Mike Davies

Fronted by alternative south Wales music scene veteran, Chris Ridgeway, the oddly monikered Welsh outfit Cakehole Presley release their second album. Completed last year, it was put on hold following the passing of co-leader Mark Humphries, it serves as a fine tribute to him.

Will Varley says he’s been wanting to make a record like Kingsdown Sundown for a long time. He couldn’t have picked a better moment. Don’t miss his tour of the UK & Ireland this month.

The fourth release from Canterbury-based singer-songwriter Luke Jackson reveals an artist that continues to grow in maturity as he fine tunes his craft. With Tall Tales and Rumours he delivers another winner.

Ashes is the debut album from Stockholm-based Albert Af Ekenstam citing Bon Iver, Mogwai and Explosions In The Sky as influences shaping his quiet, melancholic music.

With the current divisions tearing America apart, the Dive-By Truckers latest offering, American Band, isn’t just a bloody good album, it’s a bloody important one too.

Lead Me To The Water is Todd Carter’s second album and while not an immediate hook, the more you listen to it, the more it makes you want to drink deep.

The Lucky Strikes may come from Southend but their music is firmly rooted in the Southern Americana as they demonstrate on their fifth album The Motion and the Moving On.

Regardless of the origin and its literary references, the album slips very comfortably into Vega’s other work and, if it prompts listeners to dig out one of McCullers’ books, then all the more power to it too.

Flying at Night is Steve Forbert’s seventeenth studio album since making his debut in 1978. It was recorded in collaboration with his longtime collaborator, multi-instrumentalist Anthony Crawford. Don’t miss his UK tour this month.

Tree is a swift follow-up to Anna Elizabeth Laube’s eponymous 2015 folk-pop debut which finds her reflecting on letting go, putting down roots and connecting with mother nature.

Canadian twins Lucas and Madeleine Roger make their debut as Roger Roger on Fairweather, an album of harmony-drenched folk-roots which reached the No. 1 spot on Canada’s National Folk/Roots/Blues chart.

The Goat Roper Rodeo Band released Cosmic Country Blue this Friday, hailing from North Wales they sound like ‘young guys with old souls’ – rockabilly, folk and two four country blues that owe a debt of influence to the likes of Hank Williams.