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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THOMM JUTZ – Ring-A-Bellin’ (own label)
After a series of collaborative album over the past decade, Ring-A-Bellin’ is the Nashville-based German singer-songwriter’s first solo album in six years, albeit here joined by fiddler Tammy Rogers bassists Mark Fain and, on upright, Michael Rinne, Jeff Taylor on accordion, Laura Boosinger on clawhammer banjo with both Mike Compton ...
ANNA McLUCKIE – The Little Winters (Hudson HUD061CD)
The little winters is a term used in the US to describe spring frosts, apparently regular enough to constitute an almanac of sorts and characterised by the blooming of certain plants. That is the starting point for Anna McLuckie’s new album, The Little Winters. Anna is a Scottish singer, a ...
THE CARTWHEEL PENNIES – 1797 (own label)
A Leicestershire acoustic folk harmony trio comprising Amanda Berry, Julie Holland and Liz Wall, the name comes from three coins detectorists found in the field behind where Berry and Holland live, struck in 1797 by Matthew Boulton, they became known as cartwheel pennies on account of their size (36mm), weight ...
LEWIS PUGH – Heretics And Heritage (own label)
Some artists who are labelled Americana have a tenuous relationship with the term. Not Lewis Pugh – he’s full on. You can tell that the way that by the way he lists banjo first in his credits and the presence of fiddle and pedal steel. Of course, you could just ...
HANNAH JAMES AND TOBY KUHN – Where All Our Names Belong (JigDoll Records JDR004)
Where All Our Names Belong is the second collaboration between singer, accordionist, sansula player and dancer Hannah James and cellist Toby Kuhn. It’s a lovely album housed in a uniquely shaped booklet and Hannah and Toby play every note themselves. In fact, I kept checking to see if there wasn’t ...
MOONRAKERS – I Am the Mountain (own label)
Oxford based four-piece band, Moonrakers, have built a reputation for their lush arrangements, shimmering soundscapes, and intricate instrumental tapestries. If that sounds appealing, I can confirm that their new album, I Am the Mountain, doesn’t disappoint. Apart from their undeniable talent as musicians, they also benefit from good range of ...
ANDY LLOYD – Bay Window (DTI Records)
Titled because it features songs the Halesowen-born singer-songwriter used to record for YouTube in the bay window of his flat, with music production by multi-instrumentalist Avago the opening track is the warm somewhat samba sway of ‘Soul For The Summer’ followed by the slow heat hazed soulful dreaminess of ‘Into ...
SINGLES BAR 123 – A round-up of recent EPs and singles
From The Aa is a new EP by MOYA SWEENEY & ARCHIE CHURCHILL-MOSS who explore what can be done with a B/C and a D/G button accordion in expert hands. Dave Malkin provides guitar support on the six original tracks. The opener, ‘For Frans’ is dedicated to Frans Vanderaa who ...
CLAIRE VINE – We Carve Our Path (Cuculi Records)
Claire Vine is one third of Hands Of The Heron but she leaves her bandmates behind for her solo album, We Carve Our Path, in favour of multi-tracking her own voice, a key element in the production. Support comes from Henry Edmonds, Tamsin Elliott, Luke Spurgeon and producer Sid Goldsmith ...
DOUG MISHKIN – Tip of the Spear
Let’s start with a bold statement and then come back to the detail…..On Doug Mishkin’s new album Tip Of The Spear – his third album - there are (at least) two songs which probably will, and certainly should, be staples of folk clubs for at least a couple of decades: ...
HUGO RACE FATALISTS – I Made It All Up For You (Gustaf Records/Helixed)
An Australian based in Italy and backed by a band of Italian musicians along with Elysian Fields singer Jennifer Charles, self-described as an atmospheric “fusion of roots music, electronica, Italian soundtracks and desert rock”, his sound, with the intimate, confessional muted growl vocals, has seen him likened to Nick Cave ...
PÀDRUIG MORRISON – Buin (own label PM01)
Should warning be needed, and I would say it isn’t, Buin is largely instrumental, mostly original and intrinsically Gaelic music. Morrison is an accordion player of some note, and is both a member of Uist band, Beinn Lee, and a composer, in the classical Gaelic idiom. To boot, he is ...
CHARLIE WHEATLEY – Ratcliffe Cross (own label)
London-based multi-instrumentalist Charlie Wheatley is about to release his debut album, Ratcliffe Cross, a set of seven tunes derived from old dance tunes. It seems that Charlie can and does get a tune out of anything with strings and then adds harmonium to his repertoire. His most unusual instrument is ...
ANDY SMYTHE – Quiet Revolution (Dreaming Element Records)
Quiet Revolution is London based singer/songwriter Andy Smythe’s eighth studio album. It is released on March 13th and as he says it “delves into complex narratives of societal struggle and psychological drama, set against the background of a world grappling with conflict and the rise of AI”. The album is ...
ALI LEVACK: Levack (own label LEVACK01CD)
Levack is a man to watch and to keep an ear on. The winner of 2020’s BBC Radio Scotland’s Young Traditional Musician of the Year, you’ll know his sound if not necessarily his name. Currently best known as the dynamic frontman for Highland acoustic power trio, Project Smok, he is ...
WATKIN SHARKEY – Watkin Sharkey (Empress CD001)
Watkin Sharkey’s single, ‘Sails’, made something of an impression and here it is as the opening track of his eponymous debut album. Watkin is from Norfolk and it seems that, like Sunjay, he has just extricated himself from an unwisely negotiated contract hence, perhaps, the homespun style of this album ...
SARA COLMAN AND REBECCA NASH – Ribbons Vol. 1 (Stoney Lane Records – SLR1885)
The search for something elusive is the thread that binds Ribbons Vol.1 together, so it seems appropriate that this album was a long time coming to fruition. The recordings were made over four years at the Birmingham Conservatoire, where Sara Colman and Rebecca Nash are both visiting teachers. Composer-pianist Rebecca ...
SIMON O’GRADY AND TIM WHITE – Stop Frame Animation (own label)
An alt-folk duo with former Grand Union member O'Grady on guitar, vocals and flute and White on banjo, joined here by Ed Hopwood on harmonica and jaw harp, Stop Frame Animation kicks off with the sprightly picked title track that uses the film technique to capture a fracturing relationship (“You ...
GEORGIA SHACKLETON – From The Floorboards (own label)
This year marks the 125th anniversary of Sir Edward Shackleton setting sale to Antarctica with Captain Scott aboard the Discovery. In commemoration, his violinist and songwriter distant cousin has assembled an album that not only follows in his footsteps as it celebrates endurance (the name of a later ship) and ...
HOLLY CLARKE – Wild Feral Fierce (own label HC95WFF)
Hailing from the Lake District, Wild Feral Fierce is Clarke’s solo debut album following both her own EP and one with The Reivers. A traditional singer of rich and sturdy voice, she’s joined here by Salthouse fiddler Anna Hughes, accordionist Amy Thatcher, John Pope on double bass, co-producer Pete Ord ...
KATHERINE PRIDDY – These Frightening Machines (Cooking Vinyl CDCOOK954)
In the space of just a few years, Priddy has gone from low key gigs around Birmingham, to having two charting albums, supporting Suzanne Vega and headlining her own major venue tour. Now comes the third album, These Frightening Machines, one that sees her further expanding her musical range and ...
JESSIE REID – Little Sparks (own label)
Computer issues and the obliteration of emails meant Little Sparks somehow got buried, so it’s a rather belated review of the Shropshire singer’s second album, one which pushes past the folksier tones of her debut into more ethereal pop territory with songs about finding hope, getting back on your emotional ...
ANDREW RUMSEY – Blank Arcades (Garde du Nord GDNCD140)
The Bishop of Ramsbury returns in his musical persona, as ever accompanied by David Perry on guitars and church organ, percussionist Louis Spanton and Cameron Saint on double bass, for his third album, Blank Arcades, the follow up to last year’s highly impressive Collidion and again recorded in a single ...
LUCY KITCHEN – In The Low Light (own label)
Another album (her third) with songs written in the run up to and aftermath of the Southampton-based singer’s husband’s death, of grieving and coming to terms with loss. She’s accompanied on In The Low Light by co-producer Tali Trow on guitars, banjo, piano and mellotron, Jon Thorne on double bass, ...
FIRELIGHT TRIO – Midnight Followed (own label EDFLT02)
You can tell Firelight Trio mean business by the brisk and choppy way they scythe into Midnight Followed, staking their sturdy claim from the start. With a sound solidly on the severe wing of stately, there is a sense of ceremony around the rich swirling textures of accordion, fiddle and ...
VARIOUS – All In Due Course: The Songs of Roger Watson (WildGoose)
A major influence on English folk and dance for six decades, a stalwart of Muckram Wakes and The New Victory Band, All In Due Course is a tribute with various other singers from the tradition performing his songs. First up are Joe and Will Sartin, aka Patakas, with ‘Tides’, a ...
LINZI JANE MORGAN – Love & Other Stories (Stanley Records LMCD01)
Written in the aftermath of her husband’s death and inspired by the phrase “out of chaos stars are born”, as that suggests Love & Other Stories is a debut album about both grief and loss but also of hope. Featuring Marion Fleetwood variously on violin, viola and cello with co-producer Paul Johnson ...
AMY HOPWOOD – Gone To Flowers (own label)
Quirky is an easy way to label Exeter-based Hopwood’s third album, Gone To Flowers, (the title a nod to Pete Seeger perhaps), indeed the press release itself uses the term, but that would be to overlook that serious themes of mortality and endings that they embrace. Inspired by folklore, psychology, ...
BROOKS WILLIAMS & AARON CATLOW – Working In Wood (Red Guitar Blue Music RGBM 2601)
Working In Wood is the fourth duo recording by Brooks Williams and Aaron Catlow and finds them deeply immersed in the modern sound of Americana. Brooks plays acoustic guitar and Aaron plays fiddle; both sing and are supported by Jon Short on double bass. It sounds simple enough but this ...
FINN COLLINSON: Byway (Self-released OSMCD03)
Is the recorder the most cruelly maligned instrument of all? Despite a beautiful and clear tone, for too many it is too potent a memory of primary school, of awkward tots parping ineffectively in assembly. Like the smell of cooking cabbage, it is something most of us prefer to expunge ...
AMY LEACH AND ALASDAIR PAUL – They’ll Aye Remain (own label ALAPCD02)
Amy and Alasdair describe They’ll Aye Remain as a collection of songs they love to sing which is probably the best reason for singing. Like Amy and Alasdair, the songs are Scottish and a cursory glance at the track list might suggest that they are not the most well-known. But ...
JOHN REED – Another Maniac Shouting Against The Relentless Hurricane (Exclusive Subscriber Album January 2026)
Berwick based singer/songwriter multi-instrumentalist John Reed always has something profound to say and sing about. Another Maniac Shouting Against The Relentless Hurricane is exactly that. The following is what he has to say on his opening PR statement, and I feel it needs to be shared. “There’s a hurricane going ...
PAUL COWLEY – Long Shadow (Lou B Music)
Paul Cowley has graced these pages several times usually at the pen of our late friend David Harley. His latest album, Long Shadow, continues his exploration of the sound of Delta blues with eight original tracks and covers of Skip James, Fred McDowell and Willie Dixon. Paul does most of ...
HEDERA – Hedera (Cuculi Records – CU020)
It was during lockdown that the members of Bristol based chamber folk group Hedera started playing tunes together, around a bonfire. Having five members kept them on the right side of the rule of six. One wonders how long we’ll be hearing of projects that originated in lockdown, but those ...
ROBERTA SMITH – Textile Lemonade (Indigosongs)
I’m afraid that this is another album that slipped down the back of the metaphorical settee. Textile Lemonade was released at the end of last November, the title coming from the song ‘Like A Snail Trail’. Several of these songs appeared on Roberta’s 2025 EP, Airs On A Sixstring, which ...
HAMISH HEPBURN & JACK HOUSTON – Afore Ye Go (Gowan Street Records Reelsing01)
Celtic duos come in a multitude of forms. Hamish Hepburn (flute, whistles and pipes) hails from the Cairngorms and from Donegal comes Jack Houston (fiddle, viola, mandolin, vocals). They were flatmates in Glasgow in 2010 but only began recording together last year. Afore Ye Go is the first fruits of ...
JOHN PAUL MASON – Overstory (own label JPMCD001)
From Edinburgh but now based in Comrie, Mason is a breathwork therapist and ‘outdoor nature sprite’ with a deep connection to the landscapes of Perthshire and the natural world. Having found his voice at a songwriting workshop led by Findlay Napier and Boo Hewerdine, drawing musical influences from the likes ...
SINGLES BAR 121 – A round-up of recent EPs and singles
The year has turned and it's wonderful to be able to begin this post with SAM CARTER, a singer of traditional songs and those written in what was called the idiom of the people. The Oakham Poachers is a collection of five such songs performed with voice and acoustic guitar ...
SEAN TAYLOR – First Light (Sean Taylor Songs STCD120)
Climate change, political extremism and the dignity of working-class life are all themes that run through Taylor’s new album, First Light, one drenched in disillusionment while seeking for hope. His new album offers a sober and deeply personal meditation on placing him among the most compelling voices in contemporary European ...
TESSA ROSE JACKSON – The Lighthouse (Tiny Tiger)
Anglo-Dutch singer/songwriter Tessa Rose Jackson’s new album The Lighthouse gained the accolade of folk album of the month in The Guardian. The opening title track is a long way from folk as you or I might understand it, beginning with what sounds like field recording over a pounding rhythm on ...
AMY DUNCAN – Greetings From Gartnavel (Last Night From Glasgow)
Unless you live in Glasgow, it’s unlikely that you’d know that Gartnavel is a mental hospital in the city’s West End. Sparsely arranged a la Joni Mitchell’s jazz phrases, with Duncan simultaneously singing while playing piano, guitar and double bass and Graeme Miller on electric guitar and synthesizer, the lyrics ...
HUMM – To Keep You Warm (own label)
A Bath-based duo comprising guitarist Arty Jackson and lead singer and harmonium player Carys Lewin, To Keep You Warm, joined by percussionist Josh Clarke, Rob Sheldrick on fiddle and Caitlin McAndry on double bass and cello, is their debut EP. Bringing their own contemporary flavours to a traditional folk base, ...
LUCY MELLENFIELD – Tell The Water, She Will Listen (Stoney Lane Records)
Hailing from the North East but now Birmingham-based after graduating from the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire in June 2022, while she released a mini-album, In My Short Time, back in 2020, Tell The Water, She Will Listen is her full length debut. Drawing on themes of fragility, love, loss and the ...
DIANE COLL – Strangely In Tune (Happy Fish Records)
From Chicago and based in Atlanta, Strangely In Tune is Coll’s fifth album and one that speaks of resilience and healing, emerging from troubled times transformed with a stronger mindset. Co-produced with Jonny Daly who also plays guitars, bass and banjo alongside various guest musicians, it embraces a spectrum of ...
TONY POOLE – Faith In Us (Aurora AUR07)
Although he’s been making music since 1974, primarily as part of Starry Eyed And Laughing, the UK’s answer to The Byrds, more recently his 12 string Rickenbacker having been integral to the sound of Bennett-Wilson-Poole, this is the first time Tony’s released a solo album. Playing pretty much everything, with ...
MICHELLE LAVERICK – Helm Winds (own label)
Originally from Teesside, but now living in Derbyshire’s Peak District, Laverick released her debut album in 2023, following up with the Selkie Child EP that drew comparisons with traditionalist folkie Bob Fox with her deep vocals likened to June Tabor (though you might hear Sandy Denny in there too), this ...
ANNE GAIR – Cigarettes And Smokescreens (own label AG001GD)
Anne Gair is a singer-songwriter from Scotland making her full-length recording debut with Cigarettes And Smokescreens after a series of singles. Her album, produced by Andrea Gobbi, features a fine band that takes her from simple acoustic singer-songwriter to a performer whose sophistication belies her relative inexperience. I'll single out ...
ANDY M STEWART – Songs Of Robert Burns (Birnam CD BCD625)
Songs Of Robert Burns was originally released in Germany and the USA between 1989 and 1991 but I believe that this is its first UK release. That seems to have been a terrible oversight on someone's part. Andy M Stewart died in 2015 at the unreasonably young age of 63 ...
ADAM WEIKERT – To Whom Ourselves We Owe (own label)
Adam Weikert (and I confess that I had to look him up) is a musician, composer, performer and producer from Leicester and, I have to say, a bit weird – or should that be extremely individual? The title of his album, To Whom Ourselves We Owe, is taken from a ...
SINGLES BAR 120 – A round-up of recent EPs and singles
The Ballad Of Harold Camping, their new EP, gives TANGLEJACK the opportunity to let their hair down with some rather more lighthearted songs. The opener, 'Needs Must When The Devil Drives', is pure Traveling Wilburys so there's a lot of Tom Petty about the vocal style. 'Cat Man Do' decorated ...
THE GHOST AND THE MACHINE – Sorrows (Fullmax Recordings)
The Ghost And The Machine was founded by Andreas Lechner in Austria in 2012 and the new album, Sorrows, was released in November. There are twelve tracks, slightly dark, slightly eerie, more than a little fascinating. It’s a couple of decades since I’ve been downstairs in a darkened European cellar ...
THE REVELLERS – Reactors (own label REVC003)
Listening to Reactors, the new album from Shetland Folk-Rockers The Revellers, reminded me of something that happened a few years ago. I was working at my local folk festival and our Saturday headliners, False Lights, were on stage, when I noticed a trickle of people were leaving. When I smiled ...
PAUL JOHNSON’S NEW MINI PODCAST – Paul speaks to ANNE GAIR about her debut album – Cigarettes And Smokescreens
SO....OUR VERY OWN PAUL JOHNSON’S LATEST MINI PODCAST AUDIO ALBUM REVIEW FEATURES A VERY OPEN, INTERESTING, INFORMATIVE AND COMPELLING INTERVIEW WITH THE UP-AND-COMING HUGELY TALENTED, AND GENUINELY VERY LOVELY SCOTTISH SINGER SONG WRITER…..... ANNE GAIR ABOUT HER DEBUT ALBUM CIGARETTES AND SMOKESCREENS Paul and Anne speak openly and frankly about ...
FILKIN’S DRIFT – Glan (own label FM03)
We're very late with this album for which I apologise to Seth Bye and Chris Roberts most sincerely. Seth and Chris are Filkin's Drift and their debut album, Glan, came together over the course of their walk along the Wales Coastal Path and playing 53 gigs along the way. That's ...
LEVELLERS – Zeitgeist (30th Anniversary Edition) (On The Fiddle)
I always feel my age when I see an anniversary edition of an album I bought first time around. Zeitgeist was released in 1995 and was the band's fourth and most successful album. As the title suggests it was a statement on the times. This 30th anniversary reissue expands the ...
BRINSLEY SCHWARZ – Shouting At The Moon
Brinsley Schwarz – the band and the man – are one of the legendary names for my generation, opening for Wings, playing on the Old Grey Whistle Test and yet remaining slightly ‘out there’. When superstardom didn’t arrive and they disbanded in 1975, Schwarz became a member of Graham Parker ...
SINGLES BAR 119 – A round-up of recent EPs and singles
Following on from the ‘Lord Of Chaos’ single featuring Kathy Pilkinton on vocals and Graham Coe on cello with its theme of shedding your burdens and from whence the EP title comes, CHRIS CLEVERLEY now releases Gods Of All Things (Opiate Records), the full five track follow up to last ...
ST AGNES FOUNTAIN – Flakes & Flurries (Fat Cat CFATCD060)
Their name taken from a line in ‘Good King Wenceslas’, possibly referring to the Somerset village well established in 1820 by Sir Thomas Dyke Acland, a local MP, who named it after his youngest daughter, an established Christmas folk music tradition, Chris While, Julie Matthews and Chris Leslie don their ...
SOFIA TALVIK – Wrapped In Paper (A Christmas Album) (Makaki Music)
Having just released an album by her side project Hansan, all sung Swedish, Talvik now offers Wrapped In Paper, a seasonal folk-Americana collection of songs, ten original and two traditional, sung in both English and Swedish, offering different perspectives on the familiar fayre. The opening track, ‘Let Peace Be The ...
DEBORAH ROSE – Atlas (Abracadeborah/Good Companion Records)
Variously written and recorded in Ludlow, London, Nashville and Morocco, part produced by Boo Hewerdine and Chris Pepper with other contributions from Jeremy Jameson and Ben Walsh, the Welsh songstress’s sixth album, Atlas, comes inspired by poetry, psalms, Pre-Raphaelite art and the landscapes of North Africa, America and Shropshire and features ...
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