Albums

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.

Beja Power! succeeds eminently in being a powerful act of defiance, an acclamation and testament of devotion for Beja culture and a thoroughly enjoyable musical experience.

Ian Siegal has created an album fitting for a man who builds his music “Stone By Stone,” Illustrating just how much effort he infuses in every note. This is a classic from a true craftsman.