Featured

Hailing from south Yorkshire, growing up in Sheffield and Barnsley, Richard Kitson has quietly emerged as one of the best guitar pickers of his generation, one who marries blues and folk styles into a fresh new sound. His latest album also proves that he has the songs and a storyteller’s gift. All of us need our time to escape and 40 minutes on ‘Hermit Hill’ is as good a place …

We have a video premiere today from Dan Walsh for ‘Whiplash Reel’, a track that features on his latest album ‘Incidents & Accidents’, one of our featured albums of the month. Dan also shares with us the story behind this tune which is rooted in his obsession with Indian classical music which culminated in an amazing trip to India in February 2013.

Da Fishing Hands is a resounding creative success on a number of levels. Inge Thomson and her collaborators have painted a vivid picture of a changed and changing community. It’s as much an important historical document as it is a powerful artistic statement and, above all, a mesmerisingly beautiful record with top class musicians including Sarah Hayes, Fraser Fifield, Steven Polwart and Graeme Smillie.

So who are False Lights, how were they formed? We have the answers in an exclusive video feature today in which Sam Carter and Jim Moray talk about the formation of False Lights, the other musicians in the band, and how they could have been called “Sam and Jim’s Special Relationship”. How can you possibly not want to find out…

Last year we featured a ground-breaking album by Daire Ó Breacáin and Lorcán Mac Mathúna. The seed for that project came about during a anthropology/song-collectors excursion in Asturias. Read more about that journey of discovery in this special feature by Lorcán.

Allison Moorer’s ‘Down To Believing’ is a brave walk through a turbulent thunderstorm of emotions in search of the hope that flickers like a lightning rod ahead. Allison delivers a record that confirms her place amongst the very best of America’s singer songwriters.

Combining dizzying instrumental flair with a maturing songwriter’s voice Incidents & Accidents strips Dan Walsh’s sound back to its core and is wholly satisfying as a result, a perfect blend of great playing, so finely realised it is at times simply breathtaking, with a gift for telling a story that gets straight to the narrative heartbeat, making for an exceptional record all round.

Formerly known as Joyce The Librarian, Martin Callingham recently released the excellent ‘Tonight, We All Swim Free’, one of our featured Albums of the Month. Here he gives FRUK an exclusive insight into the album’s creation, those involved in its making and shares his thoughts on mysterious art of songwriting.

Asleep At The Wheel call on old friends and new with a younger generation drawn to re-flame the torch for western swing and their ongoing tribute to The King, Bob Wills. Featuring: Pokey LaFarge, The Avett Brothers, Old Crow Medicine Show, Willie Nelson and The Quebe Sisters and many more.

Recording in Nashville with Band Of Horses Lotte Mullan tells finely etched tales of heartbreak and hope on Love’s Bonfire, one of our Featured Albums of the Month, an album ablaze with superb songcraft throughout. Read our in-depth review and interview.

A new name on the folk circuit, David Roberts makes his debut with the obliquely beautiful and poetic St Clears, an album inspired by a stay in the Carmarthenshire town of the same name. The album is full of references to nature, but cast in impressionistic lines that conjure a dreamy haze to wander through. A dappled musical dream that you won’t want to wake up from.

Drawn to Cornwall for the sun, surf, romance and unique culture our Artists of the Month, The Grenaways, tell FRUK about the magic they have found and channelled into the excellent Be Still Young Heart.