Ahead of a UK run of dates in February 2018, including Celtic Connections and London’s Bush Hall, Young Mary’s Records/Thirty Tigers are to release Colter Wall’s Imaginary Appalachia on January 19th on Vinyl and CD. We can’t recommend it enough.

Our Song of the Day comes via a new video for The Gulley from that inventive folk duo India Electric Co. It opens their new EP, Seven Sisters which is not only their folkiest release to date but also a superb showcase of the duo’s talents which has them at their most inventive.  Their best yet.

Jim James, the frontman for My Morning Jacket, has shared his cover of jazz singer Abbey Lincoln’s “The World Is Falling Down” which features on his forthcoming new covers album Tribute To 2,  due Out December 8 via ATO.

The Burning Hell’s ‘Revival Beach’ is about the end of everything. But it is no less wise, funny or musically assured than its predecessor Public Library (easily one of the best records of 2016). Kom’s writing is a breath of fresh air, and I can think of few songwriters I’d rather spend the apocalypse with.

Some outstanding young musicians have emerged from the Dublin folk scene over the last couple of years and this second album from The Jeremiahs shows they’ve earned their place alongside the likes of Lankum and Daoiri Farrell.

The Celtic Connections festival will celebrate its 25th anniversary in 2018. In true Celtic Connections style the festival will feature an ambitious and eclectic line-up of musicians from all corners of the world who have been invited to take to the Glasgow stage early next year.

Acclaimed singer-songwriter Mary Gauthier will release her most important work to date with Rifles & Rosary Beads. The album reveals the untold stories and powerful struggles that war veterans and their spouses deal with abroad and after returning home.

On Laissez Passer, TootArd, a young, trailblazing band from the Golan Heights, show that the direst of circumstances can produce inspiring and uplifting music that will open up your mind and make you move your feet.

Shetland fiddler Chris Stout and harpist extraordinaire Catriona McKay return with a new duo album Bare Knuckle from which we take our Tune of the Day. Watch them performing Louise’s Waltz, recorded live in a cottage in Cellardyke, Scotland.

Yesterday saw the release of Woodpigeon’s new 10-track EP Devastating, a collection of b-sides, demos, and remixes from his 2016 album TROUBLE which is accompanied by a new music video filmed in Vienna by Lorenz Tröbinger.

As he so ably demonstrates on ‘Carry Fire’, Robert Plant is a musical traveller, still on the journey stopping off where the music takes him. With American blues still at the core, the music also spans the continents taking in Africa, Asia and European themes. Long may the fire he carries burn ever brighter…

Anyone who saw the Tiny Desk Concert by Gaelynn Lea will have been swept away by the emotive force of her performance. She is touring the UK in December 2017. Not to be missed. “Karen Dalton and Joanna Newsom melt together in the form of Gaelynn Lea and set about absolutely obliterating your heart.”