BBC Folk Award-winner Sam Carter announces The Oakham Poacher, his first solo collection of traditional songs. The title track explores a local legend from his Rutland childhood, telling the true story of the last man hanged at Oakham Castle. Carter says, “There’s something shared between the spirit of the folk singer and the poacher; both acts reclaim what was always ours to begin with.”

Miniseries’ debut “Pilot” is as cinematic as its title suggests. This episodic collection, featuring Angie Gannon (The Magic Numbers) and Doug Morch (Longview), careens through spooky, unsettling spaces while retaining a thoughtful structure. Building from soundtrack vibes to rustic folk, it’s a thoughtful, addictive sonic adventure that will hook the alert listener.

“Normal Town,” The Dreaming Spires’ first album in nearly a decade, finds the band’s love of rock ‘n’ roll romance undimmed. Inspired by Didcot, dubbed England’s “most normal town,” the record mixes nostalgia-fuelled anthems with reflective ballads. It explores themes of escape, alienation, and atomisation, but ultimately celebrates the redemptive power of music and finds pleasure in the ordinary.

London-based songwriter Elanor Moss has officially signed to Merge Records. She celebrated the announcement by releasing a new single and video, “Again, My Love.” The contemplative track, her first since 2023’s Cosmic EP, uses muted horns and guitar to explore themes of transition, loss, and growth. It serves as a preview for a new project expected in 2026.

Sir Richard Bishop’s ‘Hillbilly Ragas’ sees the veteran guitarist in devilish, free-flowing form. This terrific set of solo acoustic instrumentals subverts the rigid “American primitive” genre with a ramshackle, rhythmic, and improvised approach, adding Indian and Arabic flavours. It’s a “total banger”—vital, super-focused, and creatively brilliant acoustic music at its most exciting and intelligent.

Our ten selections for this month Subscriber Exclusive (one of the perks for those who support our work) include releases from New England’s Old Saw, a remastered “holy grail” of psychedelic Latin-funk, Mélanie Pain, Ryan Davis & the Roadhouse Band, Thomas Dollbaum, a landmark collaboration that brings together two generations of South African guitar mastery, Lady Queen Paradise, Dartmoor-raised artist Dominie Hooper, Jessica Moss and the incredible singer-songwriter Daudi Matsiko.

Natalie Jane Hill announces her new album, Hopeful Woman, arriving March 6th on Dear Life Records. She has shared the lead single “Never Left Me,” featuring aching pedal steel by Mat Davidson. Recorded live in Texas and North Carolina, the album is described by Nathan Salsburg as a “wise and humane hopefulness” built of “slender songs, life-sized,” with Hill’s voice “closer to the earth.”

Acclaimed Icelandic singer Ólöf Arnalds’ new album Spíra is out on December 5th via Bella Union. Watch the video for her new single “Heimurinn núna”, a love song that is playful on the surface but touches on deeper themes of faith, responsibility, and neurodiversity, all set against the scenery of midsummer.

King Hannah have announced a new, limited-edition 7″ single via City Slang, led by the vulnerable A-side “This Hotel Room.” The timeless and nostalgic country-folk track is out now with an accompanying video. Limited to 500 copies, each 7″ features a unique, hand-designed sleeve by the band and is backed by a Gillian Welch cover.

South London saxophonist, singer-songwriter, electronic producer, and field recordist Laura Misch has shared an ethereal rework of her single ‘Alchemy’ by ambient artist KMRU. It’s the first track from her forthcoming ‘Ambient Reworks EP’ (out Nov 27), which also features Isobel Waller-Bridge. Misch has also announced her biggest headline show to date, a performance at The Barbican on July 3rd, 2026.

Fiddles screech and swirl, a pump organ sighs and groans. Child-Lanning’s dulcimer is indebted to Jean Ritchie, and at points, an autoharp conjures the spirit of Maybelle Carter. A total of ten musicians contribute… and then there are the electronics, the decayed tape loops, the environmental recordings. The individual musical strokes are loose and expressionistic…Weirs’ Diamond Grove is hypnotic, bucolic, meditative, jarring, melancholic, jubilant: an exceptional musical document.

José González has released “Pajarito,” a playful, Spanish-language single written for his son, Mateo. The tender acoustic track is a companion to a previous song written for his daughter. González says it’s a “timeless, simple, and carefree” song about “growing up, learning things, and eventually becoming independent,” drawing inspiration from Simon & Garfunkel, Silvio Rodríguez, and children’s music.