The Wardens’ ‘Sold Out’ is a simple, unfussy album, but hugely appealing to a way of life and a musical genre that is too often forgotten in today’s hyperactive world and the onslaught of processed Nashville country. This is as organic as it gets.
Edinburgh Tradfest (29 April to 9 May 2022) has launched its 10th festival programme of traditional live music, talks, podcasts, storytelling, ceilidhs, dance, workshops and new commissions taking place at various venues across the City.
St. Arnaud’s ‘Love and the Front Lawn’ is a light, wry, witty, musically breezy and irresistibly toe-tappingly catchy album that fully deserves entry into the pantheon of pragmatic optimism.
Taken from their Topic Records debut, ‘Ink Of The Rosy Morning’, watch the latest video from Hannah Sanders & Ben Savage for ‘Polly O Polly’. Hannah also recalls how she first heard the song performed by David Holt while at a festival with her parents.
Watch Karine Polwart and Dave Milligan performing ‘The Old Men Of The Shells’, a song by Alasdair Roberts that featured on his 2007 album The Amber Gatherers. Karine and Dave are on tour in May 2022 including the Edinburgh Tradfest.
Award-winning American folk-roots artist Jake Blount and his band are heading to the UK for a two-week tour in late May/early June 2022, culminating with performances at Fire in the Mountain festival.
Old Crow Medicine Show return with ‘Paint This Town’ on which they balance what they describe as an obligation to talk about the more difficult things happening in the world and ensuring everyone’s having a great time while they do it – they admirably succeed.
There is no denying that the core strength of the songs on Timbuktu lies in Oumou Sangaré’s powerful voice, both as a writer, singer and proponent of women’s rights.
Subtly, imperceptibly, Kevin Farge builds Halcyon Days into something of a quiet revolution. He wields the power of gentleness, using the gentle force of his music to seep inside your pores until resistance to these gifts is useless.
Taken from Charlie Dore’s 2020 album ‘Like Animals’, watch Charlie and Michele Stodart’s stunning and surreal new video for ‘A Hundred Miles of Nothing’ filmed at Didcot Railway Centre. The pair are planning to do some live gigs together in 2022/23.
Organic and intimate in feel, Abigail Lapell’s “Stolen Time” is an emotionally potent offering and one that’s sure to lead to a significant and well-deserved international breakthrough.
Patrick Watson never ceases to amaze, and his new album, Better in the Shade surprises again and again. The album engages by disengaging from the world we know, using parts we tend to rely on as stepping stones to a deeper understanding.
