Albums

Part One of our review of the Hothouse Festival held at Halsway Manor, Somerset with video sessions from Songs from the Shed and recordings from Folk Radio UK of some of the live performances on the day.

Simon catches Bella Hardy at The Slaughtered Lamb for her battleplan album launch. With her full band The Midnight Watch also present it turns out to be a spectacular evening and a great performance.

Track Number six from Chris Woods latest album ‘None the Wiser’ is ‘Thou Shalt’. Chris is pulling no punches at all here with the album’s main sermon, dressed as it is in the biblical terminology of “thou shalt not” and “thou shalt”.

Paper Aeroplanes latest release Little Letters is our latest ‘Album of the Month’, another exemplary addition to their catalogue, a truly beautiful album of perfect pop vignettes – affirmation if it is needed of the mounting acclaim that surrounds them.

It is a pleasure to introduce this debut album from Barrule featuring Jamie Smith, Adam Rhodes and Tomas Callister a Manx Trad Power Trio! They put on a great live set and this album does them great justice. One you will not want to miss. Plus free single!

With Producer / Engineer Calum Malcolm at the helm Amy Duncan’s ‘Cycles of Life’ is her most polished album to date which highlights her emotive and deeply personal songwriting, a progressively positive, and ultimately hope-filled, experience.

Read our review of Seasick Steve’s latest offering ‘Hubcap Music’ which features Jack White, John Paul Jones and Luther Dickenson. We have a track by track exclusive from Deezer and his latest performance on ‘Later with Jools’.

Steve Martin & Edie Brickell’s latest release ‘Love Has Come For You’ is a gem! No matter how casually the initiation both Edie and Steve rightly recognise that they have created something special. Read our review and listen to the full album via Deezer.

If there is something ineffable about the pleasure of Megan Wyler’s album ‘Through the Noise’, it comes from the shifting focus of fine details…a gentle breeze of ideas, a silken shawl of a voice and the luxury of time stood still as the mind gently ripples with possibilities.

The pastoral sounds of Rob St. John return tomorrow on MayDay with a stunning special release on Song, by Toad Records which I have to admit I have been bowled over by. Charcoal Black and the Bonny Grey / Shallow Brown is simply stunning and beautiful!

Folk Radio UK catches Show of Hands at the sold-out Waterside Theatre in Sale, Greater Manchester. Miranda Sykes and Rex Preston opened the evening of entertainment whilst Show of Hands delighted many with a delve into their back catalogue.

The latest offering from Bait, Gastr Del Sol and Bastro guitarist David Grubbs is ‘The Plain Where the Palace Stood’. An album that is equal parts brainy, bonkers and bewildering, but never anything less than rewarding.