Albums

Experiencing Declan O’Rourke’s ‘Chronicles of the Great Irish Famine’ live is frankly quite unlike any other show I have ever seen. It is both completely engrossing and literally unforgettable.

In Comet, Carly Dow reclaims tales of loneliness and heartbreak: she is willing to admit when she is afraid, but proud to proclaim when she feels fearless. No stone is left unturned in this resonant ode to female independence.

As a producer, Hubbard has been attached to some of the finest Americana albums of the past decade, most recently Mary Gauthier’s Rifles and Rosary Beads. He can now add his own to that list.

Robb Johnson’s extensive 3-CD album Ordinary Giants is a monumental release. Supported by the likes of Roy Bailey, Boff Whalley, Tom Robinson, Miranda Sykes, Matthew Crampton, Phil Odgers and more, it tells of how we got to where we are today, told through the life and times of Robb’s father, Ron.

Paradise and Thorns is a rewarding and precious double album from Ashley Hutchings – ‘the single most important figure in English folk-rock’. Handsomely packaged, it’s a companion piece to his 1987 Gloucester Docks, an album that told a very personal love story.

This album from fourth-generation fiddle player Gerry O’Connor is so much more than just another collection of tunes outstandingly well played. The sense of total immersion in the music-making and the joy that brings is communicated par excellence.

On A Problem Of Our Kind Katriona Gilmore and Jamie Roberts have produced an album capable of making you dance, cry and think. And what is more, they do it straight from the off. This album is a masterclass in songwriting.

We catch Kelly Oliver at Cranleigh Art Centre, midway through a sixteen date tour supporting her accomplished new Album “Botany Bay”. Her vocal clarity and strength were evident, and the stripped back production of the show only served to enhance this.

Recorded in a break from touring with Robert Plant and the Sensational Space Shifters earlier this year, Seth Lakeman’s ‘The Well Worn Path’ is yet another stunning piece of work and, as ever, rooted in his native Dartmoor.

Folk Fever brings together folk music luminaries who have taken a collection of disco and dance floor classics and given them a folk makeover. An inspired album that, once again, proves that, in the hands of the right musicians,  a good song can transcend all musical borders.

Life-long friendship; the rich historical, literary, and musical heritage of the Orkney Islands for inspiration; and a quartet of gifted, imaginative musicians. Fara have all the ingredients for a perfect album, and Times from Times Fall is the proof.

Having relocated from her native New York seven years ago to take up residence in Cambridge, this is Annie Dressner’s first full-length collection to be recorded in the UK…”Shatteringly good.”