Mark Roberts

Less Argue is a catchy, promising debut and Young Benjamins have just enough about them to stand out from an increasingly crowded field. One band we expect to be hearing and seeing a lot more of.

Along with John Leventhal at the SummerTyne Americana Festival, Rosanne Cash demonstrated just how important the aural traditions inherent in folk and roots music still are to modern song writing. She can certainly count herself part of that ongoing continuum of music with its roots planted firmly in the soil of the American South.

On Samantha Crain’s latest album Under Branch & Thorn & Tree she dwells on the struggles of ordinary people, revealing a poetic beauty in the seemingly prosaic trials of everyday life.

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.