Christopher Paul Stelling’s latest offering showcases both his lyrical and guitar skills whilst updating the American roots traditions and capturing the present zeitgeist. As he urges us to, “breathe it out, lay your burdens down to rest”, it’s hard not to pay attention.

Richard Thompson is in London for a couple of days of press interviews and Folk Radio UK caught up with him to talk about his new album ‘Still’, working with Jeff Tweedy and how to stay open all hours when it comes to song writing.

Fickle Fortune is the eagerly anticipated debut album from Robyn Stapleton, one that builds on her reputation already garnered via the prestigious BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician Award and points towards a very bright future ahead.

Lady Maisery have been announced as the headliners at this year’s Baring-Gould Folk Weekend in Devon. Talking exclusively to Folk Radio UK, one-third of the folk harmony trio, Hazel Askew, hints that the festival-goers might be treated to the premiere of some new songs …

Somewhere between the doomed romanticism of Tennessee Williams and the pithy, blue collar day to day Something More Than Free finds Jason Isbell celebrating the ties that bind us all.

Our Song of the day is a newly recorded version of Alasdair Robert’s Coral & Tar which features long-time friends Trembling Bells and Neil McDermott on fiddle.

On Dubl Handi’s latest release the playing is exemplary throughout, both Hilary’s melodic banjo and Brian’s unusual percussion captivate, fascinate and keep a firm grasp on the listener’s attention to the end.

Before The Gold Rush, one of London’s finest folk, roots and acoustic live music nights has teamed up exclusively with Folk Radio UK for a series of live session films. The first is with award-winning singer and songwriter Jack Harris. Watch it here.

Into the Sea is Dean Owens’ fifth solo album, one in which his roots are represented through stories and tales from the streets and hills of Scotland setting the scene of a charming Scottish landscape. If you’ve not heard it you can also enjoy a live session recorded exclusively for Folk Radio UK.

Our Song of the Day is from American gospel and soul singer Leon Bridges performing ‘River’ live in Paris for A Take Away Show session for French music website La Blogotheque.

With her highly anticipated new album due out this month followed by a number of UK performances we talk to Samantha Crain – A progressive thinker who recognises the importance of roots (historic and musical), an astute, intelligent songwriter with a gift for well-crafted and catchy songs, a passionate defender of her beliefs and a no-nonsense approach to interviews.

Black Apples of Gower is the latest non-fictional offering from Iain Sinclair in which he is drawn back to the South Wales of his childhood and the scenic Gower Peninsula – a quest that leads him to the mysterious Paviland Caves and the site of the first recorded ritual burial in these islands.