Billy Rough

With ‘Cross The Rolling Water’, Hannah Read & Michael Starkey have delivered a gem of a recording, an infectious, dynamic, richly layered album that’s a timeless, irresistible and thoroughly entertaining treat.

On A Shadow Falls Over New Brighton, M G Boulter takes the intrinsically familiar and makes it fresh, vital and poetic. The haunting potency of nostalgia lingers long here. It’s an evocative and entirely hypnotic blend.

On ‘Solo’, Sam Sweeney could be playing just for you. Add in the beautiful acoustic echoes of St Martin’s Church and you are left with a truly immersive and compelling listening encounter. Solo is a thrilling, timeless and thoroughly evocative listen.

We interview Peter Knight and John Spiers about their new album, Both in a Tune, the excitement of free improvisation, comparing playing to 90 minutes playing as a midfielder and the beauty of being lost in a tune.

Peter Knight & John Spiers’ ‘Both in a Tune’ is effortlessly impressive and sublimely performed…innovation, experimentation and improvisation at its very best. By the end this year it will surely still be in the minds of many as one of the best of 2022.

Billy Rough shares his Top 10 albums of 2021 including Marina Allen, Bellowhead, MG Boulter, Lady Nade, Katherine Priddy, Jon Wilks, Peggy Seeger and more.

Spell Songs II is a timely and beguiling listen. It is a collection to share and reflect upon. So, gather round, cherish the songs, Macfarlane’s words and Morris’s imagery and steep yourself deep in the natural world that surrounds us and prepare to be spellbound.

Still As Your Sleeping is the stunning new album from singer Karine Polwart and pianist Dave Milligan. Shortly before the record’s release, we sat down with the duo to chat about their new release, babysitting each other’s children and the hunt for patrons with pianos.

Karine Polwart and Dave Milligan have crafted an elegantly uncomplicated listen. Dreamy yet thought-provoking at just the right moments, Still As Your Sleeping is an earnest and embracing soundtrack. Thoroughly warm-hearted and beautifully life-affirming. A genuinely gorgeous and magical duet.

Compiled by Lankum’s Ian Lynch, Fire Draw Near is an essential and worthy anthology for anyone with an interest in traditional music and song, it’s also a thoroughly enjoyable, irresistible and inspiring set of songs and tunes.

We chat to John Spiers and Jon Boden (our Artists of the Month) about their new album Fallow Ground that finds them reunited and revelling in the sheer fun of music-making rooted in the English folk tradition.

The idea behind Brooks Williams’ ‘Ghost Owl’ may have been relatively simple but the magic lies in its execution. Joined by Aaron Catlow, Ghost Owl is a thing of beauty and the barn owl has the perfect soundtrack to its twilight habits.