Andrew Marston introduces Dan Nichol (Leominster)

Dan Nichol's life in music began as a singer, but when his voice broke he decided to learn guitar.

It was during a philosophy course at university where he really honed his songwriting skills, though, taking inspiration from the likes of Joan Armatrading, Smokey Robinson, Carole King and Elvis Costello.

But during his 30s, he was struck down with M.E. and says music has been his therapy through this difficult time.

He's now back up on two feet, doing charity work and regularly gigging around the Leominster area.

• All of our live studio sessions and festival gigs since 2005

A Kington musician is following in the footsteps of some of its town's other musicians by performing all over Europe.

Troy Redfern, who's a regular on the blues circuit in Hereford, is joining the likes of Ellie Goulding and Mike Oldfield having performed a couple of shows in Norway, where he's secured himself a booking agent.

• Listen to some of our favourite interviews

The Britain's Got Talent auditions came to Worcester last weekend.

On Saturday, hopefuls with a range of different talents turned up at the CrownGate Shopping Centre, aiming to impress.

They didn't get to see any of the judges though as this was just the producers' round of auditions.

• A local history of great gigs and musical legends

This month, we started a brand new series with one of the most successful and prolific songwriters we have in our area.

Paul Farrer might not be a name you're familiar with, but you'll certainly be familiar with his work - having composed the music to The Weakest Link, Dancing On Ice and The Chase.

More recently he's been downsizing his West Malvern studio, enabling him to work from anywhere - a move that has also helped him replace synthesisers for real instruments; he's recently started conducting large orchestras!

So, just how do you find song-writing inspiration when your job depends on it - and how do you go about recording those instruments to showcase to the world? We'll find out as we break down some of those themes, which are so instilled into our minds, over these coming weeks.

Catch highlights from The Pretenders, who performed at this year's 6 Music Live at BBC Maida Vale.

With a career spanning over 30 years, Chrissie Hynde and her band return with a new album Alone, the first in eight years, with Dan Auerbach from The Black Keys on producing duties.

This show is part of the 6 Music Live series that has been coming to Maida Vale since 2012, with the likes of Primal Scream, Underworld, De La Soul and Paul McCartney.

Our next recording session takes place on Saturday 26 November and we officially switch on Malvern's Christmas Lights!

We'll be featuring several acts who we've been playing on BBC Hereford & Worcester recently.

None of these artists knew they were being considered for a live session - they were chosen based on the tracks they uploaded to us at bbc.co.uk/herefordandworcester/introducing.