Albums

Supported by a talented guest lineup, with Tell ‘Em You Were Gold, Pharis & Jason Romero reinforce their position within the upper echelons of the global folk music community. Bathed in a warm glow, this album is a delight from start to finish.

Andrew Bird once again confirms that he is one of the most original artists in the music business. He finds a way to deal with complex topics while also attempting to simplify them…Inside Problems have never sounded quite so appealing.

Angeline Morrison’s ‘The Brown Girl’ is one of those rare records that feels perfectly weighted, entirely free of anything extraneous…the whole thing feels lighter than air. That is a remarkable achievement, given the gravity of the subject matter in many of these songs.

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.

Featuring a number of special guests including Sierra Hull and Kate Rusby, Damien O’Kane and Ron Block reunite once more on Banjophonics, a rich and rewarding album filled with energy, emotion and a huge heart.

The Often Herd, an Anglo-American UK-based four-piece, deliver an assured debut with ‘Where The Big Lamp Shines’, a melting pot of psychedelia, folk-rock, bluegrass and jazz.

These songs are funny, sad, hopeful and mordant, and they are always melodically satisfying and musically accomplished. More than twenty albums into their career The Wave Pictures are producing their best and most stylistically varied work.

On his latest release, Steve Earle doffs the cap to the cowboy troubadour Jerry Jeff Walker who passed away in 2020 and shines a light on his great songs.

Understudy, Boo Hewerdine’s tenth solo album, finds him in a reflective mood. Despite the title, he consistently proves, as he does here, that he’s second to no one.

Oklahoma indie-folk twin sisters Jo and Sophia Babb mark their Companion debut with ‘Second Day Of Spring’, a sincere, weighted and original offering.

Celebrating three decades of incredible music that has touched the hearts of so many, ’30: Happy Returns’ can’t be faulted. Take a bow, Kate Rusby, and keep shining your light.

The Slocan Ramblers’ ‘Up the Hill and Through the Fog’ is a finely crafted release featuring tremendous instrumentals and painstakingly constructed songs that address difficult subjects whilst maintaining a keen sense of optimism and making high energy tracks sound effortless. It’s their best yet.