Mike Davies

On album closer ‘I Love You’ he says “you don’t need to pretend you’re anything more than you are” – a simple, open, intimate, honest and hugely listenable album, Sam Lewis sums up those sentiments up perfectly.

John Moreland’s ‘LP5’ is a terrific piece of work that is his most musically complex and lyrically personal album to date, it confirms his position as one of today’s great singer-songwriters.

Following an award-winning year as one half of The LYNNeS alongside fellow Canadian Lynn Miles, Lynne Hanson returns to her solo career path for her seventh album of variegated Americana. This album isn’t just words, it speaks from the heart and soul and it will touch yours.

Half Moon Light finds The Lone Bellow returning full of ambition with what is, without a doubt, their best and most musically sophisticated work to date.

McCambridge has cultivated a distinctive musical arboretum within which the emotional panorama and insightful perspective afforded by A Northern View has resulted in a powerful and compelling album, as well as one of the best musical responses to Brexit to date.

Over the past four albums, the California sextet Dustbowl Revival have served up a steady supply of Dixieland jazz, swing and Depression-era folk songs, but, for their fifth, they’ve charted a new direction, drawing on roots-rock, soul and even funk.

The Unraveling is Drive-By Truckers first album in just over three years. It has a lot of political ground to catch up on, embracing as it does all of Trump’s presidency to date and the unravelling of the nation in its wake.

After a six-year hiatus, Kirsty Almeida returns with Moonbird, a gorgeous album with first-class song writing, immersed in a warm suffusion of light and positivity. Breathe deep.

Modern Hinterland return with The Longest Part of the Night, delving into the heart of divided modern Britain, fraught with anxiety and uncertainty and look at how this impacts on people’s relationships.

Blackbird and Crow’s “Ailm” is a towering work of transcendental emotional power that trembles with both strength and vulnerability, it’s unlikely you’ll hear anything like it this year. 

Described as lost dispatches from a forgotten America, The Family Songbook brilliantly captures the sibling kinship, vocally and emotionally, conjuring long-gone days when families would gather around the kitchen table to sing their favourite songs. Wonderful.

Whether it proves to be a one-off project or they hopefully remain in the collective saddle to ride together again, for now, this understated affair works a quiet magic.