Mike Davies

Otis Gibbs has released some stunning albums over the past 18 years, but this may well be his finest hour, this Hoosier deserves to be a national treasure.

If you didn’t have the good fortune to indulge yourself in their debut album, Lunatraktor’s Bonefire EP affords an opportunity to sample their unique take on traditional folk – invigorating stuff.

Michael J. Sheehy returns with his first solo album in ten years – Distance may indeed bring beauty into perspective, but I highly recommend you get up and close and intimate with this.

While The Marriage are a musical rather than a connubial relationship featuring Kirsten Adamson and Dave Burn, this debut sounds like the dawning of a very bright future.

Looking Up is Mike McClure’s tenth solo album and one that arrives after five years during which there have been dramatic changes in his life.

Our Man in the Field’s debut album offers a rather fine set of shuffling, pedal steel coloured Americana pop, occasionally sung in a dreamy falsetto that echoes the mood of the music. Definitely one you should seek out.

While this might not prove the work for which Judy Dyble is most remembered, it’s a bittersweet understatement to mark what was and is her finest hour.

Anyone unfamiliar with Rich Krueger is sure to be won over by his voice and way with words, as our reviewer was on “The Troth Sessions” featuring a stash of his unreleased demos.

Bristling with confidence and power, it’s hard to believe this is the Massachusetts-born singer-songwriter Diana DeMuth’s debut album. It has to be up there in my best of the year.

Brennen Leigh returns with her Robbie Fulks-produced solo album tribute to her birthplace. If you like old-time country, then really, this is as good as it gets.

As with the previous volume, it’s hard to believe Gillian Welch has kept a lid on the bulk of these songs for well over a decade, I can’t wait to hear what further nuggets will be revealed in Vol 3.

Reflective and tinged with sadness, but also inspirational and optimistic, this makes a persuasive claim to be up there among the year’s best.