Mark Knopfler's ninth solo studio album Down The Road Wherever features unhurriedly elegant new songs inspired by a wide range of subjects, including his early days in Deptford with Dire Straits, a stray football fan lost in a strange town, and the compulsion of a musician hitching home through the snow. Mark has a poet's eye for telling details that infuse his songs with his unique psychogeography - 'where the Delta meets the Tyne' as he describes it - and his warm Geordie vocal tone and his deft, richly melodic guitar playing are as breathtaking and thrilling as ever.