On Tuesday 1 August the Official Charts Company in partnership with English Folk Expo revealed the Top 40 best-selling and most streamed folk albums released in the July reporting period in the UK by UK and Irish artists. The chart is first announced to the public at 7pm GMT as part of the Official Folk Albums Chart Show presented by Folk on Foot via their YouTube channel.
There are 6 new releases in the July chart, including a new number 1.
Straight in at no. 1, Seth Lakeman’s The Somerset Sessions (Honour Oak) was recorded over ten days late in 2020 at the Bert Jansch Studio in Frome. It features Lakeman fronting a band comprising drummer Ethan Johns, keyboard player Jeremy Stacey, John Smith on guitar and bouzouki, bassist Nick Pini and a co-vocal with singer Alex Hart on the closing song.
At no. 3 is Dance Till All The Stars Come Down (Poetica) by The Lilac Time, the long-standing folk band led by Stephen Duffy with brother Nick, and his wife Claire Duffy, who joined in 1999. They are joined on this album again by multi-instrumentalist Ben Peeler on pedal steel, with no bass and minimal use of drums. This is the band’s first album since 2019’s Return To Us.
No. 10 is Dream From The Deep Well (Fire), the fourth album from celebrated Irish singer songwriter Brigid Mae Power. Recognised as a purveyor of dreamier pop with folky leanings, this new album is a departure; a unique marriage of traditional stylings and very modern melodies and filled with personal tales.
In at No. 24, Respair (Folklore) is the story of Jacko Hooper’s Covid pandemic mental health crisis. The experience left him needing to capture it, to feel it in its entirety and come out the other side. This album documents his journey. Hooper has never shied away from speaking of mental health issues, with it being a recurring theme in his releases over the years.
C-Sides (The Longest Johns), by The Longest Johns, comes in at no. 28. Band member JD describes it as “a collection of demos and unreleased oddities”. It includes several livestream favourites and some songs for which the band had released YouTube videos previously, but which had not yet made it onto an album.
No. 30 is Striding Out (Brown Boots), by the fiddle and melodeon duo Will Allen and Martin Clarke, otherwise known as Brown Boots. This album is the follow up to their 2020 First Steps album. The track ‘Helen Fraser’ features two tunes written in memory of Martin’s mother, who was a great community music project organiser.
The full Top 40 list can be viewed HERE.
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