Mike Davies

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.

‘Thea Gilmore’ is an album shaped by personal upheaval, self-reinvention, uncompromising determination and triumphant, empowered rebirth. Like a beacon, it leads the way out of the darkness.

Carried in Sound is an emotionally evocative album textured musically, vocally and lyrically with shadows and light, like a comforting flickering candle in the depth of darkness and storms; it’s easily the best thing that the Smoke Fairies have ever done.

On Sweet Revolution, the superb new album from Hannah White, the honesty of her words, music, and voice makes all the hurt within somehow beatific and transformational.

Even among the darkest moments of Kristen Grainger & True North’s ‘Fear of Falling Stars’, there’s a light somewhere on the horizon, bringing you back to listen again and again.

Dipped in an attractive psychedelic West Coast vibe, Half Stack’s latest offering, Sitting Pretty, shifts from previous whiskey-soaked rock to an overall more relaxed mellower feel.