The folking.com music archive for album reviews and news

folking_com new 2016 site logo

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).


BOB LESLIE – Land and Sea (Big Red Records. Big Red 3)

Following 2010’s In a Different World and 2011’s Fat Cat, Land and Sea is the third release in the discography of Bob Leslie, and it ...

TOM RUSSELL – Folk Hotel (Proper PRPCD143P)

Tom Russell releases a new studio album Folk Hotel on September 8th. Russell has been described as “The greatest living folk-country songwriter” by John Swenson ...

PONS AELIUS – Captain Glen’s Comfort (own label PACGC01)

Great band name, Pons Aelius. To save you the trouble, the original was a small Roman fort on Hadrian’s Wall so the name reflects their ...

PAUL BRADY – Unfinished Business (Proper PRPCD144P)

On September 8th, Paul Brady releases Unfinished Business. It features nine new compositions and two traditional folk songs. The album is Brady’s fifteenth solo album ...

RYAN YOUNG – Ryan Young (Ryan Young Music RYM01CD)

Ryan Young has already begun garnering what are doubtless only the first of many awards and accolades for his superb fiddle-playing. His self-titled debut album ...

BLIND RIVER SCARE – Pastures New (Creosote CR004CD)

Blind River Scare is the performing vehicle for South Wales based singer-songwriter, Tim Manning, here, on their fourth album, working as a trio with Steve ...

The Passerine to make its debut at Shrewsbury Folk Festival

Refugees and migrant musicians from Sudan, Egypt, Iran, Pakistan, Israel and India have been named in the line up of a new world music ensemble ...

PAUL ANDERSON – The High Summit (Fingal Records FINCD506)

I sometimes while away an idle moment trying to discern trends in Scottish music and I always fail. There are young musicians playing the oldest ...

ODDFELLOW’S CASINO – Oh, Sealand (At The Helm/Microcultures)

Taking their name from Ambrose Oddfellow, a Victorian freakshow host whose moustache frontman David Bramwell apparently inherited from a great-aunt, the Brighton outfit have released ...

The 19th Street Band – new album

High-energy Americana folk-rock group, The 19th Street Band, is making their debut appearance in Northern Ireland this summer as part of the Open House Festival ...

SAM DRAISEY – As I Live And Breathe (own label)

“I’m the last of the protest song heroes” sings Sam Draisey in ‘Five Years Later’. That in itself is unusual because many writers of protest ...

BLAKE’S FORTUNE – Hello World (own label)

Blake’s Fortune is the nom de plume of a young singer-songwriter from Dublin. His real name is John Lennon which, you have to admit, is ...

BIRD RADIO/BONES & THE AFT – You’ve Been Kind! (Liver & Lights No. 55)

John Bently never does things the easy way. You’ve Been Kind! is available on vinyl with a hand printed sleeve and poster or on CD ...

GREG RUSSELL – Inclined To Be Red (Fellside FECD281)

More commonly seen in partnership with Ciaran Algar, Greg Russell now also embarks on a solo career with an album the title of which refers ...

THE LAST DINOSAUR – The Nothing (Naim Records NAIMDD350)

Funny thing, grief. There might be an immediate gut punch of loss, but the full effects are often only truly recognisable with years of hindsight ...

Wickham Festival 2017 Interview

Darren Beech caught up with Peter Chegwyn just before the festival and had a chat about what we could expect from Wickham this year. Many ...

The Lake Poets (Marty Longstaff) plays North-East dates

The Lake Poets is Sunderland based singer-songwriter Marty Longstaff. Following an appearance at Cambridge Folk Festival this weekend he plays a number of dates in the North-East during August ...

The Sweet Water Warblers – Dave Freak talks to Rachael Davis

Hailing from Michigan, May Erlewine, Rachael Davis and The Flatbellys' Lindsay Lou have all carved successful careers as individual artists.  But an invitation to sing ...

COHEN BRAITHWAITE-KILCOYNE – Outway Songster (WildGoose WGS 422 CD)

An outway songster was one who sang traditional song and popular hits of the time but “actually invented new ones themselves” according to Lucy Broadwood ...

AMANDA ANNE PLATT & THE HONEYCUTTERS – Amanda Anne Platt & The Honeycutters (Organic Records OR 16902)

Amanda Anne Platt & The Honeycutters (formerly known simply as The Honeycutters) is the fifth Long Player from the group and is available in the ...

SONGDOG – Joy Street (Junkyard Songs JSLPCD17)

I became a convert to Welsh poet-novelist-playwright Lyndon Morgans’ often talk-sing vocal style and deeply poetic narrative lyrics with the band’s second album and have ...

THE FOUR OF US – Sugar Island (Future FUTURECDS011)

The Four of Us have had limited exposure elsewhere in the UK but have been a major force in Irish music since 1989 when they ...

BILL MADISON – If I Had The Time (own label)

Unlike his last release, the latest offering from the deep and dusty voiced New England singer-songwriter, his thirteenth, is, save for one number, all self-penned, ...

Ron Pope announces new album Work

This fall, Nashville-based independent artist Ron Pope will embark on an international headline tour making stops in New York, London, Chicago, Nashville, Washington D.C., Boston, ...

Jon Boden announces new solo album

Jon Boden, former frontman of progressive folk eleven-piece Bellowhead, has announced details of his new solo album Afterglow, set for release via Hudson Records on ...

Video Wall 5

We just realised that the backlog of videos has built up again - it must be something to do with the summer weather bringing them ...

ANDY GRIFFITHS – Big Red Monster (Musician Records MR011)

The Big Red Monster of the title is probably the rusting old tractor on the back cover but even Andy Griffiths isn’t quite sure. This ...

BBC dramatises Michael Morpugo’s book, Alone On The Wide Wide Sea

BBC Radio 2 is to broadcast a drama starring Toby Jones and Jason Donovan based on award-winning author Michael Morpurgo’s child migration novel, Alone On ...

CATHERINE MacLELLAN – If It’s Alright With You: The Songs of Gene MacLellan (True North TND670)

The name might not be familiar, but you should certainly be familiar with the late Gene MacLellan’s songs, if not as a performer himself (though ...

OFFA REX – The Queen Of Hearts (Nonesuch)

Born in Florence but raised in Oxford, Olivia Chaney’s 2015 debut album following contributions to assorted collections and albums by Seth Lakeman and Alasdair Roberts ...

REV HAMMER AND NICK HARPER – Live at Unit 23 Live, Totnes

Folk Rock legends, Rev Hammer and Nick Harper wowed the audience at Unit 23 Live in Totnes, South Devon recently. The venue owner Simon has ...

AULD HAT NEW HEIDS – Volume 1 (Rickety Rackety Records RRR005)

The stated aim of Auld Hat New Heids’ album is to recreate the glory days of folk clubs – you remember; when we could go ...

CHRISTINE PRIMROSE – Gràdh Is Gonadh – Guth Ag Aithris (Temple COMCD2109)

That Christine Primrose is one of Scotland’s premier Gaelic singers is a given. The title translates as Love & Loss – A Lone Voice and ...

CORY FLYNN – A Boy Named Hunger (Long Way Home Music LWHM 003)

Cory Flynn, from Brighton, is just 16 years old, but has been performing both as a soloist and in bands for nearly six years. And ...

LEVERET – Inventions (Rootbeat RBRCD38)

After two very successful albums and sold out gigs, Leveret bounce back onto the music scene with Inventions, an album of original material which was ...

The English Folk Dance and Song Society announces its autumn education programme

The English Folk Dance and Song Society (EFDSS) has unveiled its programme of activities for the autumn season (September to December) at Cecil Sharp House ...

Jarrod Dickenson announces new album and single.

Jarrod Dickenson announces the release date for his long awaited album Ready The Horses as September 29th 2017 and reveals new single ‘California’. Storytelling is ...

Brona McVittie announces debut solo album and single

We Are The Wildlife is the forthcoming debut solo LP from celebrated Irish folk chanteuse and harpist Brona McVittie. As a taster of the magic ...

VARIOUS – Spiritual Music From The Hebrides (AN LANNTAIR)

Spiritual Music From The Hebrides was recorded at a live event that drew together singers and musicians from the worlds of the Presbyterian church, classical ...

HANNAH JOHNSON– Shaken (Woodville)

Physically based in Kings Heath, Birmingham but with her spiritual and musical homes shared between Nashville and Austin, Johnson was formerly one–third of Western Swing ...

BENJAMIN FOLKE THOMAS – Acoustic Classics (Louvaio Lou006)

Folking.com has already announced the imminent release of Acoustic Classics by Benjamin Folke Thomas - http://folking.com/benjamin-folke-thomas-returns-with-live-album/ - with the back story to the singer’s life ...

SLAID CLEAVES – Ghost On The Car Radio (Candy House Media CHM 130)

It’s been four years since there was any new material from the Maine-bred, Texas-based Cleaves, but, marking his 25th year in the business, he returns ...

VARIOUS – Gentle Giants: The Songs of Don Williams (Slate Creek SCR0526172)

Now 78 and still going strong (his most recent album being in 2014), Don Williams is, both in person and on disc, one of the ...

SINGLES BAR 23

A round-up of recent EPs and singles SAILING STONES is the name by which Irish born, London-based Jenny Lindfors plies her trade, the digital self-produced, ...

ELLIOTT MORRIS – Lost & Found (Dominoes Club DCRCD001)

An Anglo-Scot, based in Yorkshire, the soft-voiced Elliott Morris plies a mix of folk and blues that highlight his percussive guitar slapping technique on a ...

EFDSS launches Musicians In Museums scheme

Applications are open for first artist residency A new project to explore and celebrate the collections at three national museums and bring them to life ...

BLACK*SCARR – Deluded (own label)

Having released the second album with band project The Persecuted just a couple of months ago, East End-based singer-songwriter Johnny Black makes a swift return ...

The Routes Quartet announce their debut album

The Routes Quartet is an exquisite blend of the folk and classical traditions, featuring evocative arrangements of folk tunes and stunning original compositions. The Routes ...

AMY HENDERSON – Soul For A Compass (own label AH2017CD)

These days we need all the cheering up we can get and my first thought was that this record would do the job nicely. Amy ...

Sarah Jane Scouten releases new album

Two-time Canadian Folk Music Award Nominee, Sarah Jane Scouten released new full-length album When The Bloom Falls From The Rose on June 16th via Light ...

Paul Brady announces new studio album, Unfinished Business

With a career spanning five decades, Paul Brady, singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist is one of contemporary music’s most enduring popular artists. Brady first came to attention ...

MARY ANN KENNEDY – An Dàn (Arc Music EUCD2737)

Mary Ann Kennedy describes this album as Gaelic songs for a modern world. An Dàn means…well, dàn means song but it also means destiny, which ...

Harriet! are on the road to promote double-A single

HARRIET! consists of Harriet Brooke McDonnell and Neil Wardleworth. Harriet hails from Mickleover, Derbyshire. She has established herself in and around the local music scene ...

WEST OF EDEN – No Time Like The Past – A Collection (West of Music WOMCDII)

A school trip to Dublin the early 90s was to prove the catalyst for 20 years of music when classmates and subsequently husband wife Martin ...

Chris Murphy announces new album

For 25 years, and with no sign of slowing, violinist Chris Murphy has made a living by writing, performing and recording original music. For Murphy, ...

Cory Flynn – sixteen year old singer/songwriter announces debut album

Cory Flynn is a talented young singer-songwriter and musician from Brighton. His songs are folk/country/blues with an edge and a style heavily influenced by Bob ...

THE BROTHERS BRIGGS – The Brothers Briggs (All Made Up Records, AMU0010)

This self-titled album by The Brothers Briggs drops in like the soundtrack to a long-lost folk horror film. There’s that delicious sense of the indefinably ...

CANNY FETTLE – Still Gannin’ Canny (Canny Fettle Records CANNYCD001)

You know the kind of friendships where you don’t see one another for ages, yet when you next meet up, you just pick up right ...

Tom Russell announces a new album, Folk Hotel

Tom Russell will release a brand-new studio album, Folk Hotel (Proper Records) on September 8th. The physical version showcases thirteen new Russell originals plus, as ...

GREG RUSSELL – Inclined To Be Red (Fellside FECD281)

When he isn’t partnering Ciaran Algar or working with Nancy Kerr’s Sweet Visitor Band and half a dozen other projects, Greg Russell follows another path ...

TORI REED – The Snug Sessions (own label)

The Snug Sessions opens with ‘Narcissistic Blues’, Tori’s voice over gentle piano, and you think that you’ve got this sussed. Then, with no warning, the ...

Hannah Aldridge releases second album, Gold Rush

In literature and in songwriting, the American South is where writers go to face their fears. Hannah Aldridge doesn’t just dip her pen into the ...

Benjamin Folke Thomas returns with live album

Following the success of his 4th album Copenhagen earlier this year, Scandinavian born Benjamin Folke Thomas is back with a new album for his fans, ...

KEITH JAMES – Tenderness Claws (Hurdy Gurdy HGA2926)

On his web site, Keith James describes his career as esoteric and secretive, but he has actually attracted a good deal of respect for his ...

VIKKI CLAYTON – Messenger (own label)

I suppose that I first encountered Vikki Clayton one Cropredy when she was fronting Fairport Convention to perform some of Sandy Denny’s songs. I bought ...

Richard Thompson to release Acoustic Classics II

Celebrated guitarist and songwriter Richard Thompson will release Acoustic Classics Vol. II on his own Beeswing record label, distributed via Proper, on August 11. Richard ...

REG MEUROSS – Faraway People (Hatsongs HAT011)

I enjoyed Reg’s previous album, December, and Faraway People is more of the same and even better than its predecessor. Once again Reg has stripped ...

ANNA COOGAN – The Lonely Cry of Space & Time (AC004)

The Lonely Cry Of Space And Time by Anna Coogan was released on April 28th but I’ve only just had a copy to review. Is ...

The Young’uns announce new album – tour dates to follow

Teesside trio The Young’uns have always had the human touch. In the space of little more than a decade - and just three years after ...

DEMPSEY BROUGHTON – Off By Heart (own label SAECD14)

Kevin Dempsey and Joe Broughton have been in the business for so many years and in so many line-ups that it seems impossible to count ...

Carla Bruni releases Rolling Stones cover as single and announces new album

Internationally acclaimed singer-songwriter Carla Bruni has released a new song and captivating video directed by Jean-Baptiste Mondino (Madonna, Bjork, Sting, Vanessa Paradis) for her cover ...

COAST – Windmills In The Sky (Ruabhal Records SAM04)

Coast is a folk-rock band, with the emphasis on the rock, formed by Paul Eastham and Chris Barnes back in 2009. Windmills In The Sky ...

SINGLES BAR 22

A round-up of recent EPs and singles Following four independent releases, Ontario siblings THE ABRAMS BROTHERS mark their major label debut with a self-titled EP ...

JOE BROUGHTON’S CONSERVATOIRE FOLK ENSEMBLE – Painted (own label SAE16CD)

I’ve seen Joe Broughton’s Conservatoire Folk Ensemble on stage just once and it was an exciting experience. It was a small theatre and I reckon ...

THE DRYSTONES – We Happy Few (own label)

The Drystones are two young chaps from Somerset: Alex Garden and Ford Collier; singers and multi-instrumentalists who made their debut album at age 16. Remarkably, ...

MARTHA TILSTON – Nomad (Squiggly Records)

This recently released album is a pure joy to listen to. Martha is the daughter of highly acclaimed singer/songwriter – Steve Tilston, but Martha is ...

National folk arts library to undergo a major refurbishment

England’s national library of folk music and dance is to undergo a major refurbishment this summer to ensure it is fit for future generations to ...

The Drystones release their third album this month

Somerset based young folk duo The Drystones have just recorded their third album entitled We Happy Few. Ford Collier and Alex Garden started performing when ...

SHEILA K CAMERON – Kiss Deep And The Missing Beat (Glalell SKC1706CD)

Kiss Deep is sixth and final volume in the first series of Sheila K Cameron reissues. There are nineteen tracks here encompassing all the styles ...

KATE & RAPHAËL – Les Objets Trouvés (own label DECYOU01)

From the first unsettling notes, it’s clear that Les Objets Trouvés isn’t going to sit down quietly and play nice. Opening with the sort of ...

JON PALMER talks to Folking

The Jon Palmer Acoustic Band is based in Otley. They have a loyal following across the region and four albums to their name, the most ...

ANNIE GALLUP – Lucy Remembers Her Father (Gallway Bay Music)

In what is, unquestionably, her finest solo work to date, Annie Gallup, one half of Hat Check Girl, has crafted an intimate, conceptual storytelling album ...

THE HAWTHORNES – Cut & Run (own label)

The second album from Cheltenham folk outfit The Hawthornes, Cut & Run, sees them with an expanded line-up, Sussex-born singer Louisa Gaylard, bassist Gordy Partridge ...

LE VENT DU NORD live at South Hill Park, Bracknell

Smoke swirled over the darkened stage as four shadowy figures took their places. The sound began with the drone of a hurdy-gurdy, joined by fiddle, ...

Texan singer-songwriter Sam Baker announces new album

Central Texas singer-songwriter Sam Baker releases his long-awaited fifth album, Land Of Doubt, on June 21, 2017. The recording represents a deepening of the approach Baker ...

OH SUSANNA – A Girl in Teen City (Continental Song City CSCCD1142)

Whether or not A Girl In Teen City is wholly autobiographical, Suzie Ungerleider’s concept album about growing up a teenager in the 80s in her ...

MALCOLM HOLCOMBE – Pretty Little Troubles (Gypsy Eyes Music )

His voice croakier and gummier than ever, sounding as one review put it, like he’s wearing someone else’s teeth, even so Holcombe continues to deliver ...

ROBBIE BANKES – Foothills (own label)

Robbie Bankes hails from Calgary and is currently studying at the University of Telemark. Foothills is his first album although you can get his demo ...

Underhill Rose announce new live album – touring now

Harmonies. Soul-touching lyrics. Eye-catching stage presence. Underhill Rose has become synonymous with beautiful music, charming personalities, and rippling success. In the last four years, the ...

Ryan Young – award-winning Scottish fiddler announces debut album

This self-titled debut album from award-winning fiddler Ryan Young brings inventive twists to old and forgotten tunes. Produced and engineered by triple Grammy award-winning Jesse ...

ROSIE HOOD – The Beautiful & The Actual (Rootbeat Records RBRCD36)

Rosie Hood’s debut solo album impresses on so many levels. Firstly, there’s her voice – a model of power and clarity; secondly there is the ...

DARDEN SMITH – Everything (Compass 746812)

After the release of 2013’s Love Calling, his fourteenth album in thirty years, the Austin-based singer-songwriter considered calling it a day, unsure he had anything ...

OCCIDENTAL GYPSY – 44070 (own label)

Occidental Gypsy is a band that combines the 'Gypsy Swing' feel of Django Reinhardt and Stéphane Grapelli with a range of material from other sources, ...

MIRANDA LEE RICHARDS – Existential Beast (Invisible Hands IHCD74)

A quick follow-up to last year’s Echoes Of The Dreamtime finds the San Franciscan native and erstwhile Brian Jonestown Massacre member in often dreamy cosmic ...

Annie Keating – new download single

Annie Keating announces release of new digital-only single ‘Trouble’ to coincide with her first UK tour since 2013. Trick Star, Annie’s seventh and most accomplished ...

DAVID HERSHAW & SANDIE FORBES – Here Comes Tomorrow (own label DHSF001)

Here Comes Tomorrow is the debut album from young Scottish duo David Hershaw and Sandie Forbes. The majority of their material is self-written and on ...

BLIND LEMON PLEDGE AND FRIENDS – Backwoods Glance (Ofeh Records)

Whoever told James Byfield that Blind Lemon Pledge was a great stage name probably didn’t do him any favours. Despite the handicap Lemon, if I ...

Elliott Morris announces debut album

Lost And Found is the debut album from singer/songwriter and guitarist Elliott Morris. Recorded at Caribou Studios, Scotland and produced by Mattie Foulds, the album ...

THE AUGUST LIST – Ramshackle Tabernacle (Ubiquity Project Records)

Sifting through a batch of CDs recently, one stood out from the rest as quite different and unexpected. It turned out to be Ramshackle Tabernacle ...

THEA GILMORE – The Counterweight (Cooking Vinyl COOKCD668)

Thea Gilmore described herself like this “Some people write me off as some waily folky woman……Other people think I'm rock. In terms of an image, ...

JUSTIN TOWNES EARLE – Kids In The Street (New West NW6389)

Ten years into his career, now dry, married and an expectant father, Justin Townes Earle is understandably in energised form on Kids In The Street ...

SINGLES BAR 21

A round-up of recent EPs and singles In the wake of his criminally underrated album Rain Machine, RICK FOOT returns with a six-track EP, Songs ...

VAIR – A Place In Time (own label 00001)

I wonder if there will ever be a time when I can’t begin a review along the lines of ‘here’s another fine young band from ...

THE UNTHANKS – Diversions Volume 4: The Songs And Poems Of Molly Drake / Extras (RabbleRouser Music RRM016/RRM017)

For this, their fourth volume of Diversions, the Unthanks have chosen The Songs And Poems Of Molly Drake. Inspired by hearing the limited release 2012 ...

THE UNTHANKS Live at Vicar Street, Dublin (25 May 2017)

The dark stage is bedecked with an array of lamps (of the standard and table varieties), interspersed with rattan chairs. The grand piano and elegantly ...

Tilly Moses announces her debut solo album

After coming across Tilly Moses online last year, her sound and emotive musical qualities immediately struck a chord with GingerDog Records. Since that first initial ...

Fairport Convention – 50th anniversary box set

July 28th sees the release of this lavish Fairport Convention CD box set, Come All Ye – The First 10 Years. Compiled by Andrew Batt, ...

ROSS COUPER + TOM OAKES – Fiddle + Guitar (Haystack Records HAYCD009)

I get to hear a lot of new music from Scotland these days. There are some nice people there who keep sending me records to ...

Robbie Bankes announces debut album of Nordic-Canadiana

Robbie Bankes sets the bar high with his debut LP Foothills (Self Released). Nominated for Young Performer of the Year at the Canadian Folk Music ...

Introducing The Hawthornes

The Hawthornes are a lively folk/rock band from Cheltenham, England. Taking cue's from folk revivalists such as Laura Marling, Eliza Carthy, Frank Turner and Seth ...

MOIRAI – Here & Now (WildGoose WGS421CD)

Here & Now must be the first album to open with a song collected from that bastion of the tradition, Facebook™. ‘Dust If You Must’ ...

Royal Albert Hall to Haslemere Hall – Phil Beer Band Gig Review

The Phil Beer Band rocking Haslemere Hall on 19th May - photo by Darren Beech Phil arrived hot on the heels of the Show of Hands 5th ...

JIM CAUSLEY AND FRIENDS – I Am The Song (WildGoose Records WGS420CD)

Young Jim Causley returns once more to the writing of his distinguished relative, Charles. I Am The Song, unlike the serious and sometimes mysterious Cyprus ...

HARROW FAIR – Call To Arms (Roaring Girl RGO14)

Comprising Miranda Mulholland, violinist with Great Lake Swimmers, and Andrew Penner, Harrow Fair are a Canadian duo who first began working together as part of ...

Keith James releases new solo album

Keith James has become one of the most active and inventive concert artists currently performing in the UK. A very accomplished sound man with a ...

DONALD BLACK – Bho M’ Chridhe (own label DB05CD)

Scottish Celtic harmonica might seem like something of a niche market and that’s what I thought at first – but wait. Bho M’ Chridhe translates ...

JANET DOWD – Home (Blue Cow Records)

Although Janet Dowd writes songs, and there are three of her own compositions on Home, her particular forte is in covering other writers. Her subjects ...

THE TWISTED TWENTY – The Twisted Twenty (Penny Fiddle Records)

The Twisted Twenty are a septet of string players whom I suspect to be proper musicians. What makes then unique is their use of baroque ...

Hannah’s Yard announce exciting debut album

A knock at a recording studio door during the Spring of 2010 and a 14 year old schoolgirl accompanied by her mother, wanted to record ...

LIANNE HALL – The Caretaker (Market Square MSMCD182)

Lianne Hall used to be a punk. She was a member of Witchknot but I rather think that she was punk in the way that ...

GALLEY BEGGAR – Heathen Hymns (Rise Above Records RISECD208)

I have opined before that Galley Beggar’s albums, though excellent in themselves, never quite reflect the live feel of the band. The last album Silence ...

Canny Fettle release their first album in thirty years

This year sees the release of Still Gannin’ Canny, the first album in over 30 years from veteran folk band Canny Fettle. Their debut album ...

ALAN REID & RACHEL CONLAN – A Quare Yield (own label)

A Quare Yield is an album of mostly banjo and fiddle duets. I say mostly because Alan Reid also plays bouzouki and mandolin and, on ...

Martin Simpson announces his 20th solo album

World renowned guitarist, singer and songwriter Martin Simpson releases his 20th solo album in 40 years Trails & Tribulations on September 1st 2017 via Topic ...

SKIPINNISH – The Seventh Wave (Skippinish Records SKIPCD26)

The Seventh Wave is the seventh album to be released by Skipinnish and it is possibly one of the most enjoyable albums that I have ...

Kaia Kater announces new album

The new album from young African-Canadian roots phenom Kaia Kater couldn’t come at a better time. As a new generation takes the reins, American roots ...

AMY McALLISTER – String On String (own label)

I’ll state now that anyone who sings ‘Matt Hyland’ is all right with me, especially when that anyone sings it as gorgeously as Amy McAllister ...

BRINDLEY HUNT – Find My Way… (own label)

Staffordshire based singer/songwriters Barry Hunt and Bryan Brindley have formed a duo - namely Brindley-Hunt - and the result of this collaboration has led them ...

CHIP TAYLOR – A Song I Can Live With (Trainwreck TW057)

His fifth album in as many years, and his twenty-first studio recording in total, A Song I Can Live With falls firmly into what Taylor ...

TRACK DOGS – Serenity Sessions (Monde Green)

For those who don’t know, Track Dogs are an Anglo-Irish-American acoustic quartet based in Madrid comprising Sheffield’s Howard Brown, Ohio’s Robbie K Jones and, respectively ...

Fraser Shaw – posthumous tune book and CD

Fraser Shaw was a wonderful piper, whistle player and composer from Glasgow who resided on the Isle of Islay. After his passing in May 2015, ...

Lifetime Achievement Award for Sarah McQuaid at Ards International Guitar Festival

At the Ards International Guitar Festival, Sarah McQuaid was presented with the festival’s annual Lifetime Achievement Award. Previous recipients over the festival’s 20-year history include ...

Calum Alex Macmillan releases second solo album

The latest in a venerable family line of Gaelic singers and bards, Calum Alex Macmillan ranks squarely at the forefront of his culture’s contemporary renaissance ...

FRONT COUNTRY – Other Love Songs (Organic Records OR16882)

What I really like about Front Country is the way they take the styles of country music, its bones if you like, and take them ...

SINGLES BAR 20

A round-up of recent EPs and singles The first of three self-released themed EPs set for 2017 from Devon duo INDIA ELECTRIC CO., pianist/violinist and ...

SOUND OF THE SIRENS – For All Our Sins (DMF Records)

Sound of the Sirens consist of Exeter-based duo Abbe Martin and Hannah Wood. Their debut album For All Our Sins is released on May 5th ...

JUPITER OWLS – The Fallow Cry Of The Jupiter Owls (Cupboard Under The Stairs)

Based in Frome, The Jupiter Owls began life as a duo comprising singer-songwriter/ guitarist John Libert and guitarist Ryan Steele but have subsequently added the ...

PORTER NICKERSON – Bonfire To Ash (Weasel Records WSL-1601)

Porter Nickerson are Willy Porter and Carmen Nickerson. Bonfire To Ash is their new album, released on May 5th. I haven’t stopped playing it since ...

Fairport are fifty on May 27th

When Fairport Convention, the legendary band which originated British folk-rock, takes the stage on Saturday 27 May 2017 it will be fifty years to the ...

Porter Nickerson announce new album

Porter Nickerson are a duo that embody the best of what live music has to offer: heart, grit, and the kind of raw musicianship that ...

HAZEYJANE – One (Tu-Kay Records TKHJCD01)

It’s almost impossible to pigeonhole Hazeyjane. At their heart is the songwriting of guitarist Chris Brown accompanied by Ash Tu-Kay, a pseudonym of producer and ...

REV HAMMER – Skald (own label)

It is always good when you hear that Rev Hammer has released a long awaited new album! He has done just that in the recently ...

Oysterband celebrate 40 years together

Oysterband was born in the summer of 1977 when the sound of punk rock rang loud from the radio, disaffection became the order of the ...

Skipinnish announce seventh album

In the world of lore and legend, the seventh wave was bigger and more powerful than all gone before.  This, the seventh album, from Skipinnish, ...

LOWRI EVANS & LEE MASON – A Little Bit Of Everything (Shimi Records ShimiCD0011)

I have to confess that when Lowri Evans released her debut English language album I really wasn’t a fan and I wasn’t allowed anywhere near ...

The Folking Awards – the 2017 Winners

So here they are: the Folking Award winners of 2017. First of all, a big thank you to everyone who voted – more than 20,000 ...

Harp And A Monkey bio

Songs about cuckolded molecatchers, a lone English oak tree that grows at Gallipoli, care in the community and medieval pilgrims… we can only be talking ...

Applewood Road bio

In September 2014, three songwriters met for the first time in a cafe in East Nashville. By the next morning they had put the finishing touches ...

Phil Beer bio

Phil is one of the most popular ambassadors for acoustic roots music. A dazzling instrumentalist, he is perhaps best known as a top flight fiddler ...

Said The Maiden bio

Said The Maiden are Jess Distill, Hannah Elizabeth and Kathy Pilkinton, three friends who discovered a mutual love of folk music when they reunited several ...

Standing ovations for Show Of Hands’ Big Gig

England's premier folk duo Show of Hands, once described as “the most famous unknown band in Britain”, brought the house down at the Royal Albert ...

Damien Dempsey announces new album

Damien Dempsey’s debut album in 2000, They Don’t Teach This Shit In School, set him apart as a unique and important voice, championed from an ...

PETE COE – The Man In The Red Van (Backshift BASH CD 63)

Pete Coe is one of the old guard, one of the last. He’s been in this business for more than forty-five years and still has ...

TRADARRR – Further Tales Of Love! Death! And Treachery! (Hedge Of Sound HOS25)

Between their first and second albums Mark Jolley left has Tradarrr to be replaced by Tim Harries (more serious folk-rock credentials) and Phil Bond has ...

NIGEL STONIER – Love And Work (Shameless SHAME017)

Nigel Stonier is probably best known as a producer and a man who writes songs with and for other people so it came as a ...

BOO HEWERDINE – Swimming in Mercury (REVEAL072CDX)

Boo Hewerdine’s new album Swimming In Mercury will be released on April 28th and the single ‘Satellite Town’ on April 21st. He has a pedigree ...

ELEPHANT SESSIONS – All We Have Is Now (Elephant Sessions CDTES02)

This CD, All We Have Is Now, recently released by Elephant Sessions has nine exceptional tracks. Each one is a masterpiece of arrangements and instrumental ...

Madison Violet – new album

For those who don’t know Madison Violet, it all began in 1999 when Brenley MacEachern and Lisa MacIsaac met over coffee and omelettes, in a ...

Tim Grimm and the Family Band – new album

A Stranger In This Time ranges from Tim Grimm’s signature reverence for the people and the land where he grew up, to sharply crafted and ...

JON PALMER ACOUSTIC BAND – The Silences In Between (own label)

Will someone please explain why Otley’s finest folk-rock band are not huge stars. The Silences In Between is their third studio album – there’s also ...

Lianne Hall (one of the great English voices) releases new solo album

UK singer and songwriter Lianne Hall releases her fourth solo studio album on Market Square Records (UK) via Lowswing Records (Berlin).  Lianne is “one of ...

BEAU –When Butterflies Scream (Cherry Red BEAUWBS1)

What with the likes of Steve Pledger and Will Varley the last couple of years have seen quite a resurgence in the protest song album ...

EMILY MAE WINTERS – Siren Serenade (own label EMW 02)

Co-produced by Josienne Clarke’s musical other half, Ben Walker, and Laura Marling knob-twiddler Lauren Deakin-Davies, following on from her Foreign Waters EP (which Walker also ...

ROVING CROWS – Bury Me Naked (own label RC008)

Based around Worcestershire and Gloucestershire they may be, but with fiddle player Caitlin Barrett and guitarist Paul O’Neil sharing vocals, Loz Shaw on bass, keys ...

CALAN – Solomon (Sain Records SCD2749)

I was a little nervous about reviewing the CD Solomon by the Welsh band Calan, released on 14th April. After all, it's been more decades ...

Kate & Raphaël – debut album

Kate Young and Raphaël Decoster together form an exciting blend of original and folk-influenced music. The French accordion dialogs with the Scottish fiddle and Kate's voice with ...

Video Wall 4

It has been a while since we put one of these together but the sunny spring weather seems to be bringing them out. Let's start ...

MARK NEVIN – My Unfashionable Opinion (Raresongs Recordings MARKNCD005)

Some of you might be asking ‘What’s Mark Nevin got to do with folk music? Folk music should be traditional or nothing’. Others might say ...

CHRISTY SCOTT – Amaranthine (Christy Scott Music CSMO1EP)

Amaranthine is a terrific five track EP released by Christy Scott. She has written all five of the songs and selected a well-respected group of ...

BATTLEFIELD BAND – The Producer’s Choice (Temple COMD2108)

In late 2016 Battlefield Band was inducted into the Scottish Traditional Music Hall Of Fame which gave their long-time producer Robin Morton the excuse, if ...

JOAN BAEZ – The Complete Gold Castle Masters (Proper PROPCD141)

Without a label and not having not made a studio album since 1979’s Honest Lullaby, in 1987 Joan Baez got back into the ring, signing ...

ROGER KNOTT – Echoes In Time (Leg Room Records LEGCD116)

Echoes In Time is a slightly curious but very enjoyable blend of Englishness and Americana. All the instruments on Roger Knott’s ninth album (or possibly ...

THE FAR FLUNG COLLECTIVE – Far Flung Corners (Anna-Wendy Music FFC001)

Originally a schools-based music education project by the University of the Highlands and Islands in collaboration with Soundstorm Music Education Agency exploring the similarities and ...

MIDSUMMER – The Stories You Tell (own label)

A new Birmingham acoustic folk outfit, Lizzy Daniel-Sam and Chris Taylor (who also plays guitar and mandolin ) are the Midsummer vocal and writing core, ...

TUNEBOOK – Melody Lab (SHEEM02)

Melody Lab is a CD created by a group of fabulous Scottish musicians, Ross Ainslie, Simon Bradley and Mairearad Green joined by Mhairi Hall on ...

BEATRIX PLAYERS – Magnified (own label)

Lining up as Amanda Alvarez (cello), Jess Kennedy (piano, flute) and Amy Birks (vocals), Beatrix Players are an London-based Anglo-Spanish trio who, taking their name ...

HECLA – Smallpipes, Fiddle, & Gaelic Song (KRS001)

I note on the “Thanks to” section on the cover of this CD that the ‘UHI Student Development Fund’ get first credit. I have no ...

SINGLES BAR 19

A round-up of recent EPs and singles KADIA are a young trio from Dorset who already have one album, East Of Alexandria, to their name ...

BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards 2017 Winners Announced

The winners of the Radio 2 Folk Awards 2017 have been announced in a ceremony broadcast live from the Royal Albert Hall, London. Now in ...

CORMAC BEGLEY – Cormac Begley (Airt)

Who on earth would want to buy a CD of a solo artiste playing a concertina with no support from other musicians? Probably only somebody ...

New album from Elephant Sessions out next month

All We Have Is Now is the eagerly anticipated second album from award winning Highland neo-trad quintet, Elephant Sessions. Their debut album, The Elusive Highland ...

NED ROBERTS – Outside My Mind (Aveline AVREC004)

He may be physically based in London, but Ned Roberts’ spiritual and musical home is clearly late 60s California, Outside My Mind, his second album, ...

HARRI ENDERSBY – Homes/Lives (own label)

A rising new presence on the contemporary folk scene, Durham-born Harri Endersby has been putting herself about on the live circuit for the past four ...

Sound Of The Sirens announce debut album

There’s a certain transcendent magic that happens when two contrasting voices coalesce in perfect harmony – think The Everly Brothers, Simon & Garfunkel or George ...

HAV – Inver (Folkwit f0136)

As albums go Inver is a bit off the wall but you hope for that from the Folkwit label and I really like it. HAV ...

CUNNING FOLK – Ritual Land, Uncommon Ground (Dharma)

George Nigel Hoyle is a man of many incarnations. He started out professional musical life as bassist with late 90s outfit Gay Dad, a band ...

FAY HIELD live at the West End Centre, Aldershot

31st March 2017 Fay Hield and The Hurricane Party started their spring tour at a brisk pace – seventeen songs, including two encores, in a ...

Cormac Begley releases debut album

Award winning concertina player and innovator, Cormac Begley, will be releasing his debut album in April! This, the first solo concertina album in traditional Irish ...

PETER KNIGHT’S GIGSPANNER live at Forest Arts, New Milton

30th March 2017 During Vincent Salzfaas’ enforced absence from this tour, Peter Knight’s Gigspanner have replaced him with not one but two percussionists. On duty ...

Colin Harper releases remastered and expanded album

Colin Harper, author of several books on music history, released his first national-level album in March 2016, Sunset Cavaliers – a homage to the musicians ...

AMY DUNCAN – Antidote (Filly Records FILLY002)

This CD, Antidote by Amy Duncan, is not generally my type of music but I really like this recording. Regretfully, the cover is somewhat minimal ...

TERENCE WINCH, MICHAEL WINCH, AND JESSE WINCH – This Day Too: Music from Irish America (Free Dirt Records CTM-CD-002)

The CD This Day Too: Music From Irish America is very much what it says on the tin. It's a collection of tunes and songs ...

The 2017 Folking Awards

Welcome to the 2017 Folking Awards. Last year's inaugural poll was such a success that we had to do it again. The nominations, in eight ...

JENN & LAURA-BETH – Bound (JBLB Records JBLB01)

Jenn Butterworth and Laura-Beth Salter have worked as a duo for eight years but Bound is their first album as a duo. The reason for ...

Introducing singer-songwriter Bob Gallie

Bob Gallie will tell you himself: " I carry a lot of baggage around with me "... this is from someone who writes songs that ...

Room For All: Shrewsbury Folk Festival launches new cultural diversity project

A new project to celebrate cultural diversity and highlight the plight of refugees has been launched by Shrewsbury Folk Festival. Organisers of the annual four-day ...

STEAMCHICKEN – Look Both Ways (Chicken Records STEAM16/3)

Steamchicken began life as a ceilidh band but have expanded their horizons considerably with a brass section and a powerful vocalist in Amy Kakoura. Look ...

SHORTSTUFF – Big Blue (Blonde On Blonde DCT16BB01)

When I first played this album I assumed that Shortstuff were American and had been playing the blues for years. Big Blue has a confident ...

Meet hazeyjane – ambient guitar experimentalists

Creation of Northamptonshire-based composer, acclaimed acoustic guitarist and singer Chris Brown, hazeyjane is the vehicle for the live musical expression of his own original songs ...

Shirley Collins talks to Dave Freak for Folking

"It’s been a sort of fairy story!" is how Shirley Collins describes her unexpected return to the spotlight with a studio album and live tour ...