Mike Davies

Laced with sadness and joy, melancholy and anger,  Glasgow is a magnificent piece of work that both celebrates the city and underscores Findlay Napier as one of the finest songwriters and storytellers of the contemporary Scottish folk scene.

Irish husband-wife roots duo Aileen Mythen and KJ McEvoy, better known as The Remedy Club, pays homage to Tom Waits, Hank Williams and Django Reinhardt on Lovers, Legends & Lost Causes which also features KJ’s sister – Eleanor McEvoy.

The Foxglove Trio’s latest offering, Distant Havens, is both highly accomplished and musically complex for such limited instrumentation. This could deservedly well find itself among next year’s BBC Radio 2’s Folk Award nominations.

Mountain Fires is a swift follow-up to The Mining Co.’s  2016  debut, recorded in the same Spanish studio. It finds the woozily deep dusty-voiced Michael Gallagher in a nostalgic and reflective mood for his Americana-stained songs.

Hailing from Chicago, Big Sadie make their debut with Keep Me Waiting. They’re new entrants in a fairly crowded field of old-school American folk revivalism, but on this evidence, they’ll soon be rising to the upper echelons of its ranks.

While Hiss Golden Messenger shares the sentiments of many on the current state of affairs – he chooses to look to a brighter tomorrow, banging the drum for hope as he sings “I feel like my luck is turning…..We’ll be alright tonight.”  Hallelujah to that.

Variously likened to Mojave 3, Neil Young and Mazzy Star, Dripping Springs might be best described as Dream Americana, this is certain to expand Joana Serrat’s following and bolster her scrapbook of glowing reviews even further.

Heart of the Cave is an album inspired by an invite to explore Osimo, a town in Italy under whose streets lie 2,500-year-old caves with tunnels that once hosted religious secret societies. It’s an album that touches on the core of existence and spirituality and the shadows that hover around the fringes.

Jolie Holland & Samantha Parton, founding members of The Be Good Tanyas, re-join forces for Wildflower Blues. A very welcome reunion and hopefully just the beginning of an ongoing partnership. They are on tour in the UK & Ireland during October 2017.

Small Believer is the latest offering from Portland singer-songwriter Anna Tivel. She offers insightful and often moving images of ordinary lives drawn from stories heard while out on the road. Open, honest and deeply affecting, it’s her best work yet. 

Songs from the Attic is very much a personal journey by Hampshire-based musician and journalist Jon Wilks. His love for folk music manifests itself throughout this lovely album.

It’s impossible to listen to Marry Waterson without the inevitable comparison to her mother, Lal. However, this album is firm evidence that while the apple may not have fallen far from the tree, it has grown into very much its own orchard, one made all the richer by her partnership with David A. Jaycock. This is one to treasure.