Mike Davies

Jason Eady’s self-titled release is still very much Texas red dirt country, but more stripped back than his last two offerings, a rootsy approach that puts the spotlight on the writing and where influences such as Guy Clark, John Prine, Steve Earle and Merle Haggard shine through.

On Big Bad Luv, his 4AD debut, John Moreland sets his sights on reaching out to a wider international audience, but without sacrificing the qualities that have built his reputation. While the songs still address bruised and battered relationships, there’s a more positive, redemptive note.

Moondogs and Mad Dogs is the debut album from Donald Byron Wheatley, the cracked-voiced scion of a family of showmen and fairground people stretching back one hundred and fifty years.

On Swimming in Mercury, Boo Hewerdine offers lush arrangements, affectionate homages to different musical styles from the years gone by, and a mix of playfulness and quiet poignancy in the lyrics. An eloquent album.

Beinn Alba marks a slight change for Scottish folk singer Davy Holt as he shares his self-penned songs for the first time. While he may not come festooned with the reverence accorded to fellow contemporary Scottish folk acts his music is no less worthy of recognition.

Anna Coogan’s ‘The Lonely Cry of Space & Time’ isn’t an album you approach on a casual basis, you need to work with it to form a relationship, but once you do, it’s one that will last.

Watershed is Amelia Curran’s eighth album and one that digs deeply into her work as an activist for mental health issues in the arts. An album that calls to build a breakwater against the often self-inflicted attrition of the heart and human spirit.

Formed around husband and wife vocalists Enion Pelta-Tiller and David Tiller, Taarka’s music is a rootsy masala – the band’s name apparently comes from a term for the Indian spices roasted until they pop. The flavours are decidedly moreish.

Despite many of the songs being cloaked in darkness and despair, The Harmed Brothers self-titled release on Fluff and Gravy is a rewarding listen. As they say, “sometimes the rotten truth makes for a real good time.”

New Lore, is Sean Rowe’s fifth album, a fine showcase for his throaty, rumbling baritone and moodily affecting songs of loneliness and longing, augmented throughout by piano and strings. An album that infuses itself into your heart and soul.

Rodney Crowell’s ‘Close Ties’ is open and honest, apologetic and self-recriminatory, poignant and rich in the wisdom of hindsight and the years. Also featuring Roseanne Cash, Sheryl Crow and John Paul White, it’s not to be missed.

Donegal sisters Karen, Lorna and Joleen McLaughlin return as The Henry Girls for their sixth album ‘Far Beyond The Stars.’ Recorded and produced by Calum Malcolm in Donegal, it’s a truly stellar album.