Welcome to the folking.com review section.
The folking review team is a small, dedicated group of people with a passion and a commitment for the folk, acoustic and Americana music scene. They review the latest releases, each in their own inimitable style…
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THE VILLAGE – Escape From The Witchwood (own label)
The Village is the pseudonym of Phil Matthews; singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and Derbyshire native. Actually he doesn’t hide his real identity that well; surely he knows that classic super-heroes valued that above all else. I only mention this because one track on Escape From The Witchwood is called ‘Trapped Inside ...
KEVIN HUNT – Devil’s Daughter (own label KHCD101)
Despite writing songs for over twenty years and a lengthy career on the folk circuit, it’s only now that the Irish-born singer-songwriter is releasing his debut album, Devil’s Daughter. Joined by long-time collaborator Ian Pearson on violin alongside go to double bassist John Parker, Dan Wilde on guitars, piano and ...
PADDY DENNEHY – Little Light (Paddy Dennehy)
Bless me father: Paddy Dennehy’s Little Light is a melodic cold shave of a folk record that is riddled with religion and nervy doubt. He’s Irish, but don’t expect the sensitivity of Christy Moore or Paul Brady. Well, there may well be a bit of Sinead O’ Connor, and that’s ...
THE MAGPIES – Tidings (own label)
A female folk supergroup of musicians, originating as a duo in 2017 with singer-songwriter Bella Gaffney and mandolin wizard Polly Bolton, they expanded to include fiddle player Holly Brandon and Sarah Smout on cello and thus The Magpies took wing, Tidings referring to a group of such birds. Having established ...
LUNATRAKTORS – This Is Broken Folk (own label BKNFLK 1 CD)
They call it post-apocalyptic folk. Imagine that all technology is gone and all that is left is the human voice and the ability to bang the rocks together – This Is Broken Folk is the perfect title. Carli Jefferson, percussionist, dancer, choreographer and member of STOMP met vocalist Clair Le ...
TEDDY THOMPSON – Heartbreaker Please (Chalky Sounds)
Heartbreaker Please, released on May 29th, is Teddy Thompson’s sixth album. As you might expect from the title, it’s an album about relationship break up. While some of the music is Thompson’s natural sadder, slower style, he has deliberately written up-tempo songs, “I tried to make an effort here to ...
THE HAAR – The Haar (Nimbus Alliance NI6404)
Very rarely does an album appear unheralded and threaten to make a major impact. The Haar is one of those rarities. It appears that Cormac Byrne, percussionist to the gentry, and his musical partner Adam Summerhayes were on holiday in Ireland when they heard Molly Donnery singing in a pub ...
ELLE OSBORNE – If You See A Rook On Its Own, It’s A Crow (9th House)
Since I first heard Elle Osborne she’s fallen in with a good crowd – friends like Alasdair Roberts and Trembling Bells – moved from interpreting traditional songs to being a fully fledged songwriter and polished her performances a bit. Don’t get me wrong: So Slowly, Slowly Got She Up is ...
ROLY WITHEROW – Ballads And Yarns (own label)
Roly Witherow is a well known and successful composer for film and television but he is now making his mark with the critics in quite a different field. His first solo album, Ballads And Yarns, is a collection of modern and traditional folk songs recorded in his home studio in ...
MARTIN HARLEY – Roll With The Punches (Del Mundo DM007)
Martin Harley’s Roll With The Punches plays a good game of Chess, the Chicago blues record label that is, not the game with pawns, kings, and queens. And this is a slide guitar lover’s paradise recorded in “a remote chapel deep in the wilds of Pembrokeshire”. Yeah, this is British ...
AVOCET – Lend Your Garden (Mink Records)
The Scottish trio’s name taken from Bert Jansch’s 1979 album, the music crafted by Iona Zajac on Celtic harp (clarsach), guitarist Sam Grassie and double bassist Herbie Loening also often recalls the jazz, folk and blues cocktail of Jansch’s influential first band, Pentangle. Variously accompanied by Guillermo Martín-Viana on percussion, ...
HANNAH WHITE AND THE NORDIC CONNECTIONS – Hannah White & The Nordic Connections (Paper Blue Records)
Hannah White And The Nordic Connections self-titled album follows up her excellent 2018 album Elephant Eye. If you’re wondering about the name, this is an Anglo-Norwegian Americana band which came together after a meet up between Hannah and the Norwegian super group The Connections in a Bergen bread factory. There ...
LIZZY HARDINGHAM – Seven (own label)
A Merseyside background and her family’s strong support of the RNLI, both served to afford shanties and sea songs extra resonance to Hardingham in her formative years performing folk music. And now the tide has come in to wash up this marine-themed mini-album that, the title referring to the seven ...
DUIR – The Stout Guardian Of The Door 2020 Remaster (DUIR-OAK-CD-004)
Duir are unique. I’m torn between Ralph Waldo Emerson unique, “Insist on yourself; never imitate.” and Henry David Thoreau unique, “I was not born to be forced. I will breathe after my own fashion”. But of course, they are neither, they are Duir unique. Last year Duir released Sodden Dogs ...
FIONA ROSS & SHANE O’MARA – Sunwise Turn (own label FRSOM164)
In these strange times it took this album six weeks to arrive from Australia. I’d almost forgotten about it and I’m sure that Fiona Ross had given up hope of ever hearing from me again. But arrive it did and I’m very pleased about that. Sunwise Turn is a collection ...
CHARLIE DORE – Like Animals (Black Ink Records Catalogue BICD10)
Like Animals is Charlie Dore’s tenth album and I was chuffed to bits when it dropped through the letterbox this morning, though somewhat daunted by the thought of having to write a review for such an established artist. Having had a taste of what was to come at the recent ...
TERES AOUTES STRING BAND – Courenta & Cadillac (WMMusic Italia)
The Italian band Teres Aoutes String Band released Lo Rock’n Roll De La Mountagna in 2018, essentially stringed instruments reinterpreting the music of the Italian mountains. They’re back again having recently released Courenta & Cadillac which is both more of the same – more “dances and songs of the Western ...
ROOTDOGS – Live (Circle Of Sound)
Rootdogs got together in 1997 under the auspices of Roger Watson’s TAPS project. The original line-up was Mark T. on guitars and vocals; vocalist Fran Wood, bassist Keith Holloway and, on percussion, Mysterious Bob – don’t ask, I’ve already tried. Later Paul Critchfeld replaced Holloway and Paul Midgely and Greg ...
LUCINDA WILLIAMS – Good Souls Better Angels (Thirsty Tigers Records)
Lucinda Williams’ Good Souls Better Angels rocks all the really decent souls out of their Sleepy Hollow graves and lets them all dance one more time. Just so you know, Better Angels is a (sometimes) harsh follow-up to the quiet and spooky The Ghosts Of Highway 20. Now, I may ...
STEVE CRAWFORD & SPIDER MACKENZIE – Celticana (own label)
Imagine a sound entirely its own (there’s a brilliant track about a ceilidh) but reminding you of early 70’s Laurel Canyon but additionally with some classic harmonica playing across the whole album. Celticana – the very name links Scotland to Americana – is released on June 1st and is Steve ...
SINGLES BAR 52 – A round-up of recent EPs and singles
Fiddle player RACHEL BAIMAN returns in company with Vermont singer-songwriter MIKE WHEELER, put together while he was renting a room from them near their Nashville home, for a three-track digital EP, The “Countin On You” Sessions, indeed he actually played his waltzing self-penned opening duet title track as the first ...
DAVID GRUBB – Nano (Shake’Um’Dud)
David Grubb is a musician who doesn’t play by anybody else’s rules; a fiddle player with roots in traditional music and a composer with a taste for contemporary music and jazz. Nano, his second solo album, comprises just five tracks as originally released in digital form but there is news ...
THE MAMMALS – Nonet (Humble Abode Music HAM 018)
The Mammals’ Nonet is a warm (with a big organic vibe and nine-piece ensemble) folk album that touches a bit of rock and gospel and floats in its signature sound of (the usual) vocals and guitar, but is also coloured with a rather original brush of sweeping organ, fiddle, and ...
REELY JIGGERED – Tricky Terrain (own label RJ32020)
Although Tricky Terrain is their third album, this is the first time that Reely Jiggered have come to my attention. The Clydeside trio are sisters Alison and Fiona McNeill and their cousin Scott McLean and they work in a diverse range of styles fusing the musical influences they have picked ...
ELIZABETH & JAMESON – Northern Shores & Stories (own label 0793618108441)
Most of our readership will recognise the view that illustrates Northern Shores & Stories; indeed many will have climbed those steps. The first sound we hear is that very sea and it recurs along with other field recordings throughout the album. Hannah Elizabeth and Griff Jameson are two of the ...
SINGLES BAR 51 – A round-up of recent EPs and singles
Making waves on the Suffolk acoustic scene, HOLLY D JOHNSTON bids for a wider audience with her self-released new EP, Illusive Harmony. Hattie Bennett on cello, the airily pastoral fingerpicked modal guitar of ‘Eve’s Kind’ opens things up, her pure voice reminiscent of the young Judy Collins (indeed, ‘My Father’ ...
LISA MARINI – Born In Tribes (own label)
Lisa Marini’s Born In Tribes is filled with music that has been “summoned by a foolish magpie”. And what a wonderful sound that is to hear! My native state of Wisconsin derives its name from the Chippewa-Ojibwa-Anishinake word Ouiscoundin, which means “a gathering of waters”. Now, Lisa Marini’s album, Born ...
LOUISE JORDAN – Florence (Azania AZA06CD)
May 12 marks the bicentennial anniversary of Florence Nightingale’s birth, the legendary Lady of the Lamp renowned for her service among the troops during the Crimean War, although there was much more to her life than that, indeed she only spent two years as a nurse. To mark the occasion ...
PAUL J BOLGER – Paul J Bolger (WIR 018-2)
Paul J Bolger last released an album twenty-five years ago. In the interim he has been working in visual arts and film rather than music. Over the past five years, what reads like the lighting of a slow-burning fuse brought him back into music through a combination of chance encounters ...
ANDREW HIBBARD – Andrew Hibbard (Sofaburn)
Born in Hamilton, Ohio, Andrew Hibbard clearly sports a Dylan influence, perhaps rather too obviously so at times on numbers such as ‘Sweet Song’ and ‘I’m Coming Over’ where his slurred nasal whine suggests more of a tribute act than an acolyte. That said, however, this, his third album, is ...
SALLY IRONMONGER & BRIAN CARTER – Sketches (own label)
The first song of this album, ‘Just A Song’, is such a perfect opener for a live set that I was almost surprised not to hear applause at the end. Sally Ironmonger & Brian Carter are a singer/songwriter duo from the Medway area – Brian is a mean guitarist, too ...
DOUGIE BURNS – Martha (own label DBCD-001)
An Inverness-based music journalist, author and singer-songwriter who also front seven piece outfit Dougie Burns & The Cadillacs, Burns is a familiar figure on the Scottish music scene, Martha being his second solo album. Dedicated to his mother, hence the title, it mixes country, blues, Americana and gospel and features ...
KIRSTY MERRYN – Our Bright Night (own label)
Against my expectations, One Bright Night drew me in and proceeded to seduce me. Kirsty Merryn is a singer/songwriter originally from the New Forest who is deeply rooted in traditional music as this, her second album, amply demonstrates. It’s complicated in a simple way with support from producer Alex Alex ...
PAUL COWLEY – Brandéha (Lou B Music LBM 006 2020)
I really liked Paul Cowley's 2018 album Just What I Know: it showed him to be a very competent singer and guitarist with an unusually authentic feel for country blues, both as an interpreter of songs by classic artists and in terms of extending that gift into his own blues-soaked ...
ELEANOR DATTANI – Darkness Into Light (Naplew Productions)
A Birmingham singer-songwriter, pianist and music teacher, Darkness Into Light is Eleanor's second album, the first since her debut (as Eleanor Williams) ten years ago and, recorded in her living room, was, as she says in the notes, written to help her recover from severe post-natal depression and post-natal psychosis ...
TOM FAIRNIE – Lightning In The Dark (own label ESK010)
Based in Edinburgh, but the album recorded in Austin with session players who’ve worked with the likes of Dylan, Cash, Willie and Jackson, Lightning In The Dark is Fairnie’s sixth solo album, largely written with Bob Shiels and which produced what Merel Bregante describes as Celticana with its mix of ...
THE DANBERRYS – Shine (Singular Recordings)
The Danberrys’ Shine is filled with spooky Americana old time medicine show stuff. This record carves a deep wagon wheel groove, like (the world famous!) Hamlin’s Wizard Oil Company, who brought music and happy times to the masses, and also sold its Wizard Oil, an alleged cure for just about ...
PHARIS AND JASON ROMERO – Bet On Love (Lula Records Lula-CD-2006)
Pharis and Jason Romero have released six albums but Bet On Love is only their second collection of all original songs. Their previous albums have won significant awards including two Junos, Canada’s annual music awards. Bet On Love was recorded in the duo’s banjo shop in British Colombia. Pharis is ...
SAM SLATCHER – Chaos & Solitude (own label)
When other artists are postponing their album releases, Sam Slatcher has brought his forward. It’s not a bad idea – he has a clear playing field as far as reviewers are concerned. Chaos & Solitude is his first full-length solo album although he is far from a newcomer, being a ...
JUNE TABOR & OYSTERBAND – Fire & Fleet (A Tour Momento) (Running Man)
As the title would suggest, Fire & Fleet is a (limited edition) record of last year’s tour, although, not strictly a live document since four of the tracks are actually studio recordings. However, taking those from the tour first, variously recorded at Treorchy and Exeter and Gloucester Cathedrals and loaded ...
DYLAN McCARTHY – Lost & Found (own label)
Dylan McCarthy’s Lost & Found has deep bluegrass roots. But, ultimately, the album is a wonderful slice of instrumental music. You know, America’s a weird place that dances with a quickstep, a secure waltz, and, sometimes, a Great Depression stare. America’s a gamble - with no limit, just like the ...
SLAP GURU – Umashi’s Odyssey (Sixteentimes Music)
This isn’t folk music, but Pete Seeger still wouldn’t want to cut the power cables from Slap Guru’s new album, Umashi’s Odyssey. In truth, at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival, he simply said, (according to a May 11 2013 article in Something Else) “I was furious because the sound was ...
INDIA ELECTRIC CO. – The Gap (Shoelay Music SHMU34)
The problem is that I think I’ve said everything I really need to say about India Electric Co. at least twice. Joseph O’Keefe and Cole Stacey are an enigma: why is an album called The Gap illustrated by a campervan, albeit an upmarket one? Indeed, why is it called The ...
GORDON THOMAS WARD – Eiderdown Vols 1 & 2 (own label)
While this 2-CD set is his third studio album, I have to admit it’s the first time I’ve come across the Maine-based singer-songwriter who, aside from being a musician is also a published author of four nature/travel books, two about the Somerset Hills of New Jersey where he grew up, ...
TERENCE BLACKER – Playing For Time (Talking Cat TCCD 1901)
They do say that nostalgia isn’t what it used to be. Alternatively, I’ve heard that the older we get, the better we were. Somewhere between those two truths lies Terence Blacker’s new album, Playing For Time. It was recorded in Italy with local musicians which might account for ‘Europa, Mein ...
DAPHNE’S FLIGHT – On Arrival (Fat Cat Records FATCD043)
There’s an earthiness about Daphne’s Flight’s third studio album, On Arrival, that I really like. All the songs are written or co-written by the five members of the group adding to the feeling of realism. The set opens with Helen Watson’s ‘Turn The Microphones Off’ and you can read a ...
MOONRAKERS – Ebb & Flow (own label)
There has been a line-up change since the previous Moonrakers’ album with Jacqui Johnson’s cello and harmonium replacing Liz van Santen. This change gives Ebb & Flow a bass voice but also provides the albums opening notes with Richard Fariña’s ‘Quiet Joys Of Brotherhood’ which is paired with one of ...
TOM KITCHING – Seasons Of Change (Talking Cat TCCD 2001)
If you want to know more about Tom Kitching’s Busk England project please follow the links below but for now we’ll concentrate on the Seasons Of Change CD – the part that Tom calls the self-indulgent half. Tom is a fiddler in the English style and a versatile player, equally ...
SHAYLER & BROOKE – Come The Turn Of The Season (own label SB001CD)
Come The Turn Of The Season is the debut full-length album by Kate Shayler and Chris Brooke following an EP, Colouring Outside The Lines. Kate is from London, which is where the duo met and Chris is a Dorset expatriate and that fact will be important later. Kate plays banjo ...
BLAKELEY & SON – Nuts & Bolts (Little-e Records)
Blakeley & Son’s Nuts & Bolts is (with the help of a feast of friends1) a colourful web of a folk record. Not only that, but after all these years, it puts to use all that algebra I had to retake, year after year, with very little success. Case in ...
BEAU – The Magic Of Public Relations (Cherry Red BEAUTMOPR1)
Back in the day, when he was signed to John Peel’s Dandelion label, Trevor Midgley was very much part of the 60s protest folk troubadour tradition, following in the footsteps of such names as Paxton, Ochs and Dylan. The past decades have, however, seen him take on more the role ...
TOM KITCHING – Seasons Of Change (Scratching Shed Publishing)
Tom Kitching is, if you need reminding, a fiddle player, a former musical partner of Gren Bartley and a founder member of Pilgrim’s Way. In 2018 he decided to interleave his regular work with a busking tour of England and compile a blog as he travelled. Seasons Of Change is ...
CHRIS RICKETTS – Songs In The Key Of Sea (Acoustic Fusion AF04)
Chris Ricketts: singer, songwriter, shantyman, cruise ship entertainer – don’t knock it as a way of honing your trade – is back from far oceans with a new album. Songs In The Key Of Sea is his fourth album and his first for seven years. Regular sidesmen Steve Hampton and ...
THE LOWEST PAIR – The Perfect Plan (Delicata Records DEL001)
I'm not averse to the occasional joke about banjos and banjoists, but when it comes to The Lowest Pair, I start to feel guilty. Kendl Winter and Palmer T. Lee are both such talented and innovative banjo players – and much else besides. I enthused about their 2016 albums Uncertain ...
FINDLAY NAPIER & GILLIAN FRAME WITH MIKE VASS – The Ledger (Cheery 008)
Sometimes something crosses your desk which is just classy. The Ledger is one of those things. The album is due to be released on May 1st and is a rather special piece of work by Findlay Napier and Gillian Frame - with Mike Vass (the latter both in the studio ...
MOONSHINE REBELS – Moonshine Rebels (1052355 Records DK)
Well, Moonshine Rebels are from Manchester, but they manage a pretty great Celtic tune. By the way, apparently Jenny had some chickens, which caught the glance of main Rebels Paul Sudlow and Sam McGrady (of Run Out The Guns fame), who composed and arranged traditional tunes for this record. The ...
BEN MORGAN-BROWN – Live In Lancashire (own label)
With physically going out and earning a living by playing to audiences currently not an option, many artists are making downloads of live recordings available, the latest being Exeter-based, Purbeck Rising 2019 winner fingerpicking singer-songwriter Morgan-Brown, either as a high-quality digital download or as a Limited Edition CDR version of ...
JACK SHARP – Good Times Older (From Here Records SITW015CD)
Any album from the From Here stable is worth a hearing and Good Times Older is no exception. Jack Sharp has spent thirteen years as front man of psych-rock band Wolf People so you might well ask what he’s doing releasing a solo album of mostly traditional songs. The answer ...
HARBOTTLE & JONAS – Live At Acoustic Roots (own label)
While their planned tour fell victim to CoVid 19, Live At Acoustic Roots, recorded in Wigan on March 7 this year and available for download from Bandcamp, offers welcome compensation, even if doesn’t feature the three-member line up that would have been out on the road at some of the ...
BORIS McCUTCHEON – As Old As Española (FVR-091)
You can’t help but have a good feeling about an album which is accompanied by a note that says “Note from the artist: For the most part the album rocks and needs to be played very loudly”. Boris McCutcheon’s new album, As Old As Española, is released on April 24th ...
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