If things had turned out differently, Alan Clayton’s appearance at the Musician tonight would have been a secret.

A hush-hush warm-up for an arena tour, perhaps, with tight security and tickets swapping hands at inflated prices on Ebay.

As it is, a tenner on the door will see you in. Funny thing, fame. You can have talent by the bucketload, but it doesn’t always find you.

Keith Richards knows that. “We’re the same, you and me,” the Rolling Stones man once told Al, the frontman of The Dirty Strangers. “But you didn’t get the breaks.”

Al’s band – featuring a bloke who once played for Chuck Berry on keyboards, apparently – formed in 1986, and soon pulled off a cheeky coup when they persuaded Keef and Ronnie Wood to play on their debut album.

The reviews were effusive, but success proved elusive, and that seemed to be that.

Except, Clayton stayed in touch with the Stones. He joined their crew on a round the world haul in the mid-noughties.

Now the band are back with another album, West 12 To Wittering. And there are Keef and Ronnie’s names on the credits again.

Richards plays piano on five tracks. Ronnie contributes slide guitar to two tracks. Joe Brown’s on there too, somewhere, playing the banjo.

Mojo magazine described it as “a masterpiece”, no less.

See for yourself what all the fuss isn’t about at the Musician tonight. Ring 0116 251 0080.