Albums

Shifting away from his previous unique stripped-back style, Nick Hart Sings Ten English Folk Songs features a surprisingly wide variety of instruments and some impressively alluring multi-layered arrangements. He carries these folk songs on into the current time, giving them new life and extending their long history.

Zachary Cale’s latest album ‘Skywriting’ was born out of the arriving and departing life of a touring musician and of all the reflections and questions it can throw up. This one’s sure to fly above the radar.

Big Spring is the first time Kevin Buckley has both featured fiddle and wholly based the music on his folk roots. Whether it’s a one-off or marks an invigorating new direction for his career, this is a hugely enjoyable and listenable album.

In music that displays fierce energy, frenzied rhythms, and natural harmonies in the rich San Tomean melodic tradition, Antologia Volume 1 brings the Pan African sound of África Negra to a wider audience and most convivialade it is too.

Son of Dave combines the old and the new in such an innovative way and if you like your blues loud, raw and energetic, you will love ‘Call Me King’. It should feature heavily in the ‘Best Blues Album of 2022’  lists when that time of year rolls around.

Richard catches up with Martin Harley, Daniel Kimbro and Sam Lewis during the UK tour of their latest album ‘Harley Kimbro Lewis’.

Elliah Heifetz certainly made it out of Bustleton, but in chasing the American Dream, ‘First Generation American’ makes it abundantly clear, he never forgot his roots in the process.

Ultimately, as The Ciderhouse Rebellion, Murray Grainger and Adam Summerhayes illustrate that despite the music being created in the instant, Genius Loci 2: The Valley of Iron preserves moments of timeless, haunted beauty.

The Struggle is Michael Weston King’s first standalone recording in ten years. It’s a hugely welcome return to the solo spotlight and I’d venture to suggest his finest album yet.

Hyperion, the latest EP from Welsh singer-songwriter Cara Ludlow, is a captivating offering that absorbs you from the off, lyrically rich and engaging, she’s a name to watch for.

On their covers album ‘Songs Of The Recollection’, featuring songs from Neil Young, Bowie, Dylan, Gordon Lightfoot, Gram Parsons, Vic Chesnutt and more, the Cowboy Junkies have put together a highly engaging stop-gap while we wait for the follow up to Ghosts.

The Hanging Stars’ last three albums saw them teetering on greatness. Wearing their cosmic country and late 60s West Coast folk-rock influences on their sleeve, Hollow Heart should rightly push them over the edge; it’s their best yet.