The folking.com music archive for album reviews and news

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This is a list of everything we have on folking.com in date and month order. So if you like trawling the depths of the site for amazing content that you may have missed then this is the place to “net” an article, feature or review or two.

The archive is a work in progress as we still have gaps to fill from 2009 back to 2001. Most of the missing content are older album reviews which require reformatting with each article having to be submitted back on to the site with album covers and links to where they can be obtained from (where available).

GLYMJACK – Light The Evening Fire (Storm Lantern GLYMJACKCD001)

To describe Glymjack simply as contemporary English folk would be rather inadequate. It is acoustic roots, lyric-driven with a nod to soft rock, peppered with ...
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PHIL ODGERS & BOBBY VALENTINO – live

Live at The Slaughtered Lamb, 34 Great Sutton St, Clerkenwell, London EC1V 0DX Saturday 28th April 2018 Hot on the heels of his critically acclaimed ...
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DARLINGSIDE – Extralife (More Doug Records MDR003)

Someone who knows rather a lot about these things has been saying for two years that I should go and see Darlingside. I haven’t seen ...
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BEAU – Rattle The Asylum Bars (Cherry Red BEAURTAB1)

Released almost forty-nine years to the day since his first-ever John Peel recording sessions, approaching 72, his latest release and his tenth studio album, Rattle ...
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AURI – Auri (Nuclear Blast 27361 42120)

I really didn’t know what to expect from this album. I know Troy Donockley, of course – at least his work with everyone from Maddy ...
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BROWNBEAR – What is Home? (Assai Recordings)

Almost since the very start, the musical collective led by Matt Hickman, known as ‘brownbear’, have caused something of a stir, not just on the ...
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ROSS & ALI – Symbiosis II (Symbiosis Records, SYMCD001)

It was only in December that Ross Ainslie’s fantastic solo album, Sanctuary, was released, and he is back again already, this time with Ali Hutton ...
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Matthew Crampton and Jeff Warner tour new Human Cargo show

Acclaimed storyteller Matthew Crampton unites with American folk music legend Jeff Warner in a new show based on Crampton’s book Human Cargo: Songs & Stories ...
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DARLING WEST – While I Was Asleep (JANSEN 097CD)

Darling West released their third album, While I Was Asleep, in February. The band are from Norway and have been played on that country’s mainstream ...
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OLD CROW MEDICINE SHOW – Volunteer (Columbia Nashville)

From the opening notes of their latest album, Volunteer, the first to feature electric guitar in 14 years, you know the Grammy award-winning outfit have ...
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ROBERT LANE – Only A Flight Away (own label RGL 03)

Following his excellent EP/mini-album, Ends And Starts, Robert Lane has been touring and writing and is back with a full length album with a startling ...
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PATRICK SWEANY – Ancient Noise (Nine Mile Records NMR0091)

Patrick Sweany has seven critically acclaimed albums to his credit. His latest album Ancient Noise will be released in the UK on July 6th. Sweany ...
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FISHERMAN’S FRIENDS – Sole Mates (The Orchard)

Fisherman – Sole. See what they did there. After avoiding groan-inducing puns for five albums, I suppose the Cornish collective can be excused for finally ...
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ROGER PUGH – A Colourful Journey (Oblong Records, OBLCD079)

It’s a rarity to come across an artist who describes himself as “jester, minstrel, singer, songwriter, entertainer”. Step forward Leicestershire’s Roger Pugh, serving up a ...
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GARETH OWEN – Rolling By (own label)

When I first moved to South Shropshire a few years ago, I found myself living just a couple of doors away from writer and broadcaster ...
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HANNAH SANDERS & BEN SAVAGE – Awake (Sungrazing Records SGR003)

Before The Sun, Hannah and Ben’s debut album as a duo, caused a few ripples in folk circles. I predict that Awake will cause a ...
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Scott Matthews – new album and single

Scott Matthews’ new record, The Great Untold, deserves to be a career defining one. The sixth studio album by the Ivor Novello Award-winning singer-songwriter (Best ...
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Glymjack’s debut album is on the way

Produced with Show of Hands’ Phil Beer, and featuring Steve Knightley and Miranda Sykes alongside Sam Kelly percussionist Evan Carson and fiddle virtuoso Gemma Gayner, ...
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PHIL COOPER – Thoughts & Observations (own label PHILCOOPER13)

Phil Cooper’s singer-songwriting style is firmly in the pop-folk arena: ringing guitar, tight bass and drums and clever use of backing vocals. He turned pro ...
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Hannah Sanders & Ben Savage announce their new album and tour dates

Two years ago, Hannah Sanders & Ben Savage stirred the folk and acoustic world with a stand-out debut album and there’s been little slumbering since ...
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Ross Ainslie and Ali Hutton – new album and tour dates

Following on from the success of their debut album Symbiosis Ross Ainslie and Ali Hutton will release their second album Symbiosis II this spring. Winners ...
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Gretchen Peters announces new album and tour dates

Described by Uncut magazine as “One of Nashville’s greatest talents”, Gretchen Peters is releasing new album Dancing With The Beast next month. It’s the follow-up ...
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PHIL HARE – A Stranger I Came (March Hare Productions MHPCD002)

Don’t ask me how many albums Phil Hare has made but it’s a lot and A Stranger I Came is his latest. It’s simply recorded ...
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Greg Russell & Ciaran Algar – spring tour dates

It could be their pull no punches songwriting. It could be Russell’s remarkable voice and Algar’s distinctive, fluid fiddle. It could be their inventive takes ...
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MARY CHAPIN CARPENTER – Sometimes Just The Sky (Lambent Light LLR002)

Revisiting is the new Best Of. In recent years, several artists have either gone to their back catalogue and reworked old songs in next contexts ...
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Gareth Owen releases debut album at 81

At 81 years of age, prize-winning poet, novelist, BBC broadcaster and playwright, Gareth Owen released an album of his own country songs last month. Gareth ...
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NINEBARROW – The Waters & The Wild (own label)

If music be the food of love, then prepare for indigestion … was the title of a 1967 album by a band I’m not prepared ...
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Connla on UK Tour to promote Next Chapter album

When they first emerged, Irish Music magazine said of their debut EP: “Consider this your early warning system…there is something serious on the horizon and ...
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VARIOUS ARTISTS – Johnny Cash Forever Words (Legacy Recordings)

Johnny Cash: Forever Words (or, according to the physical CD, Johnny Cash The Music Forever Words) is a collaborative album consisting of 16 songs based ...
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GREG RUSSELL & CIARAN ALGAR – Utopia And Wasteland (Rootbeat RBRCD40)

The ink is barely dry on Greg and Ciaran’s previous album and they are back with Utopia And Wasteland. The mix is pretty much as ...
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OPEN THE DOOR FOR THREE – The Joyful Hour (own label OPTD003)

The Joyful Hour is the third album by Irish-American trio Open The Door For Three. They are fiddler Liz Knowles, already known to us a ...
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BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards 2018 – Winners Revealed

The winners of the Radio 2 Folk Awards 2018 have been announced in a ceremony broadcast live on BBC Radio 2 and BBC Radio Ulster, ...
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FINBAR FUREY – Don’t Stop This Now (BMG)

Finbar Furey’s new album, Don’t Stop This Now, is a repackaging of Paddy Dear with new songs and the addition of a DVD recorded at ...
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The Folking Awards results 2018

Here they are, the results of the 2018 Folking awards. Thanks to all our writers who submitted nominations and to everyone who participated - almost ...
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Le Vent Du Nord bio

The award winning and highly acclaimed band Le Vent du Nord is a leading force in Quebec’s progressive francophone folk movement.  The group’s vast repertoire ...
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The Trials Of Cato bio

Hailing from North Wales and Yorkshire, The Trials of Cato returned to the UK from Beirut, Lebanon in the winter of 2016. Since then their ...
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Ryan Young bio

Ryan Young is an emerging young fiddle player from Scotland - one of a 'new wave' of young players bringing fresh and inventive ideas to ...
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Merry Hell bio

Founded in their native North West of England, Merry Hell is an eight-piece folk-rock band with a history, a pedigree and a bright future. In ...
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Kathryn Roberts & Sean Lakeman bio

Kathryn Roberts and Sean Lakeman have long established themselves as one of the UK folk scene’s most rewardingly enduring partnerships. Duos come and duos go ...
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Richard Thompson bio

Named by Rolling Stone Magazine as one of the Top 20 Guitarists of All Time, Richard Thompson is also one of the world’s most critically ...
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FINDLAY NAPIER talks to Folking

Findlay Napier doesn’t look like his publicity photographs. That is to say, he does but that dour, unsmiling image you see above isn’t him. In ...
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RY COODER – The Prodigal Son

The Prodigal Son, Ry Cooder’s first new solo release in six years, is set for release by Fantasy Records on May 11th, 2018. Listen to ...
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Frank Turner – BE MORE KIND

NEW FRANK TURNER ALBUM ‘BE MORE KIND’ RELEASED MAY 4th 2018 Frank Turner has announced details of his forthcoming seventh studio album. Be More Kind ...
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3HATTRIO – Lord Of The Desert (own label)

Close the windows, turn off background sound, put headphones on if you want, and just lose yourself in this album. Lord Of The Desert by ...
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SINGLES BAR 28 – A round-up of recent EPs and singles

Leviathan! by BLACKBEARD'S TEA PARTY is an energetic and accomplished recording by these York-based folk-rockers that did strike some nostalgic (power) chords, with electric guitar, ...
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MASON LIVELY – Stronger Ties (own label)

Born in smalltown Texas, Lively wrote his first song at fifteen and, co-produced by Lloyd Maines, cut his first EP a year later. Now, four ...
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ADY JOHNSON – London Songs (own label)

Ady Johnson released his second album London Songs on February 23rd. Johnson has a degree in classical guitar performance, gave up a career as an ...
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Folkeast announces its first guests for 2018

Growing in stature every year, East Anglia’s fast-rising FolkEast is back for the seventh time this August, proving why it is nothing like other music ...
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BEN HARPER AND CHARLIE MUSSELWHITE – No Mercy In This Land (Anti 7561-2)

An overdue follow-up to 2013’s Grammy Award-winning Get Up! sees Ben Harper and Charlie Musselwhite reunite, this time resulting in No Mercy In This Land ...
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THE RHEINGANS SISTERS – Bright Field (Rootbeat RBRCD39)

When I first heard the Rheingans Sisters I hoped that they might bring something new to the folk music of Derbyshire where they grew up ...
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Underneath The Stars presents its full line-up

South Yorkshire's stellar music & arts festival Underneath The Stars returns this summer with another exciting line-up of established and emerging talent across the folk, ...
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TREMBLING BELLS – Dungeness (Tin Angel)

Drummer and singer Alex Neilson declared that, for ‘Big Nothing’, the 62-second opening track on Dungeness, the band’s seventh album, he wanted the plangent chords “to ...
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PORT CITIES – Port Cities (Turtlemusik)

According to the press blurb, a port city is where cultures and histories collide and goods and ideas are imported. Well, this Nova Scotia trio ...
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Dàimh announce new album and Scottish tour

Translated from the Gaelic Na Garbh Chrìochan, the Rough Bounds is the area of West Lochaber where Dàimh were formed 20 years ago. Still based ...
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HARP & A MONKEY – Live at Grayshott Folk Club

Although they have a new album on the way – pause for cheering – Harp & A Monkey had resolved not to play anything from ...
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LEVELLERS – We The Collective (On The Fiddle Recordings, OTFCD029P)

To celebrate their 30th anniversary, We The Collective finds the Levellers’ reaffirming their mission statement, renewing their vows. Recorded at Abbey Road, with renowned producer ...
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JOSIENNE CLARKE & BEN WALKER – Seedlings All (Rough Trade RTRADCD898)

It’s long been the case that you don’t come to Clarke and Walker for background music or cheeriness. Their music is sparse but intricate and ...
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BOLDWOOD – Glory Of The West (Hobgoblin HOBCD 1018)

Boldwood released their first album ten years ago. Glory Of The West is their second so there have been a few changes in between. The ...
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Maddy Prior – April/May tour dates

Over the course of her remarkable career, Maddy Prior has made it her mission to work with some of the most exceptional musicians in the ...
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DON McLEAN – Botanical Gardens (BMG538329932)

Forty-seven years and 19 albums on, McLean’s name is still preceded in reviews by “American Pie singer” and for most people, he’s still probably associated ...
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Fairport’s Cropredy Convention announces Brian Wilson as headliner

Fairport's Cropredy Convention music festival have announced that Brian Wilson will perform the legendary Beach Boys album Pet Sounds at Cropredy on Thursday 9 August ...
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Holywell Music & Folk – more 2018 concerts

Passionate music love and promotor Geoff Smith is keeping Holywell’s music tradition alive and singing in the heart of Oxford with a regular new concert ...
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YOU ARE WOLF – Keld (Firecrest Records, FC001P)

Diving down from the avian themes of You Are Wolf’s first album, Hawk To The Hunting Gone, Keld is a set of songs of water, ...
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CONNLA – The Next Chapter (Connla)

When you read of the “hottest new band on the scene” you tend to roll your eyes and translate the accolade into “over-egged, fly-by-night, bratpack” ...
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Maverick Festival 2018

Following a milestone 10th anniversary last year, the UK’s first and finest Americana festival is thrilled to announce further additions to its 2018 line up ...
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Korby Lenker – Thousand Springs

For many artists, stepping into a studio to record an album can be challenging enough. But when East Nashvillian Korby Lenker began working on his ...
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PATRICIA VONNE – Top Of The Mountain (MIG 20182 CD)

Patricia Vonne releases Top Of The Mountain, her seventh album on March 23rd. It’s got a variety of styles, which is both its strength and ...
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Ben Harper and Charlie Musselwhite – new single and album

BEN HARPER AND CHARLIE MUSSELWHITE RELEASE LIVELY NEW SINGLE 'FOUND THE ONE' FROM FORTHCOMING ALBUM 'NO MERCY IN THIS LAND’ Gearing up for the 30th ...
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THE MELLOWSHIP – You Belong With Me … (own label)

Born, raised and still based in the West Country, when she was 23 aspiring singer-songwriter Mo Dewdney had a motorbike accident that left her paraplegic ...
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JESS VINCENT- Lions Den (Kostenurka Records)

There have been a few changes in Jess Vincent’s life since the release of Shine back in 2015. She’s become vegan for a start. However, ...
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Gem Andrews – North

Gem Andrews’ powerful new album ‘North’ is an intimate and stirring collection of songs which tackles themes of mental illness, poverty, community and destitution. In ...
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JOHNNY CASH: FOREVER WORDS

Legacy Recordings to Release Johnny Cash: Forever Words, an Album of Cash's Unknown Poems & Other Writings Transformed into New Songs by Contemporary Artists Album ...
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KEITH JAMES talks to Folking.com about forty years in music

This year sees Keith James celebrating his fortieth anniversary as a professional musician. He has followed an unconventional, one might say unique, career path but ...
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GARY MILLER – Mad Martins (Whippet WPTCDB24)

I shouldn’t need to explain about Gary Miller but for our younger readers: Gary was lead songwriter with The Whisky Priests, a very fine (and ...
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WILLOW SPRINGS – Urban Ghosts (S’quare Records SQR1)

Based in Belfast, Willow Springs is essentially a vehicle for singer-songwriter Mark Crockard, Urban Ghosts supported by an assortment of fellow Irish musicians, being his ...
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AURI – introducing a remarkable new trio

Everything begins with a vision. A virtuoso imagination hovering auspiciously in the air, composed of multi-faceted fragments and ideas that gradually become more concrete, slowly ...
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Jon Boden’s intimate bonfire

Jon Boden performed tracks from his recent album Afterglow round a campfire at a secret location in London on 22 March 2018 in preparation for ...
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The Shires added to Towersey line-up

The UK’s biggest country/ Americana act completes Towersey Festival’s massive 2018 line-up Acclaimed British country duo The Shires are the final headline act to be ...
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CAMBRIDGE CITY ROOTS FESTIVAL – Various artists/venues, 22 February – 6 March 2018

The City Roots Festival shakes open its umbrella (and hauls on its snow boots) for a second year of folk and roots events. As before, ...
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IVAN MOULT – Longest Shadow (Bubblewrap Collective – BWR040CD)

Longest Shadow is the heartbreakingly beautiful new offering of original tunes from Cardiff-based songsmith, Ivan Moult. In the ilk of Damien Rice for example, it ...
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IAN SIEGAL – All the Rage (Nugene Records 1801)

Ian Siegal releases All The Rage on March 16th, his eleventh album. Folking.com has already announced the new album so what follows is much more ...
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KEITH JAMES – Captured: The Best Of Keith James (Hurdy Gurdy HGA2927)

It's hard to encapsulate a long, varied and distinguished career in two CDs. After all, Keith James is not only an excellent musician and producer, ...
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KATHRYN ROBERTS & SEAN LAKEMAN – Personae (Iscream Music ISCD16)

I enjoyed Kathryn and Sean’s previous album mostly on an intellectual level. Whatever they have been doing since has had an energising effect – perhaps ...
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The 2018 Folking Awards

Welcome to the 2018 Folking Awards and thank you again to everyone who participated last year. The nominations, in eight categories, come from our ever-expanding ...
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ALASDAIR ROBERTS, AMBLE SKUSE & DAVID McGUINESS – What News (Drag City)

“This is proper folk music”, said my wife on first hearing What News. And it is: big songs full of blood, sex, betrayal and murder ...
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RAGING TWILIGHT – Raging Twilight (aRTee Records)

Raging Twilight release their first album, Raging Twilight, on April 16th. It only takes you about 30 seconds of listening to the first track with ...
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PETER KNIGHT AND JOHN SPIERS – Cambridge Junction, City Roots Festival, 6 March 2018

Same venue, different day. In the space of a week, three entirely different acts have made their distinct impressions in this same room. Tonight it’s ...
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Nick Drake to be inducted into the Folk Awards Hall Of Fame

This year’s BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards, held at Belfast Waterfront on 4 April, will see singer-songwriter Nick Drake inducted into the Folk Awards Hall ...
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SAM KELLY & THE LOST BOYS – Live at Cambridge Junction, City Roots Festival, 5 March 2018

Battling snow and ice on tour for the past week has clearly taken a toll on this group of musicians (amongst many others no doubt), ...
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Ian Siegal – new album and tour dates

A studio album from Ian Siegal is always a seismic event. Recent times have seen this award-winning British songwriter put untold miles on the clock, ...
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ED ROMANOFF – The Orphan King (Pinerock Records)

Ed Romanoff released his second album The Orphan King on February 23rd. The style is Americana; the musicians on the album (having worked with Springsteen, ...
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Seán McGowan – interview and tour dates

In the run up to his debut album release, lyrically dextrous folk-punk troubadour Seán McGowan has shared an intimate new interview and session video. Featuring ...
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CARA DILLON – Live at Kings Place, Kings Cross, 22 February 2018

The venue was stunning. Clean wooden floors, a delicate bar, someone selling programmes (for Barry Cryer in Hall One), what I can only call an ...
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Birds of Chicago release Love in Wartime and announce UK and Irish Tour

Birds of Chicago have been riding a swell of good mojo in the Americana scene since their inception in late 2012. With their new album, ...
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WILDWOOD JACK – Liberty Ship (Ramsgate)

Not to be confused with Wildwood Kin, this is Adam Piggott and Jayne Freeman, a Kent-based husband and wife troubadour twosome whose music, an amalgam ...
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McGOLDRICK, McCUSKER & DOYLE– City Roots Festival, The Junction, Cambridge (27 February 2018)

Even on this icy night, the venue is full, the crowd enthusiastic - a significant portion seemingly also having attended the recent Transatlantic Sessions. It’s ...
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Kathryn Roberts and Sean Lakeman announce new album and spring tour

Duos come and duos go. And some nurture and fine tune their art and watch it grow into something totally original, captivating and award-winning. Bonded ...
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SADIE JEMMETT – These Days: Live At The Green Note (Mama’s Music Recordings)

Her career effectively launched when famed theatre director Irina Brook used one of her songs as theme for her award-winning show Resonances and the track ...
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Finbar Furey announces new album and tour

Irish folk legend Finbar Furey has announced the UK release of his new album Don’t Stop This Now as March 30th 2018 on BMG UK ...
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JAMES DUNCAN MACKENZIE – Sròmos (own label JMMCD002)

James Duncan Mackenzie is, as you know, piper and flautist with Breabach, one of the finest of the young Scottish bands. James is from the ...
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The Rheingans Sisters – new album and tour

Musicians, composers and folk music scholars The Rheingans Sisters release their third album Bright Field on 23rd March 2018, on Rootbeat Records (RBRCD39). Since their ...
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HEATHER DOWNIE – Nae Sweets For Shy Bairns (HBoss HBRCD01)

Scottish musicians seem particularly adept at finding new ways of presenting their music but few are quite as charming as Nae Sweets For Shy Bairns, ...
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First news of this year’s Tønder Festival

For 44 years now the European folk, country and Americana scene has been meeting in Tønder - a tranquil Danish city just a few kilometres ...
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Damien O’Kane live at Chapel Arts Centre, Bath. Friday 23rd February 2017

On taking to the stage at Bath’s Chapel Arts Centre Damien O’Kane immediately established himself as a genial and engaging presence. The Northern Irish singer ...
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DAVY LEES – One Of Those Days (Tapflerr Music TF001)

Scottish folkie Davy Lees has returned with a new album titled One of Those Days. This recording encompasses a wide range of selections, placing contemporary ...
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JOAN BAEZ – Whistle Down The Wind (Proper PRPCD146)

Joan Baez is about to embark on her final world tour. I guess that after more than fifty years of music and activism she has ...
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TOWERSEY FESTIVAL reveal line-up for 2018

The Proclaimers, Richard Thompson, Beth Orton and Big Country are among the acts headlining the 54th Towersey Festival (24-27 August 2018, Thame, Oxfordshire). Joining them ...
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Gretchen Peters joins Gate To Southwell 2018

One of America's most successful singer-songwriters, Gretchen Peters, will be one of the headline acts at this year's Gate To Southwell Festival in rural Nottinghamshire ...
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FIRST ACTS ANNOUNCED FOR 12TH DERBY FOLK FESTIVAL

Derby Folk Festival returns in 2018 for its twelfth year, right in the centre of Derby. Following the fantastic success of last year’s “best ever ...
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Fran Wyburn releases her debut album next month

After two successful EPs (Little Moments, 2014 and Postcards, 2016) produced by Toby Davies (Jorja Smith, Maverick Sabre, Gentlemans Dub Club) of which Folk Radio ...
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Declan O’Rourke tours Chronicles Of The Great Irish Famine

Chronicles Of The Great Irish Famine, the new album by Declan O'Rourke, was released in October 2017. Fifteen years in the making, this epic song ...
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STRING SISTERS – Between Wind And Water (own label SISTERS118)

The impeccable musical pedigree of the String Sisters is undeniable and their new album Between Wind And Water demonstrates exactly why these formidably accomplished women ...
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SINGLES BAR 27

A round-up of recent EPs and singles MERRY HELL will launch their eagerly awaited acoustic album, Anthems To The Wind, in a couple of months ...
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Martyn Joseph honoured on both sides of the Atlantic

Not just ‘one of acoustic music’s most original voices’, but also one of its most active humanitarians, acclaimed Welsh singer songwriter Martyn Joseph has received ...
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STUART FORESTER – The Good Earth (Melonstone MLNR002)

Since we last heard from Stuart Forester he has endured tragedy and moved to Scotland from where he sometimes posts photographs of his new life ...
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Caroline Keane and Tom Delany – new album

This new recording of traditional Irish music presents Irish cultural heritage in a fresh and creative context while remaining steadfastly loyal to the music, song ...
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STEVE LOGAN – Backstreets Of Eden (Moondragon Records SLOG 025)

Steve Logan is a welsh songwriter and musician now living in and working from Cambridge, UK, who is, as his website puts it, “working across ...
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Boldwood: second album available soon

Glory Of The West is Boldwood's second full length album, coming a decade after their debut album, Feet, Don't Fail Me Now, which was released ...
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KYLE CAREY – The Art Of Forgetting (Riverboat Records TUG 1109)

The Art Of Forgetting is Kyle Carey’s third album. Carey describes her style as ‘Gaelic Americana’. ‘Gaelic Americana’ is a fusion of Celtic and Appalachian ...
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CORRIE SHELLEY – The Leaf And The Cane (Own Label CSSSMCD002)

You know how it is, you spend 30 years busy doing other life stuff away from music, then seemingly effortlessly drop two self-composed albums within ...
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Copperplate Podcast 220 – Presented by Alan O’Leary

folking.com brings you the latest podcast from that aficionado of Irish music, yes you guessed it, the one and only Mr. Alan O'Leary with his ...
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DAN HARTLAND – Great Novels (own label DH004)

In many ways Great Novels is a companion piece to the Amit Dattani solo debut, both of them hailing from Birmingham and sharing a love ...
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No Petticoats Here: Inspirational First World War Women

Critically acclaimed musician and singer Louise Jordan performs No Petticoats Here to tell the stories of remarkable women from the First World War. Based on ...
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Shrewsbury Folk Festival reveals more names

Folk legend Richard Thompson is set to make an electrifying return to this year’s Shrewsbury Folk Festival after organisers announced a rare appearance by the ...
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ANTI RECORDS TO RE-RELEASE TOM WAITS’ ENTIRE 1970s ELEKTRA ASYLUM CATALOGUE

HISTORIC DEBUT ALBUM ‘CLOSING TIME’ TO BE RELEASED ON 9 MARCH ALSO ON 9 MARCH, ‘HEART OF SATURDAY NIGHT’, ‘NIGHTHAWKS AT THE DINER’, ‘SMALL CHANGE’, ...
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LUCIA COMNES – Held In The Arms (Delfina DR386-LC09)

Her fifth album and only the second to feature all original material, Held In The Arms, Comnes’ follow-up to 2015’s Love, Hope & Tyranny, again ...
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Michael Chapman tours in April

2016 was a landmark year for Michael Chapman. As well as celebrating his 75th birthday it was also 50 years since he first went on ...
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Ad Vanderveen – Denver Nevada

Denver Nevada is a place that is not real, it’s made up. But it is real in the sense that it’s an anagram for Ad ...
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The Grahams – New limited 7 inch

Vibrant Nashville-based Americana duo The Grahams (pronounced Grams) announce extensive February-March 2018 UK tour previewing material from two eagerly anticipated projects due later this year ...
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Levellers reveal brand new video for ‘McGee’

Levellers have revealed the video for their latest single ‘McGee’, which was filmed at Abbey Road Studios while the band were recording their upcoming album ...
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Reverend Shawn Amos – Breaks it Down

We would like to introduce you to; The Reverend Shawn Amos, a Los Angeles-based, chart-topping bluesman ready to turn any venue into a 1960s’ Chicago ...
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MIRIAM COOKE – Freefalling (First Night)

A former fashion model turned archaeologist, actress, broadcaster, folk singer and, er baboon stylist, raised in an Irish farming community, Cooke trades in a very ...
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MIKE REINSTEIN – Acts Of Love (Irregular Records IRR110)

Mike Reinstein is a singer-songwriter-guitarist from Sussex and his songs are usually literate, thoughtful and, indeed, thought-provoking. I’m pleased to say that Acts Of Love ...
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Mad Martins – CDs, book and stage show by Gary Miller

Mad Martins is the latest project from internationally acclaimed songwriter and performing and recording artist Gary Miller (“As a song poet there are few in ...
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The High Kings announce UK tour dates

The High Kings, the true heirs of Ireland’s Folk Heritage, are delighted to announce the first UK shows on their DECADE - The Best of ...
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AMIT DATTANI – Santiago (own label AD001)

One half of the Mellow Peaches, Amit Dattani, will release his debut solo Long-Player on March 4th. While much of the Peaches’ output is somewhere ...
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GERI VAN ESSEN – A New Hiding Place (own label)

Coming to folk music by way of children’s choirs in the Netherlands, now based in East London, van Essen is gifted with a gentle, pure ...
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Gary Miller announces new single and album

2018 sees the launch of an exciting and unique collaboration between two leaders of the North East of England music scene in their respective musical ...
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The Self Preservation Society

Here is something that must have been a lot of fun to do... Released by ECC Records - 19th February 2018 - A really folking ...
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ÚNA MONAGHAN – For (own label)

Belfast’s Úna Monaghan is a harper, a composer and an exponent of electronic soundscapes – her description – and she combines those talents on her ...
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Keith James tours The Songs Of Leonard Cohen

www.keith-james.com His wonderful Tower of Songs Stripped back, desolate, naked and sensual Born 1934 into a traditional Jewish family from Montreal Canada, Leonard Cohen can ...
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FALSE LIGHTS – Harmonograph (Wreckord Label FL003)

The second crop of fruit from the joint project between Sam Carter and Jim Moray brings in Stuart Provan on drums and adds Archie Churchill-Moss’s ...
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KEITH KENDRICK & SYLVIA NEEDHAM – Shine On (WildGoose WGS 423 CD)

If you like your folk music robust and uncluttered, you probably have, in your collection, at least one album by Keith Kendrick and his partner ...
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MATTHEWS SOUTHERN COMFORT – Like A Radio (MIG MIG02023)

Matthews Southern Comfort – that’s a name we haven’t heard for a while and, to be honest, I’m not sure why we’re hearing it now ...
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THE LYNNeS – Heartbreak Song For The Radio (The LYNNEs Records TLR 2018-01)

Although they’ve shared a stage several times and written songs together over the past ten years, fellow Canadians Lynne Miles and Lynne Hanson haven’t actually ...
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JOSIE DUNCAN & PABLO LAFUENTE – The Morning Tempest (Own Label JDP2018CD)

The Morning Tempest, the debut album from Josie Duncan and Pablo Lafuente follows on from their 2016 EP, Half Of What You See. Arising, as ...
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REG MEUROSS – Songs About A Train (Hatsongs HAT012)

A companion piece of sorts to 2011’s The Dreamed And The Drowned in that it’s another limited edition (1000) collection of previously unreleased material, the ...
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JOHN OATES with the Good Road Band – Arkansas (PS Records PSR006CD)

After 46 years of making blue eyed soul, both as half of Hall & Oates and as a solo performer, John Oates has gone Americana, ...
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Wildwood Jack announce new album – touring this year

After selling their home to hit the road the acoustic folk and roots duo Wildwood Jack have been living the life of musical troubadours for ...
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RICHARD KNOTT – Long Story Short (Solid Thumb Music STCD1801)

There are times when a record like Long Story Short is just what you need to drive the blues away, which is odd because there ...
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Port Cities – Canadian band announce debut album

Canadian band Port Cities are still bathing in the afterglow of November's Nova Scotia Music Week, where they scooped no less than five awards, including album ...
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MOLLY TUTTLE TO TOUR THE UK

From her history-making win for Guitarist of the Year at the 2017 IBMA Awards to 1M streams and counting on Spotify, all signs indicate that ...
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Wickham Festival Announces 2018 Line Up

Wickham have just announced that The South and Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel are among the latest acts confirmed for this year's Festival. Also recently ...
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BETH NIELSEN CHAPMAN – Hearts of Glass (BNC BNCCD006)

Her twelfth solo album (she also released Liv On, a collection of healing songs with Olivia Newton-John and Amy Sky in 2016), this is her ...
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LORI WATSON – Yarrow Acoustic Sessions (Isle Music Scotland ISLE05CD)

If the word you usually associate with the Scots is “dour” ‘I’m afraid this album may reinforce your prejudices. As I understand it Yarrow Acoustic ...
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STICK IN THE WHEEL – Follow Them True (From Here)

Let me start by confessing that I never quite took to their hugely acclaimed 2015 debut, but the arrival of their English Folk Field Recordings ...
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JOHN FORRESTER – Restless (Irregular Records IRR109)

John Forrester is a singer, a songwriter, an ace double bass player and the sort of chap that everybody in the business knows. Restless is ...
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CAITLIN KING – Flower Crown (SoSlam)

Musicians, like policemen, are looking younger and there is a new young musician on the beat.  Southend-on-Sea based Caitlin King has only just turned 16 ...
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RED PINE TIMBER CO. – Sorry For The Good Times (GOLDCD016)

On January 26th Red Pine Timber Company released their second album Sorry For The Good Times. The band are based in Perth (the Scottish one) ...
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MAEVE MACKINNON – Strì (Own Label, MM003)

Launched this weekend as part of Celtic Connections 2018, comes Maeve Mackinnon’s third studio album, Strì (meaning “strive”). After a couple of years of touring ...
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SALT HOUSE – Undersong (Make Believe MBR7CD)

There have been changes in the Salt House with Jenny Sturgeon joining Ewan MacPherson and Lauren MacColl and having a big impact as songwriter and ...
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WHITE ROOKS – I See Fairisies (Chalk Horse Music)

First up, some history. Back in 1999, singer Liz Overs and future husband producer Darren Pearson, who first performed together as Eastbourne-based outfit The Hit ...
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BRONA McVITTIE – Live at the Tea House Theatre, Vauxhall, London

London is a city divided by the Thames, so “heading south of The River” always adds a little something to an occasion.  In this case ...
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You Are Wolf announces her second album

You Are Wolf is the alt-folk project of award-winning composer and vocalist Kerry Andrew. Releasing her second album Keld in March, it is the follow-up ...
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Sarah McQuaid CD launch tour – 25th January 2018

While I've been living in West Cornwall for nearly two years now, and have checked out some local open mics and even a folk club ...
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Don McLean – new album and British and Irish tour dates

With over 40 gold and platinum records worldwide, Don McLean is one of America’s most beloved country artists. Botanical Gardens, his 19th studio album and ...
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HC McENTIRE –Lionheart (Merge MERG602)

While still fronting Mount Moriah, Heather McEntire has taken time out to record a solo album, Lionheart, recorded in the living room of her house ...
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MIKE TURNBULL – Circlet Of Gold (own label)

I started to listen to Circlet Of Gold and got so wrapped up in the opening track that I had do some research and by ...
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DOUGIE MacLEAN – New Tomorrow (Dunkeld Records DUNCD039)

There they are: the familiar ringing guitar, the unmistakeable melodic cadences. The last Dougie MacLean album I got was his 40th anniversary concert set, Till ...
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WINTER WILSON – Far Off On The Horizon (own label, WWCD009)

Winter Wilson’s eighth album, Far Off On The Horizon, does not do showy or flashy. It just calmly and confidently insinuates its way into the ...
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MARY GAUTHIER – Rifles & Rosary Beads (Proper PRCD145)

Founded by Darden Smith some five years ago, SongwritingWith: Soldiers is a charitable organisation that brings together musicians and often wounded (physically, spiritually and mentally) ...
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Lori Watson announces two new albums

Scots Singer of the Year 2016-17, Lori Watson is a fiddle player, singer and composer. She has drawn on the rich tradition of the Scottish ...
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YVONNE LYON – Metanoia (own label)

Metanoia is Yvonne Lyon’s eighth album and is a mixture old tracks revisited and brand new tracks. The collection opens with an Americana track laced ...
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Breabach piper James Duncan Mackenzie announces new solo album

Breabach piper and flautist, James Duncan Mackenzie, from the Isle of Lewis, launches his second solo album, Sròmos, a collection of newly composed melodies. The ...
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TRENT MILLER – Time Between Us (Bucketfull Of Brains BOB801)

Trent Miller's new CD Time Between Us, due for release on 16th March 2018, as yet has no mention that I could find on his ...
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ERIC ANDERSEN – Silent Angel: Fire and Ashes of Heinrich Böll (Meyer Records no. 221)

Since The Cologne Concert LP in 2011, Eric Andersen’s output on the Meyer label has been prolific to say the least; and only months since ...
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Salt House announce their new album

Five years on from their debut, which announced a major new force on the scene, Scottish band Salt House release their new album Undersong. Produced ...
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BRICKWORK LIZARDS – Haneen (Lazima Records)

You probably couldn’t invent the way this band came about - but the results are very impressive and the beginning is entirely in keeping with ...
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Rich Krueger releases long-awaited album

The long awaited full-length album by Chicago folk rocker, Rich Krueger, Life Aint That Long is released on  Friday, January 26th with a celebration performance to be ...
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THE SILVER DARLINGS – Something Of The Sound (Anklebreka Records AR0017)

Something Of The Sound is the second album released by The Silver Darlings, following the Souls in 2011. The band are from Sheffield and have ...
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STEVE HACKETT Wuthering Nights : Live in Birmingham

On 26th January 2018, Inside Out Music release Wuthering Nights : Live in Birmingham, the new live release from guitar legend Steve Hackett. Wuthering Nights ...
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WILDE ROSES – Wilde Roses (Blood & Desire BNDR02CD)

The Wilde Roses CD, by the duo of the same name and due for release on January 26th 2018, is a two-dimensional snapshot of the ...
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BLUES & FOLK STARS LINED UP FOR GATE TO SOUTHWELL 2018

There’s a perfect blend of rising stars, festival favourites and music legends lined up for next year’s Gate To Southwell. Already booked for the East ...
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NAOMI BEDFORD & PAUL SIMMONDS – Songs My Ruiner Gave To Me (Dusty Willow DWR004)

“Concerning Love, Madness & Obsession” is what is says.  I’m never sure what to expect from Naomi Bedford but I’m not sure that this was ...
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ASH GRAY – Chicken Wire (Labelship Records – LC24628)

Despite being something of a veteran on various indie circuits – on two continents, no less – Chicken Wire is only the second solo album ...
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Heather Downie announces her first solo album

Harpist and singer Heather Downie was introduced to Scottish music by the late Martyn Bennett at the age of nine and has been involved in ...
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Dougie Maclean: new album

Leading singer-songwriter Dougie MacLean is looking forward to his first big solo concert in the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall during the award-winning Celtic Connections festival ...
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ZOE MULFORD – Small Brown Birds (Azalea City ACCD 1701)

Originally from Philadelphia, singer, songwriter, guitarist and much-praised clawhammer banjo-player Zoe Mulford now lives (sometimes) in Manchester. She is currently on tour with Tom Kitching ...
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SARAH McQUAID – If We Dig Any Deeper It Could Get Dangerous (Shovel And A Spade Records SAASCD001)

Ian Semple, whose radio programme on CoastFM specializes in promoting artists with a connection to Cornwall, describes Sarah McQuaid's new CD If We Dig Any ...
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Buffy Sainte-Marie – Medicine Songs

Since her groundbreaking debut, 1964’s It’s My Way!, Buffy Sainte-Marie has been a trailblazer and a tireless advocate. For more than a half-century, Sainte-Marie has ...
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ALICE DIMICELE – One With The Tide (Alice Otter Music AO114)

Born in New Jersey, but a long time resident of South Oregon, DiMicele has fourteen albums to her name, all released via her own independent ...
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BENYARO – One Step Ahead Of Your Past (own label)

Benyaro is the musical vehicle of multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Ben Musser from the mountain resort town of Jackson Hole, Wyoming. He is partnered by Leif ...
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Wilde Roses – eponymous debut album and Tintagel date

Wilde Roses is a musical collaboration between singers, multi-instrumentalists, composers, dancers and performers Anna Tam and Emily Alice Ovenden. Musically and visually inspired by the ...
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NO THEE NO ESS – California (Folkwit Records)

No Thee No Ess are a unique Cardiff duo comprising Andy Fung and Paul Battenbough who just so happened to have released their most recent ...
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KEEGAN McINROE – A Good Old Fashioned Protest (own label)

Last year saw a welcome return of the protest album and it’s good to see the momentum hasn’t slowed, Texas-based McInroe getting 2018 off to ...
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VARIOUS ARTISTS – The Transports – A Tale Of Exile And Migration (Hudson Records HUD007LP/CD)

Tom Paxton once remarked about one of his songs that it originally sounded as if it had been written a century ago, but that he ...
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VARIOUS ARTISTS – Strange Angels: In Flight With Elmore James (Sylvan Songs Records)

Taking its name in part from a James song, Strange Angels: In Flight With Elmore James reworks thirteen well- and lesser-known James songs in homage ...
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Alasdair Roberts announces a new collaboration for a new album

For his twelfth solo album, What News, and his fourth album focused exclusively on the performance of traditional songs, Alasdair Roberts has chosen a typically unusual and eclectic ...
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Sarah McQuaid announces new album

Produced by legendary singer-songwriter and guitar sage Michael Chapman, If We Dig Any Deeper It Could Get Dangerous is the fifth solo album by UK-based ...
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Dan Walsh Trio announce spring tour dates

After a mammoth solo world tour promoting the release of the critically acclaimed Verging On The Perpendicular album, BBC Folk Award nominee Dan Walsh's annual ...
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