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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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GARY CAIN – Outside The Lines (Bluestown Music)
Outside The Lines is the third album from blues (well, mostly blues) virtuoso Gary Cain. Cain was born in Canada but is now based in Austin. He sings, writes songs – and boy does he play guitar (I may have adopted that line). Sometimes an album comes through to review ...
SUE DECKER – Keeping Time (own label)
From British Columbia, Decker’s been described as the love child of Ry Cooder and Lucinda Williams, from which you’ll gather her music embraces blues, soul and country with a healthy order of slide guitar. Joined by Nashville sessioneers Dave Jacques and Justin Armaral on bass and drums with producer Steve ...
RICHARD TRETHEWEY – Two Halves (own label RT002CD/LP)
Two Halves was originally conceived as a vinyl release, with one side inspired by the river estuaries of his native Cornwall and the other by the county’s industrial heritage as explored on his 2012 debut, Richard reunites with producer Phil Innes and enlists various fellow locals, among them Iain McKnight ...
COWBOIS RHOS BOTWNNOG – Mynd Ȃ’r Tŷ Am Dro (Sbigyn Ymborth SY037)
I first encountered Cowbois Rhos Botwnnog via their first album which I rather liked. That was back in the noughties but since then nothing came my way. I began to think that there was some truth in the stories that the Welsh border was closed to prevent cheese smuggling – ...
BILL DODDS – Closer (own label)
Following in the footsteps of Norman Paterson, Dodds, a retired railway driver and keen cyclist (he’s one of the few to have cycled round the globe) from Newcastle, is the latest late bloomer to release a debut album. Venturing into songwriting during the pandemic, he began attending online workshops and ...
DIANE BIRCH – Flying On Abraham (Topanga Creed Records)
Musician and singer-songwriter, Diane Birch is set to release her fifth project, Flying On Abraham next month. The collection marks Birch’s first new release in nearly a decade. Immediately apparent upon perusal of the tracklist for Flying On Abraham is an idiosyncratic approach on the part of Birch with regard ...
SAM LEE – songdreaming (Cooking Vinyl)
Sam Lee’s songdreaming deepens the coloured hues, with big cinema drama, into the old photos of countless Ten Man Mop British folk albums. Perhaps, this one is not for the purists. Now, while each song has a traditional folk deoxyribonucleic acid, the musical polymer in all the tunes gets stretched, ...
LAUFORD CRIPPS – Live At BGFM Nantyglo (Steam Pie Records SPCD 10205)
Wynford Jones, Laurence Eddy and Geoff Cripps began making music together in the 1970s, forming folk-rock band The Chartists and staying together until 1991. Geoff subsequently moved on to Allan Yn Y Fan, leaving them is 2018, although retirement was far from his mind. I was going to say “enough ...
ANDY SMYTHE – Poetry In Exile (Dreaming Element Records – DER09)
Andy Smythe has a new album out on March 1st, 2024, entitled Poetry In Exile and is a fantastic up-tempo Britpop journey of an album! A breath of fresh air to new music fashioned in the Rock/Pop and Folk/Indie genre. Andy’s four octave voice can take on any song, which ...
THE SCHMOOZENBERGS – Mouse (Schmusic Records, SCHCD02)
Mouse is the third album in a career spanning over a decade for Bristol-based The Schmoozenbergs, and their first new release since 2019’s Awaken. Starting life as a duo in 2012, the band settled into their current four-piece line-up in 2017, when they also released their self-titled first album. Awaken ...
GRACE PETRIE – Build Something Better (The Robot Needs Home Collective TRNHC013)
I do like Grace Petrie best when she’s sticking it to the man. Or, to put it rather more delicately, pointing up the inequalities and iniquities of our contemporary society. Build Something Better does just that. Produced by Frank Turner, it defines the punk-folk genre while allowing Grace’s guitar and ...
SINGLES BAR 99 – A round-up of recent EPs and singles
Having digitally self-released four on ‘Part One’ last year, LITTLE LORE now offers up the remainder of the Seven Stories (three digitally on ‘Part Two’ or all seven on CD), first up being ‘The Jackal’, all desert night moody with skittering percussion and haunted keyboards that, originally written for an ...
PETE COOPER AND RICHARD BOLTON – Burning Bright (Wild Goose Records – WGS445CD)
I do like an album on which the tracks all have interesting stories behind them, and Burning Bright by Pete Cooper and Richard Bolton, is just such an album. This is the fourth album that fiddle legend Pete and multi-instrumentalist Richard have made, during a quarter of a century working ...
MAY ERLEWINE – The Real Thing (10 Good Songs 007)
Working on the premise that people power can bring changes on a global scale, belatedly getting a European release almost a year after America, the Michigan singer-songwriter’s 22nd full-length album (either solo or in collaboration) navigates moments between people and seeking truth. Joined by Packy Lundholm on guitars, Phil Cook ...
BUSTER SLEDGE – Nice Time On Earth Today (HCD7406)
Buster Sledge (great name) released Nice Time On Earth Today at the beginning of February. It’s their fourth album, but their first official release in the UK. It’s not often that you get an album that leaves you simultaneously with a smile on your face at the same time as ...
ALEX CUMMING – Homecoming (own label)
A traditional singer, accordionist, pianist and dance caller from Somerset now based in Vermont, while he’s recorded as part of Celtic trio Bellwether, a cappella quartet The Teacups and as a duo with Nicola Beazley, Homecoming is his solo debut, albeit with a helping hand from such musicians as fiddler ...
FRONTIER RUCKUS – On The Northline (Loose Music)
Frontier Ruckus’ new album, On The Northline, sings with its Midwest Americana Great Lakes big waved melodies. The very first song, ‘Swore I Had A Friend’ is wind-blown, without a lighthouse heart in turbulent waters, but nicely dramatic with trumpet flourishes, the swirling sounds of Zach Nichols and his singing ...
AMIGO THE DEVIL – Yours Until The War Is Over (Liars Club/Regime Music Group)
Baptised in the same waters as Tom Waits and Nick Cave, if you’ve not encountered him before this is the musical nom de plume of Danny Kiranos, a tonsorially hirsute Florida-born singer songwriter of Greek/Spanish parentage and an affinity for cinematic folk-noir. Yours Until The War Is Over, his third ...
KEITH JAMES – Word Paintings (Hurdy Gurdy)
Keith James – poet, songwriter, singer, composer and arranger and a fine guitarist. It is perhaps unfair that these achievements have been somewhat overshadowed by his work as an interpreter of other writers – Nick Drake, Leonard Cohen, Federico Garcia Lorca pre-eminent among them. He’s very good at it, of ...
MAT GREEN & ANDY TURNER – Time For A Stottycake (WildGoose Records WGS444CD)
Mat Green and Andy Turner are, among their other accomplishments, founder members of the popular band Magpie Lane. Mat has also marked fifty years playing fiddle for the morris, notably Bampton Morris Men and Andy plays Anglo concertina and sings and is a former morris dancer. That may give you ...
MA POLAINE’S GREAT DECLINE – Molecules (OHM Records – MPGD07)
Americana is a single word that encompasses so much. It’s not really a genre, but a collection of genres, covering the various traditions and influences that make up American roots music. On that basis, it’s fair to describe Somerset duo Ma Polaine’s Great Decline as true Americana. They might not ...
SERIOUS SAM BARRETT – A Drop Of The Morning Dew (Crow Lane Records CL001)
Serious Sam Barrett is a songwriter and an interpreter of traditional songs and he does both with great aplomb. This set of eighteen songs, A Drop Of The Morning Dew was recorded live at one of the north’s leading folk clubs, the famous Bacca Pipes in Keighley, just Sam, his voice ...
AND ALSO THE TREES – Mother-Of-Pearl Moon (own label)
Formed in small Worcestershire village in 1979 by Simon and Justin Jones, inspired by the nascent post-punk movement and influenced by the landscape and history of the rural environment, Mother-Of-Pearl Moon, the line up now comprising the brothers alongside drummer Paul Hill, Colin Ozanne on keyboards and clarinet and bassist ...
BROOKS WILLIAMS – Diamond Days (Red Guitar Blue Music RGBM-2402)
Brooks Williams is one of the great collaborators of the modern scene but for Diamond Days he goes back to basics – just one man, his voice and his guitar. I suspect that this may be his best work – everything about it is just perfect. Most of the songs ...
JACK CADE – Bewilderland (COLL057)
Bewilderland is the latest album of Jack Cade’s prolific streak over the past few years. Maybe it’s because I’m a Northerner, but Cade doesn’t seem to be as well-known as I feel his unique sound should be. He’s been described most frequently as Americana, but that’s not a genre that ...
LINDA WATKINS – Butterfly In A Box (own label TAL0005)
I slipped Butterfly In A Box into the player for the first time and wondered why I hadn’t heard of Linda Watkins before. This is her fifth album after all and we’re supposed to have our finger on the pulse of the zeitgeist (or something like that) so you must ...
TRUE FOXES – Howl (own label)
Amie Parsons and Chloe Payne have become ubiquitous on music stations in the South West (and the rest of the UK, apparently) since the release of their EP Sunny in 2022, while building up an extraordinary number of appearances at festivals and in concert, in the company of some impressive ...
THE LONGEST JOHNS – Voyage (own label)
The appetite for shanties remains unabated, Voyage being the ninth album from the Bristolian crew and again with a mix of traditional and original material, the latter opening proceedings with ‘The Llandoger’ which, beginning with a simple mandolin strum before it all kicks in, is a celebration of the supposedly ...
THE SALTS – Live In London Town (own label)
The Salts are one of my few local(ish) bands, one that is rising in stature and popularity by the day. Brian Doran leads the band and plays flute among other instruments which is unusual for a shanty crew but he actually restricts himself to the more traditional whistle. Lee Collinson ...
KATHERINE PRIDDY – The Pendulum Swing (Cooking Vinyl COOKCD910)
Having garnered both lavish critical praise and commercial success for her 2021 debut, The Eternal Rocks Beneath, the Birmingham singer-songwriter returns with what might have been the difficult second album given that she’d lived with many of the songs on the first since childhood. But, rooted in themes of nostalgia, ...
MARTIN CARTHY – Martin Carthy (Topic Records TTSLP005)
Like most folk-ish guitarists of my generation (and succeeding generations, directly or indirectly), I owe a great deal to Martin Carthy, not only a fine singer but one of a generation of gifted musicians who lifted the perception of folk guitar from the strumming of (some) amateur skiffle bands to ...
SCOTT SEAN WHITE – Even Better On The Bad Days (own label)
Based in the wonderfully named town of Poetry, Texas, when I reviewed White’s 2021 debut I said it was a good bet for the album of the year lists. Well, history repeats itself now with this fine and at times deeply personal follow-up, Even Better On The Bad Days, which ...
TIGER MOTH – Ostracon (Ghosts From The Basement GFTB 7060)
Ostracon is a record for compleat lepidopterists and archaeologists. The first is obvious, the second because an ostracon is a potsherd on which writing has been scratched. The significance of the title may or may not become apparent. For those who were not there or those who were but still ...
STEREO NAKED – Upside Down (own label)
Launched at their sold out show at Celtic Connections, the title (wittily written so on the sleeve) of the quartet’s follow up to 2022’s Unseen Course refers to how acoustic bassist Pierce Black has swapped New Zealand to join banjoist Julia Zech (the duo being the core line up and ...
DAN PENN – The Inside Track On Bobby Purify (LMCD231)
Dan Penn’s The Inside Track On Bobby Purify is released on February 16th. When the option to review the album came up the Editor said, in terms, that he wasn’t sure how this album fitted with the core work of folking.com and I offered to find out. He was, as ...
KITEWING – Kitewing (own label)
Kitewing’s self-titled album avoids Joni Mitchell’s warning about “putting all the trees in a tree museum” (more about that later!). That said, this album is superb British (all the way from Norwich!) folk music with strong vocals, acoustic guitars, harmonies, fiddles, a banjo, and the occasional tenor guitar. The (great!) ...
SINGLES BAR 98 – A round-up of recent EPs and singles
We first encountered CERYS HAFANA back in 2022 when her second album, Edyf, appeared and then when she released ‘The Wife Of Usher’s Well’ as a single. That track was recorded during lockdown for the podcast, Old Tunes Fresh Takes and it reappears now as part of The Bitter EP, ...
TOPETTE!! – ON – Live At The Jam Jar (TPT006)
Topette!! released ON - Live at the Jam Jar on January 19th. The Jam Jar is in Bristol, “one of those wonderful venues where magic happens” as the publicity puts it. Such venues are increasingly rare; capturing the vibrancy of the magic on album is even rarer, but this album ...
HANNAH WHITE – Sweet Revolution (Last Music Company)
Garnering substantial praise throughout the year for her previous musical works, London-based singer-songwriter, Hannah White concluded her 2023 with a brand new offering of Americana-infused tunes in the form of Sweet Revolution. Sweet Revolution is notable in that it is a project which works on multiple levels. The songs themselves ...
MATTHEW ROBB – History Before It Happens (own label)
UK-born, but based in Germany, musically trading in blues/folk style with a propensity for protest, Robb’s been likened to van Zandt and early Dylan in his sensibilities, but there’s something in his voice and songs that puts me in mind of Martyn Joseph. You can hear it in the opener ...
THE WEST COAST FOLK FESTIVAL – Damian Liptrot reports
The West Coast Folk Festival 2024 proved to be a mesmerizing celebration of musical diversity, fostering a sense of community and unity among folk enthusiasts. Hosted in the fabulous setting of Blackpool’s Winter Gardens, the festival's eclectic lineup and welcoming atmosphere left attendees with lasting memories and hopes for a ...
MATT MITCHELL MUSIC CO – Obvious Euphoria (American Standard Time Records)
Obvious Euphoria is released in the UK on January 26th and is the third full length release by Matt Mitchell Music Co. It was recorded in Astoria, Oregon – the home of The Hackles, two of whom feature on this album. Which rather lets you know what to expect – ...
FAREFELD – Game Of Halves (own label)
Having previously traded under individual names as Chris Elliot and Caitlin Jones, the Staffordshire duo have now restyled themselves Farefeld, a conflation of the old spellings of their Staffordshire home towns, KinFARE (her) and LichFELD (him), but still drawing on the folklore and history of the region, a mix of ...
MISERABLE RICH – Overcome (Rags To Riches Records)
John Lennon sang about “sitting in an English garden”, and the new Miserable Rich album, Overcome, waters those Brighton flowers with folk-pop acoustic endlessly enjoyable melodies. The band has been labelled “chamber pop” – which should not be confused with the music of parallel universes known as “indie pop”, “Baroque ...
ELIJAH JAMES AND THE NIGHTMARES – The Hellish Bending Towards the Light (Golden Believers Records)
The story of Elijah James and the Nightmares’ second album, The Hellish Bending Towards The Light, is yet another in which the lockdowns play a big part. Rewind to 2019 and Elijah, with his eight-piece band, had just released a debut double album, Because I’m A Giant, and were planning ...
GILLIAN FLEETWOOD – Together With Yourself At Sea Level (own label)
Together With Yourself At Sea Level brings together elements of folk, jazz and even rock in one rather astonishing package. Gillian Fleetwood is a Scottish harper, composer and singer, all of which combine in this album. The music was originally composed for Grecian harp and small harp and a solo ...
THIS IS THE KIT – Careful Of Your Keepers (Rough Trade)
This Is The Kit’s new album, Careful Of Your Keepers, asks (and while Hamlet’s dilemma is admittedly both a bit more literary and tragic) the very modern query: “To be folk music, or not to be folk, that is the question” -- with or without a nod to the finger-in-your-ear ...
HIRONDELLE – Hirondelle (own label)
Hirondelle is a collaborative world folk music project, led by those Northumbrian “troubadours”, the Brothers Gillespie, that survived the Covid pandemic, and now flies freely (the title is French for “swallow”!) “From the heartland of Africa to the Mediterranean and beyond to the fringes of the Atlantic islands of Britain ...
ALUN PARRY – Speak Easy, Sing Hard (own label)
A trauma therapist in his day job, recorded at his hometown Liverpool’s Prohibition Studio in front of a live audience, Speak Easy, Sing Hard marked Parry’s return to the stage after almost five years with a set that, split into solo acoustic and full band, pretty much represents a best ...
CHRISTOPHER CROMPTON – The Darkness And The Dust (own label)
Happy New Year – and what a splendid start to 2024. The Darkness And The Dust is Christopher Crompton’s second album and was released on December 10th but I’ve only had chance to listen to it properly in the gap between Christmas and New Year. Jolly good it is too ...
MARTYN JOSEPH – This Is What I Want To Say (Pipe Records PRCD039)
Martyn Joseph has had a great deal to say over the years and said it very eloquently. This Is What I Want To Say is, extraordinarily, his twenty-seventh studio album over a forty year career. If you’re familiar with Martyn’s work you’ll know that his writing embraces a large number ...
BROWN HORSE – Reservoir (Loose Music)
Brown Horse’s Reservoir is a brilliant collection (all the way from Norfolk, England!) of tunes sung by anyone who has “just pulled into Nazareth” and is “feelin’ about half past dead”. That’s a huge compliment, indeed, but this band plays with an off-hand folk-rock ‘n’ lovely roll toss that swirls ...
CIARAN RYAN BAND – Occupational Hazards (own label CRB001)
If you’re looking for a chill out album for the New Year, Occupational Hazards from Ciaran Ryan Band won’t fit the bill. But if you want to blow away the Winter blues with some pounding instrumental Irish folk rock, this will be perfect. It’s good on the car stereo too, ...
AL LEWIS – Fifteen Years (own label ALM040)
So titled because that’s how long it took to come about, the initial impetus for the Welsh singer-songwriter’s album was his decision during lockdown to finally got through his late father’s possessions, stored in the attic of his bungalow after his death and untouched, for fifteen years. Sorting through the ...
STEVE LOGAN – Psych Ward (SLOG 027)
First things first: Psych Ward isn’t folk. Apart from the odd track, Logan largely left that behind a few albums ago. It’s pretty damn good though. Press play and you’re instantly hit by a rock-band explosion accompanying Logan’s vocal. Psych Ward is perhaps more of a Neil-Young-cum-Manic-Street-Preachers arrangement than his earlier ...
LAUREN COLLIER – Uddevalla (own label CPRCD001)
Uddevalla is a beautiful album and, in its own way, delightfully unconventional. Lauren is a fiddle player and singer, originally from Irvine – just across the water from Arran – now living in Glasgow and this record, named after a town in Sweden, is her debut album. She is supported ...
SINGLES BAR 97 – A round-up of recent EPs and singles
Singer/songwriter STEFFAN LEWIS has a new EP, Look For Me In The New Horizon, released this month. The opening track, ‘Nightingale Sing’, characterised by ringing acoustic guitar, conjures up Steffan’s time living in London with his late sister. It’s very much her style we hear, a pretty delicate sound. More ...
TIM EDEY – A Celtic Christmas Volume 1 (GBR023)
Hot off the press is Tim Edey’s new CD A Celtic Christmas (Volume 1). You’d expect some gloriously played music from Tim Edey and this won’t disappoint. As well as Tim’s virtuosity, he’s accompanied by a who’s who of Celtic performers: piper Ross Ainslie, Donald Shaw from Capercaillie, Mark Kelso ...
SHIRLEY COLLINS –Archangel Hill (Domino Recording Company)
Shirley Collins’ Archangel Hill is a beautiful album that’s an arboreal memory with deep roots that fuel regeneration of common folk song foliage. Put simply: As Shakespeare’s Caliban once said, “Be not afeard. This isle is full of noises, sounds, and sweet airs, that give delight, and hurt not”. Now, ...
NICK HART & TOM MOORE – The Colour Of Amber (Slow Worm Records SWR005CD)
When did you last hear a Viola da Gamba in a folk club? Exactly. The instrument in question is played on The Colour Of Amber by Nick Hart who sings and plays harmonium alongside Tom Moore on viola and harmonium. It’s traditional folk music but not as we know it ...
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