Albums

What impresses and resonates most with Alex Seel’s new album is how these nine songs all hang together to create a satisfying whole. It is confident work and a lesson in meticulous craftsmanship resulting in a concise and lean set of songs that are bursting with creative ideas and performed with the utmost care and ability. His best yet.

Led by C Joynes and featuring members of the Dead Rat Orchestra, plus Cam Deas and Nick Jonah Davis, The Borametz Tree is layered and intelligent, finding art and inspiration from many places. This particular result is something that really should be heard.

It may have taken the best part of forty years for this album to see the light of day, but it still feels like something of a landmark release, and credit must go to Fledg’ling for finally making it available. It is a welcome addition to a consistently excellent body of work by one of the twentieth century’s very finest folk singers.

After two self-released albums, Nashville-based Americana singer-songwriter Caroline Spence has deservedly been signed to a major independent label. This release finds her in mint condition indeed and assured a place in the albums of the year list.

‘Midnight Man’ may not have become one of Davy Graham’s celebrated long players, but its music stands the test of time and that’s all that matters. Until now it has been one of his most elusive releases too, so go and check it out on this lush new re-release.

The Time to Come confirms Eli as a talent far beyond his years and a guitar player to watch; if this set is any indication, there will be many more great things to come from Mr Winter.

Featuring some of the best British & Irish Folk artists, Vision & Revision serves as a reminder of the enriching ways folk song lends itself to reinvention, and the idealists, innovators and romantics that have passed through their ranks….yet another testament to Topic’s enduring legacy.

Six years on from his death at the age of 74, this first posthumous release of new material is J J Cale proving that, as the title suggests, his music will indeed stick around. Watch the new animated video for Go Downtown.

With The Little Unsaid, John Elliott has carved out a niche as a poet of mental disintegration, a chronicler of very real and very difficult human emotions. But his songs are not without hope. Atomise is perhaps his darkest and most hopeful album to date. It is certainly his most expansive and fully realised.

Breathing fresh life into the acoustic tradition while staying true to its heritage, Michell is one of the brightest new names to have emerged full-grown on the country’s folk scene in recent years.

Songs of Our Native Daughters is a cultural landmark both for these extraordinary musicians and hopefully for others inspired by them, as well as those of us fortunate enough to hear their work.

Danny Neill revisits Davy Graham’s 1969 ‘Hat’ album which has been reissued and remastered, along with liner notes by David Fricke, via the Bread and Wine label, available on CD and Vinyl.