Which male singers do you feel deserve more love and respect? That, dear friends, is the question we ponder this week with someone who knows - veteran circuit singer Dave Dawson.

Dave's new book, Pop Idle: 30 Years on the Road as a Professional Singer, is an honest, humourous, insightful look at life on the bottom rung of the showbiz ladder.

Like hordes of others, best-selling author Dave Dawson has spent decades crisscrossing the UK as a solo full-time professional musician. During his 30 years on the road, he has performed thousands of shows before tens of thousands of people, yet still remains one of the army of anonymous entertainers who literally sing for their supper, as part of the Never Ending UK Tour. From pubs to clubs, dives to luxury hotels, theatres to gardens, and hen nights to care homes, there’s hardly a live environment that he hasn’t encountered, enjoyed or endured.

Along the way, he’s had brushes with fame and fandom, strippers and stalkers, crooks and colourful characters, pissed-up punters and prima donnas… and has banked a wealth of experience at the brunt of the live music circuit.

You may also know Dave Dawson as Dave Philpott, who appeared with us last season to discuss his bestselling book series of bonkers letters to pop stars with real replies - Dear Mr. Kershaw, Dear Mr. Pop Star, Grammar Free in the UK, and Dear Catherine Wheel.

Oh, and despite the tendency to poke a little fun at Hanson's ubiquitous 1997 earworm 'Mmm Bop', Taylor Hanson probably is underrated. Listen to the Tinted Windows album for proof of that! But we won't let that fact stand in the way of a bit.

Proudly part of the Pantheon Podcasts family.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices