Mike Davies

Recorded over two years, Dean Owens’ “Sinner’s Shrine” finally emerges out of the sand and desert nights with its heart beating and warmth radiating from its musical core,  go and make your pilgrimage.

Beguilingly sung, melodic, warm, tender, open and insightful in its vortex of emotions, Kate Ellis’ ‘Spirals’ is an early contender for the year’s best-of lists.

Warm, relaxed, bittersweet, sad and joyful in equal measure, recorded two years before 2020’s Notes From Vinegar Hill, Herman Dune’s ‘Santa Cruz Gold’ stands as an often thematic companion piece, and its first-time physical release is a very welcome addition to the library.

The songs on ‘Wish For You’ form a maternal love letter from the heart, something Allison Moorer describes as spirit music. While the EP may resonate strongly with those who’ve shared similar experiences, it will also be welcome among admirers of her bewitching brand of Americana.

Forget Me Nots aren’t radical reworks or reinterpretations in any way. Warmly sung and finely played by Jesse Terry, featuring largely laid back and uncluttered arrangements, they are affectionate love letters to his influences.

Weep The Time Away is a wonderfully atmospheric album with Sofie Livebrandt’s nuanced interpretations perfectly attuned to Emily Brontë’s poetry, its reflections and sentiments. It honours and illuminates its source, prompting more to discover Brontë’s work.

With a line-up of international musicians, The Year of the Rat, the latest offering from Gabriel Moreno, a bilingual Gibraltarian poet and singer songwriter, has indeed given us an album of the times.

Brave Land is an otherworldly and, at times, serene album that seeps deeper into your soul with each unfolding listen; it marks Raine Hamilton as a unique voice and songwriting talent; this is quite literally a landmark achievement.

The Light At The End Of The Line is unquestionably Janis Ian’s finest work in the 47 years since ‘Between The Lines’ and, if it is indeed her recorded swan song, she bows out on an unequivocal high.

Eliza Gilkyson’s ‘Songs from the River Wind’ is an ode to simpler times, a life shaped by the love of the land…a truly wonderful evocation of the foundations of her heart and hearth that transports you to the rivers and hills it so beautifully celebrates.

Since they made their album debut back in 2010, Police Dog Hogan have been building a reputation as one of the country’s finest live bands and folk-country acts. Overground is their finest hour yet.

Mike Davies shares his Top 10 Albums of 2021 – including Katherine Priddy, Martyn Joseph, Grace Petrie, Harbottle & Jonas, Amy Speace & The Orphan Brigade, Serious Sam Barrett, John Smith and more.