British guitarist and founder of Pentangle John Renbourn has died aged 70. We take a brief look back at his history of which there are many highlights. Some of my favourite being his work with the late Bert Jansch.

This tribute provides a space in which some of the musicians who rightly look up to Molina’s work can express their gratitude to him and to his family. It also gives fans another perspective on the music of one of the best and most quietly influential songwriters to have ever tried his hand at the game. Jason Molina may never have known it, but he is not alone.

Mary Black has announced to her last tour of the UK – The Last Call Tour will be Mary’s last tour outside Ireland. Having already visited North America, Germany, Holland and Belgium, these May dates will be Mary’s final UK concerts.

We were recently given the opportunity of an exclusive insight into Dan Walsh’s musical life from his inspirations and roots to his new album ‘Incidents and Accidents’ and the exciting collaborations that fit in between. How could we resist: Dan reveals all from crowd surfing in New Zealand to his all-time favourite songwriter.

The first of what promises to be a varied set of EPs, Music For Exhibition & Film finds Aidan O’Rourke in visionary mode. Music to file under electronic meditations and could be described as visionary in that it plays on your mind’s eye and promotes visions and as such lives up to its title admirably. The mental movie is yours for the making.

Our Song of the Day comes from James Yorkston with ‘Broken Wave’, which is dedicated to the late Doogie Paul who was a bass player with James Yorkston and the Athletes. The song features on The Demonstrations of The Craws an exclusive release for Record Store Day 2015.

Emily Barker’s ‘The Toerag Sessions’ is a masterclass in the art and craft of songwriting and an instructive and insightful record by one of today’s leading singer/songwriters. A record to be cherished and played again and again; The Toerag Sessions is the very definition of essential listening.

Having just returned from a New Zealand tour Emily Smith has a busy time ahead with a mini German tour, a full UK Tour, a new collaborative show for Edinburgh’s ‘Tradfest’ and a performance on a new BBC Radio 4 programme called ‘Folk of the Pennines’ which will also feature Kate Rusby and Bella Hardy.

Bellowhead continue to go from strength to strength having picked up their 3rd Best Group nomination from the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards. They also embark on a major tour with support from Kings of the South Seas, they have a new single due for ‘Roll Alabama’ for which they also have a new video.

As part of our ongoing partnership with Bob Harris’ Under The Apple Tree sessions we select an artist to go and visit Bob & Co to perform a session. The latest was the wonderful Devon-based Jess McAllister who is joined by Lukas Drinkwater on double bass, that man gets around.

Kenneth Pattengale and Joey Ryan, better known to us as The Milk Carton Kids have announced the release of their third album Monterey which will be released on Anti- Records in May. Listen to the title track here.

Our Song of the Day is via the way of an entertaining new video from Lail Arad for Milo. The first official single from her forthcoming new album The Onion. The PR describes it is an explosion of je ne sais quoi. This is an earworm you won’t be able to shake off or indeed forget Lail’s bicycle skills!