This April will see the release of Mark Knopfler’s 10th solo album since he struck out on his own with Golden Heart in 1996. Dire Straits had disbanded the year before and you’d have been forgiven for thinking, at that moment in time, that his best years were perhaps behind him. But it says much of Knopfler’s musical integrity that both the depth and quality of his work have only improved in the 30 years that have passed since then.
In fact, listening to his latest album, One Deep River, you get a sense of an artist who – strange as it might seem to say – has quietly revealed the real mettle of his songcraft in his post‑Straits solo work.
