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Despite musical beginnings a decade ago in Athens, Georgia under the moniker Fillup Shack, Matthew Houck’s better known Phosphorescent guise only recently crept out of the woodwork with acclaimed 2007 LP Pride, the lo-fi, haunted tones of which earmarked him as an artist of a similar highly praised songwriting stature to Will Oldham and Iron & Wine’s Samuel Beam.

Allysen Callery has been playing on Folk Radio UK for quite a while now. We were bowled over by her album Hobgoblin’s Hat. Her music and lyrics are other-worldy and spellbinding. We were over-joyed therefore when she agreed to record this session which she stretched to five tracks instead of the usual four (a great bonus). It was recorded late at night by Myles Baer and she tells us they …

Blabbermouth, aka Steve Thompson, burst on to the UK music scene in 2008. After leaving university with a degree in Fine Art, ever the gambler, Steve struggled to be an ‘artist’ in the city and so he buried his paintbrushes when he won £250 at the casino and invested in a 12-string guitar. Despite having to trade his guitar on numerous occasions for rent, his talent, wit and love of …

Swedish sisters First Aid Kit’s “Happy 10th Birthday Wichita” show at The Garage proved the pair, still under 20 years old, to be growing masters of the narrative driven story songs they grew up listening to. We caught up with Klara and Johanna Söderberg before their show for a brief chat about Swedish folk music, their influences and plans to expand their line up:

It’s a very rare occurrence to stumble upon an artist whom you find to be both refreshing yet somehow like an old friend, in the stories they share and the emotions they stir up. Watching Rhode Island’s Brendan Glasson play under the moniker Vio/Miré on Wednesday night; supporting David Thomas Broughton; was just one of those occasions.

Emily and the Woods is the very first Frukie Session to be recorded exclusively for Folk Radio UK and we hope there will be many more to follow. It was at the Communion launch night in Bristol that I first heard Emily and the Woods. There was a problem with her guitar so microphones were strategically placed around her in the hope of some amplification. The result was that the …

This mix began with an experimental piece by Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh. I never quite know where a mix will go and it pretty much depends on my mood and what is influencing me at the time. All of it was done late at night, in those quiet small hours.

We recently interviewed Lail Arad and took the opportunity of asking her to do a mix. The result was the Mango Mix, it beats the mix she did for Q Magazine hands down!

Lail Arad is a young up and coming folk singer/songwriter and engaging performer who has played with the likes of Devendra Banhart and has a growing reputation on the London folk scene. She releases here debut album ‘Someone New’ later this year. So, being intrigued by new and wonderful talent I managed to catch up for a chat and a cuppa.

You know that with a name like The Existence of Harvey Lord you would need to be bloody good to carry off such a title, well, this ten peice psych-folk group who are all based around Lancaster do not disappoint.

I imagine that most listeners that tune into our Roots stream will be familiar with the name Cara Dillon. I caught up with her recently for a relaxed chat about where she is now with her music and to reflect back on her last album “Hill of Thieves” which was released last year. Hill of Thieves has been making big impressions across the globe and pulling in new fans to …

Listen to our latest mix. Inspired by memories of a journey I took when I was 17 years old which I was reminded of recently. The mix includes new artists to the Frukie stream: Arran Arctic, Valgeir Sigurðsson, Allysen Callery, Cherbourg, The Cinematic Orchestra and more.