David Weir

David Weir reports back from his time in the Cambrian Mountains at Fire in the Mountain festival – Being non-corporate, not-for-profit and volunteer-run, the difference between Fire in the Mountain and many other festivals is obvious from the outset. 

Like Pissaro’s painting from which ‘Late Afternoon in the Meadow’ takes its name, Joshua Burnside pairs together opposing imagery, offsetting the life-affirming and sacred with the crushingly bleak and mundane.

David Weir shares his Sidmouth Folk Festival highlights including Queer Folk, Norma Waterson Tribute, Jack Rutter, Bush Gothic, Peatbog Faeries, Elspeth Anne, Nick Hart and more.

We catch up with Angeline Morrison at Sidmouth Folk Festival to talk about her forthcoming new album “The Sorrow Songs: Folk Songs of Black British Experience”, being released on Topic Records in October and more.

David Weir reports back from a weekend spent at Black Deer Festival where he caught great sets from Yasmin Williams, Seafoam Green, Hiss Golden Messenger, The Waterboys, The London African Gospel Choir, Courtney Marie Andrews, Simeon Hammond Dallas and more.

David Weir dusts off his tassels and shares his highlights from this year’s Black Deer Festival, chosen from a bill that boasts The Waterboys, Van Morrison, Lady Nade, The Felice Brothers and a whole host of up-and-coming transatlantic talent.

In support of their magnificent third album Nine Waves, we caught up with brothers Brían and Diarmuid MacGloinn of Ye Vagabonds to discuss the record’s songs, ancient Irish legend, politics and sexism in traditional songs, and why buoyancy is likely in their genes.

Reflective and reverent, with Nine Waves Ye Vagabonds prove once again to be at the forefront of an ever-evolving, flourishing Irish folk scene and have done so in the most understated and inspired fashion imaginable.

David Weir catches up with John Francis Flynn, also our Artist of the Month, to chat about the inspiration behind and making of his debut album ‘I Would Not Live Always’. “…one of the most deeply affecting folk debuts of recent years.”

Taking turns both tender and turbulent, John Francis Flynn’s “I Would Not Live Always” is bracing, unpredictable and without a doubt one of the most deeply affecting folk debuts of recent years.

We talk to Katherine Priddy about the finer details of her songcraft, how she’s withstood the recent highs and lows, and why she should never be left alone with your mum’s finest china.

The fabric of Damien Jurado’s finely woven universe looks set to expand even further. We chat to him about his latest album, his big plans for 2022, disconnecting and slowing down in an age of information overload & 24-hour news, gratitude and more.

To listen to The Eternal Rocks Beneath is to sink into a reverie. Katherine Priddy puts a contemporary spin on the mythological and with a balletic vocal ability and bent for tender, lush arrangements, this much-anticipated debut is like stumbling upon a diamond mine.

While David John Morris’s lyrics have always flowed from a deeply spiritual place, they have never sounded quite like those on ‘Monastic Love Songs’…they stir with transformative promise with the constitution of his inner country, as Cohen would say, vividly evoking his natural surroundings.

Last year Dylan sang, “I contain multitudes” quoting Whitman, a sentiment this sophomore tour de force boldly epitomizes. Equal parts glamorous and grotesque, Matt Sweeney & Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy’s Superwolves is a sprawling, bewildering frenzy of ideas and emotions, leaving the listener with plenty to unpick.

Course In Fable, self-released on Ryley Walker’s Husky Pants imprint is a bold, batshit masterstroke the likes of which we’ve never seen…the latter-day folkjokeopus we never knew we needed.

Never before have the many strands of Sam Lee’s work come together as they do on Old Wow. Featuring a remarkable cast of players, Old Wow is his most direct, urgent and moving record to date.

As Christmas this year was approaching, we visited James Yorkston at The Lexington for the last date of his short December run. He was on grand form as ever and put on a great show which was opened by Uillean pipers Paddi Benson & Grace Lemon.