book work: she is the author of Freedom Through Football, a project that examines the sport as a route to liberation and community. That background in a themed non-fiction book helps explain the structural confidence in her longer retrospectives, where she threads interviews, technical detail and cultural context into a cohesive narrative. Taken together, her magazine portfolio and book work show a writer who specialises in music but is attuned to the ways it intersects with social issues, sport and everyday life, making her coverage notably broader than a narrow, release-driven beat.
4 more music journalists.
Abigail Kellett
Abigail Kellett is a news reporter at the Halifax Courier who stands out for visually led coverage that shows how culture, nightlife and local life play out on the ground. She documents gigs, festivals and major live shows at venues such as The Piece Hall through curated photo sets that capture atmosphere, crowd and setting as much as performers, and she uses extensive image galleries to tap reader nostalgia for nights out in Halifax town centre. Her beat spans arts, entertainment, going out, heritage, books and literary events, along with community life, people stories, local challenges, milestones, transport, regeneration, lifestyle and food. She reports through photographs, checklist-style features, reader-driven lists and roundups of most-read stories, turning announcements, programmes, author events, festivals, shop lists and everyday characters into stories about place, shared memory and how people spend their time.
Adam Lyon
Adam Lyon is a digital audience and content editor whose news beat sits at the intersection of Ayrshire’s cultural life, business environment and public affairs. He works for the Ayr Advertiser and as Digital Audience & Content Editor for Newsquest in the west of Scotland across multiple weekly titles. He covers Ayrshire news with a strong thread of music and local culture alongside business, courts and public affairs. He reports on music when it has a clear community or national hook, treating songs as news events rather than reviews. His business work explains how local firms and retail policy shape town centres. His court coverage uses round-ups of sheriff court cases to show patterns and outcomes. He also fronts video previews and is active in a football supporters trust community.
Adam Maidment
Adam Maidment is a senior What’s On and LGBTQ+ reporter whose work links big-name gigs, new venues and cultural flashpoints to everyday fan culture and inclusion. He covers music, nightlife and the wider cultural scene for the Manchester Evening News, focusing on how concerts, openings and immersive events land with real people and communities. His beat spans live music, arenas and stadiums, new restaurant and bar openings, food reviews, exhibitions, street art and nightlife infrastructure, with a particular focus on LGBTQ+ audiences and neighbourhoods. He reports on venue ambitions and problems, cultural institutions and equality issues, and franchise-led experiences, using straightforward, on-the-ground reporting and clear description. Drawing on a background in community reporting, he looks for underrepresented perspectives and uses social media, analytics and local sourcing to find stories where culture, identity and place meet.
Alison Brinkworth
Alison Brinkworth is a freelance journalist who treats music as a gateway into place, history and everyday life, often through exhibitions, performances and city-centre events. She covers music within the wider cultural and lifestyle scene, leaning toward accessible, on-the-ground stories framed by familiar artists, venues and local attractions. Her work often focuses on music exhibitions and attractions built around well-known performers, alongside theatre reviews, live events and city attractions. She brings a lifestyle, travel and human-interest sensibility, using interviews and personal stories to show how people spend their time. With over 25 years of experience across print, digital, social media and internal communications, she writes clear, factual, audience-facing articles with dates, locations and organisers, suited to listings, guides and practical recommendations.