Former founding member of the Beautiful South. ANSWER BALLADS is a collection of songs in which Rotheray and his collaborators take 12 classic pop songs and attempt to formulate an Answer Ballad for each one. Taking existing fictional characters, from the Police's 'Roxanne' to Elton John's 'Daniel,' all of who are well known but simultaneously unknown, Rotheray picks up the story from their perspective. The roll call of collaborators on the album is truly impressive: Lisa Knapp, Eliza Carthy, Kris Drever, Kathryn Williams; Josienne Clarke, Jackie Oates, Gemma Hayes, Bella Hardy, Alasdair Roberts, Julie Murphy, Naomi Bedford and Mary Coughlan.