Albums

Less Argue is a catchy, promising debut and Young Benjamins have just enough about them to stand out from an increasingly crowded field. One band we expect to be hearing and seeing a lot more of.

Two years in the making, this impeccable new Heirloom offering sees the band further fine tune a sound that pretty much arrived fully formed with the debut EP. Subtle sonic evolution since its release has brought Heirloom to a special place, from where their star should surely rise from hereon in.

Blood Moon Boulder is the latest album from Chuck Johnson. If you love to listen to, or play acoustic guitar then buy this album it will reward you for a lifetime.

One of the most celebrated of maverick cult roots outfits, Groanbox release their sixth album in celebration of ten years of making music together, a strange but intoxicating brew.

There is something older even than music at the heart of Cannell’s compositions. It is something inexplicable but profoundly beautiful, and it has resulted in another triumphant album.

The Olde World is an accompaniment to the reissue of Michael Head and The Strands’ classic The Magical World of The Strands. Enough here to please the dedicated fan but newcomers should maybe start with the re-issue.

Steve Tilston’s profile has been on the up and up with a great couple of recent albums, a Folk Award and now a film inspired by an unusual event in his life, but the real story is that his latest album, Truth To Tell, is yet another wonderful record from one of English folk music’s most accomplished songwriters.

The Florida based quartet ‘Have Gun, Will Travel’ release an album based on Sir Ernest Shackleton’s ill-fated 1914-16 Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition. Aside from being a potted history of the Antarctic exploration, it’s also a pretty damn fine collection of tunes and one that deserves to see the band finding much wider exposure.

Known the world over as the lead voice of Oysterband, John Jones has combined his love of music and walking and, with the help of The Reluctant Ramblers, crafted his second solo album, the brilliant Never Stop Moving.

The Left Outsides have crafted an impressive synthesis of sound in The Shape Of Things To Come. Although the band wear their love of 1960s psychedelia/folk/pop/rock on their sleeve, they have a strong enough sense of self-identity to suggest that it will sound fresh for a long time to come.

Anna Laube’s self-titled third album offers a stylistically eclectic brew, part sugarcandy, part bourbon, sweet but with a real kick.

Iris Dement’s latest album ‘The Trackless Woods’ is inspired by the writings of Russian poet Anna Akhmatova…”some cultural enlightenment and enrichment and an album of the year all in one perfect package.”