Albums

JD McPherson’s follow up to his Rounder debut is equally rooted in early rock n roll, plenty of driving basslines, punchy limb-shaking rhythms, twangy reverb and the occasional splash of fat sax. It’s a gem.

It’s taken two years of patient work but Streets Of Laredo finally have the debut album that they always intended in the twisty, psychedelic, country-folk rumble of Volume I & II.

Way Back Home is a very personal introduction to Sorren Maclean’s solo work and with fully-formed songs like these, it shows great promise for the forthcoming LP.

The Glue Ensemble who hail from London / Paris offer an album which is simultaneously bleak yet optimistic, intricate but accessible and altogether a hugely enjoyable listen.

Jeffrey Foucault leaves the audience at the Green Note wishing they didn’t have a place to catch. Another great performance with top support from British duo and FRUK favourites Sugar Magnolia.

With top support from Nashville’s fastest rising star Andrew Combs, Justin Townes Earle takes to the Union Chapel Stage energised, relaxed and firing on all cylinders.

Alex Highton expands upon his previous recordings by confidently intermixing his eclectic range of influences with welcome appearances from Laura J Martin and Nancy Wallace.

Hailing from Bristol, The Honeyfire have produced a deceptively low-key yet passionate album whose hidden depths repay careful listening.

Canadian singer-songwriter Dennis Ellsworth played a top gig at The Square Tower, Portsmouth and not his first there either. Support came from the talented Marion Fleetwood.

Southern Tenant Folk Union release their most ambitious album so far. The Chuck Norris Project exposes the astonishing array of ills and injustices of a country claiming to be the world’s greatest democracy.

Stepping into the spotlight, Martin Callingham called on his friends from the Bristol scene to help create the beautifully realised statement album Tonight, We All Swim Free.

Alasdair has produced an album that conjures, through its own uniquely relaxed, quiet and inclusive intimacy, an earthly and worldly – and yet almost unearthly and otherworldly – magic, of a very special kind.