This is a list of releases by The Bar-Steward Sons of Val Doonican , including studio and live albums, singles and other media. [1] [2]
The band have independently released all of their recorded output via their own label, Moon-On-A-Stick Records. The name of the label was derived from a comedy sketch by comedians Stewart Lee & Richard Herring in the second BBC television series of Fist Of Fun.
The band have independently released several studio albums. Almost all of the artwork for the front covers of the band’s studio albums are pastiches of classic album covers, created by Scott Doonican.
The first two studio releases contained cover versions played on folk instruments.
Released in 2007, the band's debut album is a collection of rock cover versions played on folk instruments, including recordings from their 2006 debut EP, BBC Radio Sheffield interviews and a live set from Sheffield City Hall (where the band supported Norma Waterson and Eliza Carthy with The Gift Band). Typical of the band's D.I.Y. ethos, it was released independently on CD-R discs burned from Scott Doonican's home laptop computer. The cover artwork is a pastiche of For Those About To Rock by AC/DC.
Released in 2009, it is an album of cover versions of Number 1 hits (a Number 1 song for each year of the 1980s) played on folk instruments. It was released independently on burned CD-R discs. Its artwork is the only studio album that isn't a pastiche of a classic album cover and features the band working behind a cocktail bar (a reference to The Human League's Don't You Want Me which features on the album) and a suggestion that the members are Bar-Stewards.
Since 2010, the band's main focus has been musical parody, performed predominantly on folk instruments.
Originally released in 2010, Cpl Kipper is the band's only 'concept' album. It features songs about their home town of Barnsley, its inhabitants and its culture. The cover artwork is a pastiche of Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band by The Beatles, and features Barnsley celebrities alongside the original line-up of Scott Doonican, Danny Doonican and Alan Doonican #1 in the place of The Beatles, who are also accompanied by Val Doonican (who replaces Paul McCartney). The album contains parodies of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and A Day In The Life.
After the departure of Danny Doonican in early 2011, the band's follow-up was mostly a solo effort from Scott Doonican, and written by Scott Doonican and Amanda White, with minor musical recording contributions from Alan Doonican #1 and Andy Doonican on a couple of tracks. The cover artwork is a pastiche of The Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd and opens with a parody of Money and closes with a parody of Shine On You Crazy Diamond by Pink Floyd.
Released on 17 March 2012, the cover artwork is a pastiche of The Ramones' eponymous debut, featuring the line-up of Scott Doonican, Alan Doonican #1 and Andy Doonican. It opens with a parody of The Ramones' Blitzkrieg Bop. It also contains the band's regular live show finale, Jump Ararnd, a parody of House Of Pain's Jump Around.
Released on 7 December 2012, the cover artwork is a pastiche of We Wish You A Merry Christmas, a 1968 compilation 7 inch E.P. featuring Julie Andrews, Vic Damone, Jack Jones and Marian Anderson. This compilation album features tracks from The Bar-Steward Sons of Val Doonican, Scott Doonican and the supporting cast of the first incarnation of The Bar-Steward Sons of Val Doonican's Christmas Rock n Roll Circus live show which took place annually in Barnsley between 2012 and 2023.
Released in 2013, the album is noteworthy for containing the band's most requested song, The Lady In Greggs, a parody of The Lady In Red by Chris De Burgh. The cover artwork is a pastiche of the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack to Saturday Night Fever with Scott Doonican, Alan Doonican #1 and Andy Doonican in the place of the Bee Gee's and an elderly Val Doonican on the dance floor in the place of John Travolta. It also contains parodies of The Bee Gee's Night Fever and Stayin' Alive.
Released in May 2014, the cover artwork is a pastiche of News Of The World by the rock band Queen, with the line-up of Scott Doonican, Alan Doonican #1 and Andy Doonican being killed by a giant version of Barnsley sculptor, Graham Ibbeson's sculpture of cricketing umpire Dickie Bird. It was the final album from this, the band's second line-up. Alan Doonican #1 left the band in September 2014. Unusually, unlike other studio parody albums by the band, the album didn't contain any parodies of Queen songs, but did contain a cover-version of Queen's Somebody To Love as a hidden track.
Released in 2015 by the lineup of Scott Doonican, Björn Doonicansson, Alan Doonican #2 and Andy Doonican, it was later re-recorded and re-released 2019 as part of The Leap of Faith Project by Scott, Björn and Alan #2. The cover artwork is a pastiche of The Man Machine by Kraftwerk and it contains parodies of Kraftwerk's The Model and The Robots. Both the 2015 and 2019 releases were issued on CD, but in 2025, Scott Doonican reissued it on vinyl too.
Released in 2016 as a limited edition album commemorating 10 years of The Bar-Steward Sons of Val Doonican, featuring rare live recordings spanning those years and archive interview footage with band members past and present. The cover artwork is a pastiche of The Miracle by Queen, with the heads of Scott Doonican, Björn Doonicansson, Alan Doonican #2 and Andy Doonican merged into one large head. It was sent to fans as a surprise bonus album that accompanied the studio album T'South 0 - Tarn 4 which had been crowd-funded.
Released in 2016 by the lineup of Scott Doonican, Björn Doonicansson, Alan Doonican #2 and Andy Doonican, it was later re-recorded and re-released 2019 as part of The Leap of Faith Project by Scott, Björn and Alan #2. The cover artwork is a pastiche of London 0 - Hull 4 by The Housemartins, and it contains a parodies of The Housemartins' Happy Hour, Caravan Of Love and The Beautiful South's I'll Sail This Ship Alone. Both the 2016 and 2019 releases were issued on CD, but in 2025, Scott Doonican reissued it on vinyl too.
Released in 2017, it was the first of several albums to be mixed and mastered by Joel Howe. The cover artwork is a pastiche of Axis : Bold As Love by The Jimi Hendrix Experience, featuring the line-up of Scott Doonican, Björn Doonicansson and Alan Doonican #2. The album opens with a parody of Hendrix's Crosstown Traffic, which features electric guitar performed by Graham Oliver, founder-member of heavy metal band Saxon. Oliver joins the band again on one of the album's two hidden tracks, a cover of Saxon's Wheels Of Steel. The original release was issued on CD, but in 2025, Scott Doonican reissued it on vinyl too.
A 22 track greatest hits compilation released in 2018. The songs were all re-recorded by the line-up of Scott Doonican, Björn Doonicansson and Alan Doonican #2. The cover artwork is a pastiche of The Beatles 1962-1966. It was initially released on CD, and after a successful crowdfunding campaign, it was the first of the band's independent releases to be glass mastered rather than burned to CD-R compact discs. It is notable for having a hidden track in the pre-gap before Track 1, where listeners need to press the rewind button to access it. It was later released on double disc LP on transparent red vinyl, and on an extremely limited edition cassette with sleeve artwork that is a pastiche of the cover of Queen's Greatest Hits II (only 21 copies exist).
Released in 2019, by the line-up of Scott Doonican, Björn Doonicansson and Alan Doonican #2, the cover artwork is a pastiche of Ace Of Spades by Motorhead and opens with a parody of the same track, featuring guest appearances from Graham Oliver from heavy metal band Saxon on lead guitar, and Hugh Whitaker from The Housemartins on drums. The album is notable for having not one, but three hidden tracks (all three members of the band sing one each).
Released in October 2020, the whole of the band's original debut 'concept' album was re-recorded by Scott Doonican between 2018 and 2020 with additional instrumentation from Björn Doonicansson and Alan Doonican #2 recorded in 2020 on time for the album's tenth anniversary. The updated cover artwork is still a pastiche of Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band by The Beatles, and features Barnsley celebrities alongside the line-up of Scott Doonican, Björn Doonicansson and Alan Doonican #2 in the place of The Beatles, along with the various contributors to the album. The album contains parodies of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (including the reprise - notably absent from the original album) and A Day In The Life. The album was started by Scott Doonican initially in 2018 around the time that the band was recording Place Of Spades but didn't reach the public until October 2020 when the coronavirus pandemic of that year forced the band to take a hiatus from live shows. The album was mostly recorded, mixed and mastered remotely from the participants' home studios, yet still features a host of special guests, including folk musicians Eliza Carthy, Kate Rusby, Kathryn Roberts, Dave Burland and Mike Harding, Graham Oliver from the heavy metal band Saxon, former drummer with The Housemartins, Hugh Whitaker, Barnsley-based broadcaster and poet Ian McMillan, Scott Doonican's late father-in-law Michael White and many others. The album was crowd-funded by fans of the band under the moniker of the 'Leap of Faith II project', where fans didn't know what they would receive for their pledge money. The final CD album release saw the inclusion of a Scott Doonican authored book that featured the lyrics of all of the songs, along with the stories behind them and intricate 'recording notes' that discuss the recording, mixing and mastering process involved in bringing the ten year old album up-to-date. In 2025, Scott Doonican reissued the album on vinyl.
Released in 2022, by the line-up of Scott Doonican, Björn Doonicansson and Alan Doonican #2, the cover artwork is a pastiche of Liege & Lief by Fairport Convention. The remaining members of Fairport Convention's Liege & Lief line-up approved of the band's parody. Liege & Lief is Middle English for 'Loyal & Ready'. 'Rugh & Ryf' is Middle English for 'Rough & Ready'. The album was crowd-funded by fans who received their physical copies a month earlier than the launch date of 29 May 2022 with strict instructions on the mailers they were not to be opened until 1 May. The band held a Listening Party for those who had pre-ordered the album on 1 May, only for fans to realise that the opening line of the opening track is "Bank Holiday, the 1st of May, is the best one of the year".
Released in 2025 by the Mk.IV line-up of Scott Doonican, Alan Doonican #2, Mo-Jo Doonican, Dave Doonican and Rt. Rev. Jeremiah Rickenbacker Doonican III, the album cover is a pastiche of Revolver by The Beatles. On its release on 20 September 2025, At The Barrier's review of the new release stated that, "Evolver is a brilliant record for this freshly tank-topped era of The Bar-Steward Sons. The evolution is less than gentle as the new line-up delivers a great set of new songs in impeccable fashion, moving the band forward." [3] The album was launched with an online listening party via the band's YouTube page, which featured the band playing the entire album via 14 performance videos and a series of interviews with puppet character Gloria McGlumpher, voiced by Scott's partner, Amanda White.
The band have released many live recordings, some of which have been released on CD, and some of which were exclusively made for a digital-only release. Some of the artwork for the front covers of the band’s live releases are pastiches of classic album covers (in several cases, classic live albums) .
Scott Doonican also performs in a solo capacity, often performing songs from his band's discography on acoustic guitar, ukulele/banjulele and a OM27 Suzuki Omnichord. Occasionally he will add some cover versions of other artists' songs too. His live shows take more of a storytelling format, in which the stories behind the songs are divulged too. As well as working solo, he continues to perform alongside his partner Amanda, during their more sporadic online shows that began during a 67 consecutive week period during the coronavirus pandemic between 2020-2021. These Big Neet In online shows have spawned four studio albums as well as three live recordings too.
The cover artwork for all three One Man Show albums are a pastiche of Mike Harding's 1976 One Man Show album. [4] [5]
The book was later revised for a second edition.