Keighley was long regarded as a "rock town" thanks to the headbanging hordes who hung around town centre pubs. But a listen to three CD singles from local bands should dispel any notion that Keighley music can still be pigeonholed.

First up are live favourites Johnny and the Poorboys, who sound like their natural home is County Donegal rather than Church Green, even though three of the four songs come from the River Worth-quenched brain of John Gow.

Johnny and his Celtic cowboys leave no time for calm or contemplation with a quartet of breathless songs guaranteed to get feet from under the table and on to the floor. Johnny belts out the songs as if he's got a Guinness waiting on the bar, and the Poorboys play like theirs are alongside.

The songs have strong tunes and infectious rhythms, and the production is excellent, offering professional quality without losing the band's live energy. The Girl In The Cowboy Hat would be as much at home at a barn dance as a ceilidh, while the other three are the colour of Emerald.

The latest CD from Don Gaudiosi's project Hush features three songs in diverse rock-pop styles. Streets of Gold offers five tracks - two songs also coming in acoustic form - and all are good pieces of mainstream songwriting.

The title track is a melancholy mid-tempo song with a marvellous guitar riff: it's sung well enough but might have been better with bluesier vocals. Maybe One Day sees Don on more familiar ground with a fast, tuneful soft-rock track that better suits his voice, blending with harmonies and rhythm.

Deep Inside My Heart is something else entirely, and in my opinion one of the best songs he has written in almost two decades on the Keighley scene. It's a sunny, joyous, infectious song with heavenly brass hook that wouldn't have been out of place in Swing Out Sister or Haircut 100 single.

Tortoise, the new single from The Pipers, pictured above, boasts a distinctive and original sound. These are songs where the lyrics, music and singing are equally important, driven by rhythm but possessing melody, and a great deal of care has clearly gone into both writing and production.

The opener, Tortoise Song, took a while to catch my attention, the laid-back rhythm and even further laid-back vocals slowly winning me over: very atmospheric with hints of doom. Submarine seems lighter at first, growing faster, again dominated by guitars that are neither jangly pop nor loud rock - and like Tortoise Song it is a fine song indeed.

The Faraway Tree is different, the most blatantly 60s song on the disc, its harmonies making it sound like a slow Beach Boys song. Strangely likeable, on the surface it's a slightly twee love song, but as with anything from The Pipers there are darker depths.

* Contact Poorboys on 07876 216660, Pipers on 07870 596164 and Hush on 01535 602386.