Albums

Illinois-based contemporary roots-bluegrass-Americana five-piece Old Salt Union return with their fourth album ‘Where The Dogs Don’t Bite’. Produced by Alison Brown, the album brings out the best in the band and plays to their strengths.

The first live review coverage of Cambridge Folk Festival is in – featuring Ben Caplan, The Rails, Ralph McTell, Graham Nash, Tunng, Chloe Foy, Lisa O’Neill, Lucinda Williams, Nick Mulvey, Richard Thompson, Crooked Weather, Daoiri Farrell’s All-Star Celtic Session and more.

The HawtThorns are an L.A. duo comprising singer-songwriter KP (downsized from Kirsten Proffit), formerly of Calico, and guitarist Johnny Hawthorn, both of whom have solo albums under their belt.

Onward! The Photos is a superb memento and celebration of the first fifty years of Ian A Anderson‘s career. A vitally important figure in the history of folk, roots, acoustic and World music, it is surely time for a full and appropriate recognition of his pivotal contribution.

Ian Noe tells compelling stories set to simple but infectiously memorable melodies. He cites John Prine as his biggest influence; this can stand shoulder to shoulder with his fellow Kentuckian’s self-titled debut.

Wheels of the World is a remarkable achievement: an album that not only sounds like a classic folk album of many years vintage, but it can also stand head-and-shoulders with the best of them too. And it seems like they’ve only just started…

It may have taken Michael Walsh a long time to make his first album, but Quare Hawk is a warm, unassuming collection of tunes, songs and spoken word, striking coherence across a multiplicity of influences and styles.

Dick Gaughan’s greatest talent has to be his ability to share his music with skill, passion and humour. That fact is abundantly clear on The Harvard Tapes, a unique and unmissable opportunity to relish a vintage Gaughan performance.

Quite how an artist regroups after an effort like this is anyone’s guess. I’ve not heard anything as beautifully intense or personal since Bon Iver’s ‘For Emma, Forever Ago’.

Awaken, the new album from Bristol-based band The Schmoozenbergs, is a fun and enjoyable record of all originals, played with love and abandon,  adding a new chapter to the long and winding saga of gypsy swing and acoustic roots music.

Evoking a 70s Laurel Canyon feel with inevitable early Joni Mitchell comparisons surfacing, Native Harrow’s latest album shimmers and glows with a warmth and emotional intimacy that’s impossible to resist.

Released in December 1968 as a private pressing of 200 copies, Kusudo & Worth’s mega-rare “Of Sun And Rain” gets re-issued and proves an inordinately fascinating album, a privileged glimpse into a creative maelstrom that still after several playthroughs promises to reveal even more delights.