Mike Davies

Featuring Angeline Morrison, Nathan Ball and Pat McManus, Malcolm MacWatt’s ‘Dark Harvest’ is out now – “the sentiments that bolster this outstanding album will burn bright in the heart.”

Matt Mitchell Music Co.’s latest album, Obvious Euphoria, is a pleasurable listen – a cocktail of rootsy Americana, crunchy blues and old school country.

Formed in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Clay Parker and Jodi James’ second album ‘Your Very Own Dream’ clearly reveals them as an Americana force to be reckoned with.

A Time To Grow is the long-awaited new release from The Henry Girls, featuring special guest Ríoghnach Connolly; an emotionally profound album that offers calm and hope.

While Brown Horse may be from Norfolk, ‘Reservoir’, strongly suggests that their musical souls are rooted in the soil tilled at Big Pink and lit by a harvest moon. Their music is capable of both molten ferocity and tender sepia-grained caresses. A hugely confident debut.

Norman Paterson’s ‘Stornoway’ is, like his debut, drawn from deeply personal roots and universally recognisable memories, enfolded in unfussy but infectious hummable melodies. It’s a hugely listenable and relatable album.

Melodically engaging and lyrically thoughtful, musically, ‘Halfsies’ sets Lizzie No alongside Rhiannon Giddens and Allison Russell with Toni Morrison as a bedrock, it’s already secured a place in the 2024 Best of list.

On ‘This Is What I Want To Say’, Martyn Joseph delivers with heartfelt eloquence songs of love and longing, of place and time, of finding certainty amid contradictions.

Mike Davies shares his Top 10 Albums of 2023 including, The Lilac Time, Dan Whitehouse, Bella Gaffney, A Winter Union, Ian David Green, Reg Meuross, Viv and Riley, Rod Picott and more.

Hank Wangford and Noel Dashwood’s ‘Promises Promises’ is an absolute delight and if there was a UK version of the Country Hall Of Fame, this is a perfect reason why both of them should be inducted.

Our Man in the Field’s ‘Gold on the Horizon’ is a ruminative album, steeped in empathetic humanity but also veined with doubts in its contemplation of life. It’s an album to immerse yourself in.

Eclectic and electric in equal measure, Dori Freeman’s ‘Do You Recall’ finds her reaffirming her Appalachian roots and looking beyond them, touching on old traditions and creating her own as her star continues to rise.