Featuring a number of special guests including Sierra Hull and Kate Rusby, Damien O’Kane and Ron Block reunite once more on Banjophonics, a rich and rewarding album filled with energy, emotion and a huge heart.
We talk to folk duo Lisa Maria and Amy Lou Keeler, AKA Mama’s Broke, ahead of the release of their second album ‘Narrow Line’. Plus, watch their new video for October’s Lament.
Whilst sounding vintage in style, Narrow Line could belong in no other era than the present day. Mama’s Broke may seem traditional, but their tales of modern life have too much bite to be nostalgic, they are new and unique voices in modern, rootsy Americana that must be heard.
With the new Oysterband album ‘Read The Sky’ finding the band on top form, it was a thrill to speak at length with frontman and founder John Jones about the new album and much more besides in our Artist of the Month interview.
No one could have predicted the Oysterband returning with a song collection quite like ‘Read The Sky’. This is what you get when a band continue to make music for the best reasons. It’s a top-quality album worthy of the name.
We interview Peter Knight and John Spiers about their new album, Both in a Tune, the excitement of free improvisation, comparing playing to 90 minutes playing as a midfielder and the beauty of being lost in a tune.
Peter Knight & John Spiers’ ‘Both in a Tune’ is effortlessly impressive and sublimely performed…innovation, experimentation and improvisation at its very best. By the end this year it will surely still be in the minds of many as one of the best of 2022.
We chat to Eliza Marshall, Catrin Finch, Dónal Rogers and Jackie Shave, members of Freedom to Roam, about their album The Rhythms of Migration which will be launched next month at Cecil Sharp House followed by a UK Spring tour.
The Rhythms of Migration is a migratory musical masterpiece and an outstanding album from our Artists of the Month: Freedom to Roam, featuring Eliza Marshall, Catrin Finch, Jackie Shave, Kuljit Bhamra, Donal Rogers, Robert Irvine, Lydia Lowndes-Northcott & Joby Burgess.
Still As Your Sleeping is the stunning new album from singer Karine Polwart and pianist Dave Milligan. Shortly before the record’s release, we sat down with the duo to chat about their new release, babysitting each other’s children and the hunt for patrons with pianos.
Karine Polwart and Dave Milligan have crafted an elegantly uncomplicated listen. Dreamy yet thought-provoking at just the right moments, Still As Your Sleeping is an earnest and embracing soundtrack. Thoroughly warm-hearted and beautifully life-affirming. A genuinely gorgeous and magical duet.
We chat to John Spiers and Jon Boden (our Artists of the Month) about their new album Fallow Ground that finds them reunited and revelling in the sheer fun of music-making rooted in the English folk tradition.
At the heart of Spiers & Boden’s “Fallow Ground” is the utter joy of two friends making music together. It’s a joyful, exciting, and beautifully produced release and it’s so great to have them back.
David Weir catches up with John Francis Flynn, also our Artist of the Month, to chat about the inspiration behind and making of his debut album ‘I Would Not Live Always’. “…one of the most deeply affecting folk debuts of recent years.”
Taken from his debut album ‘I Would Not Live Always’, watch John Francis Flynn performing ‘Lovely Joan’ live at Connolly’s of Leap. The video, by Director extraordinaire Peadar Ó Goill, cleverly pairs with the story of a local man’s friendship with a cat. Exceptional on all fronts.
Taking turns both tender and turbulent, John Francis Flynn’s “I Would Not Live Always” is bracing, unpredictable and without a doubt one of the most deeply affecting folk debuts of recent years.
We chat to LA-based singer songwriter Marina Allen (also our Artist of the Month) about her debut album ‘Candlepower’, the challenges of songwriting, her eclectic influences, and the LA music scene.
Candlepower is an effortlessly crafted, and luxurious, listen. Charming and challenging in equal measures it is a thoroughly beguiling debut from Marina Allen who is also our Artist of the Month.
