Mike Davies

It takes real skill and inspiration to make the new versions sound like that’s how they were always meant to be. The True Adventures of Independent Country have both in abundance.

Musically situated somewhere between late 60s American folk and early 70s Laurel Canyon singer-songwriter territory with lyrics, that address the personal and the political.

AHI’s debut follow-up is suffused with a similar optimistic and positive vibe with home as the anchor of hope. The swelling musical arrangements in which his songs are couched, only serve to bolster the emotions they stir.

The London-based folk rock outfit returns with a pointedly eponymously titled third album that, as such, serves to underscore their musical self-confidence as well as standing as a statement of identity while staying true to their 60s West Coast and psychedelia influences.

The album title (and the song’s lyrics) serves as an image of the distant horizon and the need to move on. The last few years have been a  hard road for Winslow-King to walk, but, as this album amply proves, his feet haven’t failed him yet.

Chasing Ghosts is Philip Marino’s best yet, a 10-track collection of predominantly acoustic-based Americana that harks to such influences as John Mellencamp, Dylan, Cat Stevens and Neil Young. Seek him out. 

Featuring Christian Sedelmyer and Rachel Baiman, 10 String Symphony’s latest album finds them pushing the musical boundaries of their instrumentation with Kris Drever on production.

Securing a  wider platform following its American release last year, Will Stewart’s solo debut offers up a solid set of classic styled guitar-driven country rock. A county seat is an administrative centre from which legislation for the region is handed down. Checking out this album should be a matter of policy.

Jason McNiff’s been gathering increasing acclaim since he made his debut and it’s long overdue for that to be matched by greater  commercial success. With the label behind him, Joy and Independence might just be the one to crack the ceiling.

Described as a modern-day hippie-spiritual, the latest offering from Israel Nash is expansive and intimate, personal and universal, spawned of despair but fuelled by hope, it flies on a  higher plane. Book a seat.

As an instrument sounding a clarion call for self-awareness and awakening in a divisive world, Gilkyson is finely tuned and Secularia a career-defining musical apotheosis.

While the songs are described as brutal in emotional suggestion, it’s Faraone’s disarming confessional tones and the overall, cumulative lo-fi and often shimmering folk beauty that draws you in and keeps you in its arms.