Featured Albums of the Month

With ‘Battlefield Dance Floor’, Show of Hands have put together one of the most cohesive, diverse and persuasive sets of their entire career and one of the most consistently adventurous collections in their catalogue.

On ‘Being Myself’, Tim Edey captures the spontaneity, energy, virtuosity and emotion that we’ve come to associate with his live performances. Brilliant!

‘I’ve finally made the album I wanted to make’, says Vera Van Heeringen on ‘Won’t Be Broken’. We fully concur with her sense of achievement. It makes for a strong set so don’t be surprised if your first instinct is to go straight back to the start and play this mature, rich song cycle over and over again.

Gwilym Bowen Rhys’ “Arenig” is a work of art that is as reassuring in its quality for modern folk music as it is confident and entertaining. A highly accomplished and original album that cannot fail to dazzle in just about every way.

Rooted is an album of rich material put to wonderful music that all combines to result in a release that is an essential career highlight from the most inimitable of musicians. Watch Martin’s new video for “Trouble Brought Me Here”.

The Lines We Draw Together is a piece of work that sounds both fresh and full of experience, an album for our times, but steeped in history, its poetry is not short on intellectual rigour, but its message is one of earthy wisdom and simplicity – an important album, an album that is full of life.

With the release of 365: Volume Two, Aidan O’Rourke continues to present highlights from both his music and James Robertson’s stories; and again collaborates with piano and harmonium player Kit Downes. His musical responses provide a fascinating, detailed and perfectly executed musical miscellany.

Rob Harbron, one of our most prized English concertina players has finally found time to craft his solo debut album. Made in the simplest way, Meanders is exactly what you would wish for, which is beautiful pieces of music performed with the utmost skill by a master of his instrument.

“The Lost Words” finally reaches us in the form of Spell Songs. Composed by eight of folk’s finest contemporary talents: Karine Polwart, Seckou Keita, Julie Fowlis, Kris Drever, Jim Molyneux, Kerry Andrew, Rachel Newton and Beth Porter, the songs bring us hope for the future.

An Evening With Nancy Kerr And James Fagan captures one of folk music’s most enduring and talented acts in their natural habitat and provides the perfect snapshot of the duo at the top of their game.

On 4am And Counting, Curse Of Lono deliver a series of assured and masterful live studio performances, for an outstanding album that can sit proudly alongside its two predecessors.

Ida Mae have finally earned the right to make the music they were meant to. This is the kind of debut collection that goes all out to prove itself; it has done just that and then some. Ida Mae are definitely here to stay.