Standing on the crossroads – the Mississippi crossroads of Robert Johnson as well as the devil’s infamous meeting – Mark Radcliffe found himself facing his own private crunch point. Aged sixty, he previously just mourned the loss of life of his dad, only to be handed a analysis of mouth area and throat cancer.

This momentous time in his life, and coming to the most well-known junction in music history, led Radcliffe to take into account the pivotal tracks in music and how the musicians who wrote and performed them – from Woodie Guthrie to Gloria Gaynor, Kurt Cobain to Bob Marley – had reached the crossroads that led to such epoch-changing music.

Within this warm, intimate account of music and its power to transform our lives, Radcliffe takes a personal trip through these touchstone tracks, looking at the story behind the records and his own encounters as he goes in search of these moments.