Lady’s Bridge by Richard Hawley

Lady's Bridge, Richard Hawley's fifth studio album, came out on Mute in August 2007, and it's a love letter to Sheffield written in reverb and heartache. It takes its name from the old bridge over the River Don that once joined the city's rich and poor sides, and Hawley said the title was also about leaving the past behind. That hits harder once you know the cover: a Martin Parr photograph of Hawley and his guitar at Sheffield's Club 60, a tribute to his father Dave, a blues guitarist who played there with Muddy Waters and John Lee Hooker, and who died earlier that year.

Following the Mercury-nominated Coles Corner, the music is lush, crooning, late-night stuff, twangy guitar wrapped around that deep, smoky voice. "Tonight the Streets Are Ours" is the rousing exception, a big-hearted rallying cry, while "Roll River Roll" later became the theme for the sitcom Getting On. It went gold in the UK in 2010.

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