Machynlleth residents are about to launch a music album all about their beloved shops.

The community-made album, Caneuon Siop (Shop Songs), has everyone from school children to the mayor of Machynlleth waxing lyrical about their much-loved high street.

The bilingual Welsh-English album recorded locally at the Our Lady recording studio in Borth will be released with a launch event on Saturday 17 January.

The launch will include performances of songs from the album at different shops across Machynlleth in a special musical town shop-crawl.

The album was the brainchild of local musician and business owner Phil Wheeler, who said about the project: “Machynlleth has so many independent shops and such a diverse and interesting history that we felt needed celebrating.

“We asked local musicians and poets if they would write about our town, and the response was wonderful, and we have sixteen different songs and a mixture of poems.”

The album is said to celebrate the history of the town since the market charter began in 1291, and will come with an accompanying book of 20 poems written by year 7 students.

The album includes Machynlleth Mayor Jeremy Paige, bandmate of the 1980s band Rumblefish, who penned a song called Fish n Chips.

Another sings of a love affair with Laura Ashley, who famously started her business in the town, whilst a third tells the story of a man kept in the Royal House for attempting to assassinate the ancient Welsh prince Owain Glyndŵr.

The tattoo shop, bike shop, charity shop, book shops, cafes and market traders all feature in songs and poems.

The poetry book includes poems from local 11-12 year olds who wrote about everything from the Spar to the kebab shop, the local CCF to the shop Ian Snow.

Money raised from the event will be donated to local charities.