Our Tune of the Day comes from Assynt, one of Scotland’s newest, most exciting folk trios featuring award-winning musicians Graham MacKenzie, David Shedden and Innes White. Their debut album, Road to the North, is released on August 18th.

While initially combining their existing influences was the start for We Banjo 3, Haven tells us the journey is far from over as celtgrass spreads its boundaries, showing it can assimilate what it finds while remaining true to its roots.

For the first time ever, two legendary Folk Festivals on two continents are teaming up to spread the word about a few talented artists. We caught up with Darlingside and Kaia Kater at Newport Folk Festival ahead of their Cambridge appearance.

Watch Michelle Mandico’s lyric video for 1000 Feet, from her debut album Ptarmigan. “It is about putting one foot in front of the other, knowing that the path is steep and the distance is daunting.”

The Joy of Living is the seventh studio album from Jackie Oates, also our Artist of the Month for August. It is her most personal yet, covering an intensely personal period of her life in which she celebrated the birth of her daughter Rosie and bid an emotional and loving farewell to her beloved father.

“Time and tide wait for no man”, so the saying goes. But ever since her EP, Tide & Time, came out in 2016, many have been waiting expectantly to hear Somerset singer songwriter Kitty Macfarlane’s debut album. On September 21 the wait will be over as this fine young acoustic artist unveils the beguiling release Namer Of Clouds.

Even more so than its predecessor, Shelter is a series of teasingly enigmatic meditations leaving a distinct feeling that for all Olivia’s emotional candour there’s a persistent – albeit attractive – unknowability giving an added depth to her increasingly masterful songwriting.

Watch the new video from New York’s The Rad Trads for their lead single Good Luck Unto Ya which is set in a roller skating club in Bedford Stuyvesant Brooklyn, NY. It’s taken from their forthcoming album On Tap which is set for release on September 14th.

Our latest Folk Show features: Eamon O’Leary, Lúnasa, Rachael McShane & The Cartographers, Lau, Fay Hield, Mishaped Pearls, Rory Campbell, Mary Jane Lamond, Shooglenifty, Liam O Maonlai, Battlefield Band, Planxty, Tim Hart and Maddy Prior, Spiers & Boden & more.

Dave McNally reviews the latest offering from top-flight Irish traditional band Lúnasa who are currently touring with Natalie Merchant. Along the way, band member Ed Boyd fills in some background about the album which features Natalie along with Tim O’Brien, Mary Chapin Carpenter and Eric Bibb. A fitting, celebratory, must-listen album.

David Crosby’s forthcoming European tour will include two UK dates. He’s lined up a total of 14 dates which will kick off at the Once In A Blue Moon Festival in Amsterdam on August 25 and conclude with a set at London’s O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire on September 16.

Cornish folk-rock band Hanterhir re-enforce the notion that Cornwall has a ‘culture distinct from anywhere else in Britain’ by delivering a concept album based around the tale of Cadan, who tries to drown himself in a lake on Carn Marth, an ancient hill in West Cornwall.