Featuring Lisa Knapp, The Unthanks, Sam Sweeney, Clara Mann, James Waudby, Trevor Beales, Juni Habel, Lady Maisery, Owen Spafford & Louis Campbell, The Carrivick Sisters, VRÏ, Jack Warnock, Breabach, Gavin Fairhall Lever, Clare Sands, Emily Portman and Rob Harbron, Shovel Dance Collective and Gigspanner Big Band & Raynor Winn.

Like Pissaro’s painting from which ‘Late Afternoon in the Meadow’ takes its name, Joshua Burnside pairs together opposing imagery, offsetting the life-affirming and sacred with the crushingly bleak and mundane.

Author, playwright, TV and Radio presenter, and journalist Colin Irwin has passed away. Best known for his folk music reviews, he really was one of the greats.

With ‘It’s Been A While, Buddy’, Ríoghnach Connolly & Honeyfeet continue their unique journey, sharing dollops of theatrical fun amongst more honest, personal, heartfelt lyrics, whilst always inhabiting a sprawling terrain of musical forms.

The winner of this year’s RTÉ Radio 1’s Lifetime Achievement Award 2022 goes to Mary Black. The shortlist for this year’s Folk Awards has also been announced including Junior Brother, Clare Sands, Inni-K, Ye Vagabonds, Anna Mieke and lots more.

‘You Will Not Die’ finds Darren Hayman at his most withdrawn and introspective, uncovering new truths hidden in well-worn themes…when a songwriter of Hayman’s skill turns the spotlight back on himself – and in doing so creates a new world in miniature scale – it’s worth taking note.

Sun Ra Arkestra’s ‘Living Sky’ is so sublime, this is music to bathe in and soak it up as the intricacies and delicacies of the many layers of detail slowly unfold and shower the listener in pure interplanetary wonder.

You, Golden, the first duo record from Owen Spafford and Louis Campbell, was always one to look forward to. Uplifting, probing and exciting, as well as wise and patient, it is an album to return to and savour. Excellent stuff.

As beautiful and powerful as an electrical storm, Daniel Bachman’s Almanac Behind hones his new sound into a lean and precise tapestry. It is an extraordinary achievement by a unique artist. My album of the year.

On ‘While I Sit and Watch This Tree Volume 2’, Lizabett Russo takes the listener on a very personal journey. It’s a stunning and passionate album, one that you will be drawn back to repeatedly.

Laura Jean’s ‘Amateurs’ is the work of a sincere professional, one who refuses to be bound by boxes or boundaries. She moves in directions where the weight of her work and the totality of her talent are vast and limitless.

Taken from her new EP ‘WAS’ (out now), watch Thea Gilmore’s new video for ‘Bones’, the visual concept for which was created by Thea with the help of visual artist Andy Goff using AI technology.