Johnny Whalley

Read the final diary entry from John Whalley’s Costa Del Folk experience in Ibiza featuring Belshazzar’s Feast, Richard Shindell, The Mighty Doonans, Track Dogs and more.

Read part two of Johnny Whalley’s Costa Del Folk diary featuring: Greg Russell and Ciaran Algar, Heg and the Wolf Chorus, Tim Edey, Mike Harding, The Outside Track, the Tweed Project, Calan, Odette Michell, Josie Duncan and Pablo Lafuente and more.

Stone Soup is currently one of our Featured Albums of the Month, Johnny caught up with Cormac Byrne and Adam Summerhayes in Ibiza at Costa Del Folk to explore their thinking, first when making this album of totally improvised music and then performing parts of it live.

Folk Radio UK’s Johnny Whalley headed to Ibiza for Costa Del Folk recently and kept a festival diary whilst there. Read part one featuring Efrén López Trio, Show of Hands, Seth Lakeman, The Outside Track and more.

Scran are a young Manx trad group from the Isle of Man whose talents have been nurtured by the island’s cultural organisation, Culture Vannin. Their debut album Nane is an album that bristles with a youthful vigour that leaves you marvelling at the talents on display.

Johnny looks forward to this year’s Costa Del Folk, Ibiza sunshine and Show of Hands, Richard Shindell, Seth Lakeman, Tim Edey, Hannah James, Calan, The Tweed Project, Belshazzar’s Feast and more.

With Playing for Luck, Ranagri have reached a sweet patch, four musicians showing a cohesion and confidence that seems to have imbued them with a sense of adventure.

For your Christmas parties, by all means, let Noddy Holder and Roy Wood continue to battle it out, but, after the guests have left, this is the only Christmas album you’ll need.

This solo debut album from Helen Diamond will no doubt find its way into the traditional music collections of archives all over the world but it also needs to be listened to for the sheer enjoyment of a remarkable voice.

Ímar have produced an album that preserves all that made their debut such a welcome breath of fresh air whilst giving Avalanche a character all its own. Following the release of an album of this quality, you wouldn’t bet against yet more awards coming their way.

Johnny pays tribute to the late Maart Allcock who made his final live performance at Cropredy this year and shares his highlights from the festival including Afro Celt Sound System, Midnight Skyracer, Oysterband and Le Vent du Nord.

Johnny continues his highlights of this year’s Wickham Festival including Vishtèn, Ímar, Talisk, The East Pointers, Gordie MacKeeman, The Dhol Foundation, Hò-Rò, Flook, Bella Gaffney and Polly Bolton, Drever, McCusker and Woomble and more.