Mike Davies

Named after a Sheffield landmark, Richard Hawley’s eighth studio album, Hollow Meadows, finds one of Britain’s greatest songwriters in good company, including Martin Simpson, Jarvis Cocker and Nancy Kerr for one of his finest albums yet.

There’s been a revival of interest in old school soul over the last couple of years, and with this latest offering from Nathaniel Rateliff and The Night Sweats it should see them surfing to the top of the wave.

Classically-trained Nevada native Sunny Ozell releases her debut album ‘Take It With Me’ – a smoky cocktail of jazz, blues and American roots that reveals a sweet but sassy vocal and a good ear for arrangements and classy tunes.

Tom Blackwell hails from the North of England, after a series of demo releases Tyrone The Gun is his debut proper and, according to Mike, it’s easily one of the best things he’s heard all year.

The Crooked Brothers latest offering, Thank You I’m Sorry, is all the richer for the diverse sound and styles they bring to the fore, both collectively and individually. You can’t pin these guys down.

On The Resonant Rogues latest album there is plenty to appeal taking in influences from gypsy jazz, klezmer and Balkan music alongside old-time American folk and blues. All this whilst maintaining a core band identity, it bodes well for a very promising future. 

After all the stirring, but crafted angst and anthemic defiance that has gone before, this latest release from Frank Turner is as raw and as naked as they come and a reminder of the heart behind the PR image.

Ana Egge’s latest album, Bright Shadow, is an understated, but terrific body of work that should do much to reinvigorate Egge’s career and exposure.

Pop Songs For Elk is the latest offering from Idaho trio Hillfolk Noir. An offbeat but highly rewarding addition to the roots revival that plants its feet in the past while keeping a playful eye on today.

The Florida based quartet ‘Have Gun, Will Travel’ release an album based on Sir Ernest Shackleton’s ill-fated 1914-16 Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition. Aside from being a potted history of the Antarctic exploration, it’s also a pretty damn fine collection of tunes and one that deserves to see the band finding much wider exposure.

Anna Laube’s self-titled third album offers a stylistically eclectic brew, part sugarcandy, part bourbon, sweet but with a real kick.

Iris Dement’s latest album ‘The Trackless Woods’ is inspired by the writings of Russian poet Anna Akhmatova…”some cultural enlightenment and enrichment and an album of the year all in one perfect package.”