Glenn Kimpton

Verdin Brothers’ “The Crooked Serpent” stitches together blues, Creole, bluegrass and drone into something all their own, with a healthy dollop of the weird. A companion recording, “The Great Work,” gives each song something like an alter ego. A singular work of high art and painstaking detail.

Martin Simpson’s “Some Kind of Jubilee” is a seventeen-song double album, made in the US and the UK to mark half a century since his debut. Veterans and newcomers play alongside him. The music is rich without ever being overplayed, and the vocals are warm and engaging. The album is a real achievement and a career highlight. Take a bow.

Northern Earth feels like a real distillation of Dean McPhee’s sound; the music shows meticulous attention to detail, and recording it live with no overdubs makes it all the more impressive. A real sense of life and energy flows through each mercurial, exploratory piece. It is complex, painstakingly crafted music that is also focused and assured. It comes highly recommended.

“Live at the Chapel” is a twenty-five-minute, four-track teaser from London folk interpreter Charlie Wheatley, the first chapter in a three-part project covering around forty songs. Recorded at Stone Nest, a nineteenth-century Welsh church in London’s West End, the unconventional lineup of guitar, viola and two double basses fills the space with serious ambience. A wonderfully fresh and vibrant EP.

Jake Xerxes Fussell’s sixth album, The Old Beloved Path, is his most delicately considered release yet — his most elegant and unassuming. Seemingly easy in nature and quite light for the first few listens, the album then works its magic and its subtlety lingers in the mind: yet more proof Fussell is still only getting better.

Nick Jonah Davis’s “Rose Delta Rising,” recorded at Black Bay Studio in the Outer Hebrides, pairs electric guitar with Neal Heppleston’s bass, Joe Danks’ drums and Richard Birkin’s strings. This is a very elegant and accomplished set that feels like a distillation of Nick’s work over the years. Musically adventurous, impeccably recorded and performed, it is his best expression yet. Includes the premiere of the “Spoonbill” video.

Patrick ‘Paahto’ Cummins and John Francis Flynn’s debut as Paahto & The Bull, “The 123”, is a guitar duet recording rooted in the Irish traditional canon. No banjo, no fiddle, no percussion — just a fresh, wood-sounding warmth and accomplished playing across ten tracks. A tremendous debut that oozes confidence. This music is in very safe hands.

On “Black Duck with Elena Setién,” Chicago’s experimental trio team up with Spanish-Basque singer and multi-instrumentalist Elena Setién, recording after just a few hours of rehearsal to capture the direct energy of their live shows. The music shifts from tightly composed to improvised — exciting, adventurous, and full of character. A joy to listen to.

Sir Richard Bishop’s “Hillbilly Erotica” moves away from the gnarly aggression of “Hillbilly Ragas” into gentler territory, with mostly improvised solo guitar that ebbs and flows with sharp dexterity. The music soars with clusters of notes in places and creates space and quiet with minimal, precise picking in others — minimalist maximalism from a guitarist of remarkable prowess.

Prairiewolf’s “Zone Poems” blurs the line between studio recording and live album, its material cherry-picked from 2025 sets in Crestone and Denver, then layered, manipulated and rearranged. Each decision is discerning, the sound never overcrowded. Previously made recordings have been examined, forensically operated on and crafted into a precise, clean set of songs that captures a trio’s energy.

Kevin Coleman’s “K.C. Blues” is happy to sweep through styles and moods, bringing in experimental folk, Americana and blues over six tracks and forty minutes. Made in bedrooms and basements, it is looser and more open-ended than “Imaginary Conversations”, each musician seamlessly contributing to a coherent sound. An exciting, impressive album that rewards deep listening.

D.C Cross’s “Open Guitar (Volume Two)” documents thirteen acoustic guitar improvisations across 3.5 hours, using locations across Australia — and their ambient sounds — to add subtle texture. The constant rush of water on Rainforest Maleny, the bird calls that punctuate This Sound at Dusk (Hobbit Tree): these details allow Cross to ease up and let the natural world share the space. Complex, experienced playing; take some time and explore.