This week’s Folk Show is crammed with plenty of new releases, kicking off with a track from the latest Spell Songs II album (reviewed here) on which Karine Polwart leads the call of “dig in, dig in”. We also find Salt House connecting with nature on The Day We Made Wood which features Cahalen Morrison and is taken from their new EP ‘Working for Zeus‘.
Just before New Year, we premiered the video for Meeting is Over, the new single from Moira Smiley ft. Piers Faccini and Seamus Egan. She told us, “When I first heard Piers sing – on a snowy night in NYC – I was deeply moved by the way his high notes keened and spun as if he had access to a collective grief we’d forgotten. I feel that expression of grief to be part of the work of singing – whether wild and expressionist or gentle – so I knew that ‘Meeting Is Over’ would be the perfect song for us to sing together.
“This arrangement started with me making the rolling, hypnotic banjo part while I was singing the song in 2020. Seamus and I sat down to play one night, and he found a guitar part that fit to the banjo like a glove.”
Another new EP we recently shared news of was Source to Sea, a digital EP from Julie Fowlis. The songs feature a number of special guests and was recorded to accompany the Source To Sea podcast series in which Lee Craigie and Jenny Graham travel the length of three major Scottish rivers (The River Dee, River Tay and River Clyde).
Earlier today, we shared the news that Megan Henderson, a member of the award-winning Scottish folk group Breabach, will release her long-awaited solo-debut Pilgrim Souls on 21st January 2022. We’ve included her first single, The Dawn Chorus.
Next Friday (14th January) marks the release of Overground, the fifth studio album from UK Americana band Police Dog Hogan. We premiered their video for ‘Here Comes The Crow‘ here, and it’s probably my favourite track of that album.
Grammy-winner Aoife O’Donovan will release her new album, ‘Age of Apathy‘, on 21st January via Yep Roc Records. Several singles have been released to date, and Prodigal Daughter, on which she is joined by Allison Russell, is a firm favourite.
Steve Dawson, Juno Award-winning musician, singer-songwriter, producer, sideman, label owner & more, recently announced his new solo album ‘Gone, Long Gone‘ and I couldn’t resist playing the title track. And to add…Steve’s been busy, Gone, Long Gone is just the first of three new albums that he created during the lockdown. The following two will come to light over three month intervals throughout 2022.
Martin Harley, Daniel Kimbro & Sam Lewis collaborate for the first time on Harley Kimbro Lewis and seeing as this is the second track to feature on our Folk Show, that says something about the calibre of this release. The album is described as a slow-cooked, laid-back album reminiscent of an early American songbook. Produced at Wow & Flutter Studios, East Nashville the old-fashioned way – writing songs in the morning and rolling the tape in the afternoon – the album highlights Daniel’s Appalachia roots, Sam’s Nashville tones and Martin’s travelling riverside blues.
Talisk recently revealed their new single Echo 22…let’s just say this does not sound like a band that includes a 120-year-old concertina…how the thing doesn’t catch on fire with speed Mohsen Amini plays at I’ve no idea, maybe Benedict Morris (fiddle) and Graeme Armstrong (guitar) keep the ice nearby. Anyhow, it doesn’t come fresher than this.
Released this month on 15th January is “The road to tyranny”, the latest album from Bruce MacGregor – Forming the multi-award winning Highland fiddle supergroup “Blazin’ Fiddles” in 1998, Bruce is also the voice of Scottish folk, as long term presenter of BBC Radio Scotland’s “Travelling Folk”, which he has now been presenting for over a decade.
MacGregor’s book, “The Highlander’s Revenge – tunes and tales from a Blazin’ Fiddler” was published in 2019, and this new recording, “The road to tyranny”, features music from that collection. He says: “The tunes have been inspired by the people, the places and the adventures I’ve been lucky enough to experience over the years. There’s airs, jigs, strathspeys, reels and marches as you’d expect but then there’s other tunes like “The Big Yin’s” composed after a magical trip to Billy Connolly’s house and ‘Doddie’s Dream’ which don’t really fit into any of the usual categories – they’re just catchy tunes!” We’ve included the opening set: Josh’s 2 Secs/Jo De Sylva – a force of nature/Short and Simple/ Roddy MacGregor. I totally get the opening tune…I’ve two similar sons: “Josh is 14. Josh does things around the house ….eventually, but first the answer to any request is “2 secs”. This could result in it being done in 2 minutes, 2 hours or 2 days!”
Taken from The McDades new album, ‘The Empress’ is Les Trois Capitaines, and from Nancy Kerr‘s tribute album to Leon Rossleson The Poor Shall Wear the Crown (reviewed here) is Invisible Married Breakfast Blues which originally appeared on Love Loneliness Laundry, a collaboration with Roy Bailey, which also featured Val Bailey on vocals. On her album notes, she adds, “Leon has observed that feminism ‘declared the personal to be political which seems to me to be a very good idea as far as songwriting is concerned.’”
Next week we will be premiering a video for ‘The Lucky One‘ from Boston-based fiddle and guitar duo Rakish, their new album, Counting Down the Hours, was produced by Seamus Egan (of Solas) and comes out 4th February. I thought I’d give you a little flavour of what’s to come.
The final tune comes from Sam Sweeney and his new EP ‘Solo‘ (out on 4th February). Solo is the first in a series of EPs that will highlight different members of the band who performed and recorded on his acclaimed album ‘Unearth Repeat‘, released in 2020.
Scattered amongst those new greats are other treasures, including music from two great pipers, Chris McMullan and Brìghde Chaimbeul, as well as a great Irish singer who is relatively new to me: Francey Devine.
Music Played
- Spell Songs – Thrift (Dig In, Dig In)
- Salt House – The Day We Made a Wood – Bandcamp
- Moira Smiley ft. Piers Faccini & Seamus Egan – Meeting Is Over – Bandcamp
- Julie Fowlis – The Hill Burns (River Dee)
- Megan Henderson – The Dawn Chorus – Bandcamp
- Police Dog Hogan – Here Comes The Crow
- Aoife O’Donovan (ft Allison Russell) – Prodigal Daughter – Bandcamp
- Steve Dawson – Gone, Long Gone
- Harley Kimbro Lewis – I Gotta Chair
- Talisk – Echo 22 (Radio Edit)
- The McDades – Les Trois Capitaines
- Chris McMullan – Rip the Calico, Farewell to Erin, The Lobster Pot (Reels) – Bandcamp
- Francy Devine – The Old Poacher’s Song – Bandcamp
- Bruce MacGregor – Josh’s 2 secs – Bandcamp
- Rakish – The Lucky One – Bandcamp
- Brìghde Chaimbeul – Turf Lodge/Aird’s Jig – Bandcamp
- Nancy Kerr – Invisible Married Breakfast Blues – Bandcamp
- Sam Sweeney – Untitled Waltz #1 : Tweedside – Bandcamp
Photo by Alex Gallacher (Quantock Hills, Somerset)