Mike Davies

Jess Jocoy cuts to the heart of universally recognisable emotions, doubts, fears and hopes as she calls on the listener to stare despair in the face and refuse to be its victim.

Lady Mondegreen is not so radical as to alienate the purists but sufficiently filtered through a contemporary folk lens to attract audiences wanting fresh readings. Fellow Pynins have made a fine contribution to the canon that respects the heritage while ploughing new furrows.

Heidi Talbot’s ‘Sing It For A Lifetime’ may have been born of hurt, pain and confusion, but there’s a strength within its musical veins. This may be the best work of Talbot’s career to date.

Musically relaxed, melodically infectious, lyrically witty and insightful in equal measure: in other words, precisely what you’d expect of and want from a Steve Forbert album.

Valorie Miller’s ‘Only The Killer Would Know’ is part ecopolitics-activism (a sort of musical equivalent to the film Dark Waters), part-excursion into troubled relationships, it’s an at times swampy slow burner that progressively gets deeper inside you the more you play it.

Based out of L.A., Stand True is the second full-length album from The Americans, showcasing their roots-rock Americana in solid style and making a good argument for them to be considered up there with the best of the new standard-bearers.

The Wardens’ ‘Sold Out’ is a simple, unfussy album, but hugely appealing to a way of life and a musical genre that is too often forgotten in today’s hyperactive world and the onslaught of processed Nashville country. This is as organic as it gets.

St. Arnaud’s ‘Love and the Front Lawn’ is a light, wry, witty, musically breezy and irresistibly toe-tappingly catchy album that fully deserves entry into the pantheon of pragmatic optimism.

Old Crow Medicine Show return with ‘Paint This Town’ on which they balance what they describe as an obligation to talk about the more difficult things happening in the world and ensuring everyone’s having a great time while they do it – they admirably succeed.

Garrett Heath’s previous album, Kingdom Come, effortlessly earned a place among my top 10 albums of  2021, and the follow-up, The Losing End, presents a convincing case for making that a double.

Ultimately you have to be true to who you are and be your own person, and Sadie Gustafson-Zook’s “Sin of Certainty” dances on dreamy melodies and her pure soaring voice, her truth is beautiful and beguiling. Lean in and listen.

Steeped in sorrow, loss, heartache and misery it may be, but Lynne Hanson’s knowing way with a tongue-in-cheek lyric and a melody line that hooks you in, Icecream in November is also an absolute joy to wallow in, she’s hip like Cohen indeed.