Albums

Andy Cutting is much in demand and has been for some time, even more so since he won the BBC Radio 2 Folk Musician of the Year award in 2008. At last, though, he’s found time to put together a CD in his own name. This first release on Lane Records from Derby is available to order online and goes on general release in August. Melodeon player and self-confessed former …

Described by Gilles Peterson as “a great artist” Matt Sage started out in a band with musicians who moved on to find success working with Faithless and Dido, after which he turned his efforts to solo projects while holed up on a canal boat in Oxfordshire. Since then he has played at WOMAD, started up a hugely successful acoustic night in Oxford called Catweazle, and created a platform called Big …

This release by Mr McFall’s Chamber on the classical label, Delphian, is the result of a long planned collaboration between Martyn Bennett and Robert McFall that was never realised during tragically short life of one of Scotland’s most admired and accomplished musicians. What may be one of the most innovative albums of the year gets off to a surprising start with Martyn Bennett’s Cuillin, Part 2. It’s a challenging start …

Duotone’s debut Work Harder and One Day You’ll Find Her is the work of Barney Morse-Brown; best known for his work with The Imagined Village. The collection of eight tracks incorporate layered vocals and looped string arrangements over which it is ultimately the cello that conducts and controls the ebb and flow of these atmospheric pieces.

Touring in support of her fifth LP The Calcination of Scout Niblett, British born Emma Louise “Scout” Niblett plays a toned down grunge that has her frequently likened to PJ Harvey or a messy Chan Marshall. Reverting back to her traditional style characteristic of earlier albums such as I Am, she was a sparse clatter of emotion at The Borderline, London. Like an exuberant child she came on stage in …

It’s forty years since Carole King and James Taylor performed together for the first time. In 2007 they re-visited the Troubadour in Los Angeles to celebrate its 50th anniversary and re-live their youthful partnership, along with the same musicians that joined them in 1970. This joyful reunion is released as a CD/DVD combination on 31st May.

Born to folk-musician parents in Brattleboro, Vermont it’s hardly a surprise that Sam Amidon is continuing down the folk path trodden for him at the age of six when he was first taken on stage by his parents: both successful musicians of the Appalachian folk revival. Like a game of Chinese whispers, Sam takes those murder ballads and traditional folk songs his father would sing to him and passes them down …

Don’t let the title worry you. Karine and the lads of Lau aren’t engaging in a bit of WWF Smackdown aggro. The latest in the impressive history of collaboration between the various members of Lau and Karine Polwart is an enthralling five-track EP, the first in a series of three such releases planned by Lau. Four of the five tracks on this releases are cover versions, more details on those …

Isle of Wight songwriter Paul Armfield’s new album, Blood, Fish and Bone is a sensitive, melancholic and downright beautiful album. The talented musician and artist (he designed the linocut cover for the album) has assembled a masterful collaboration of musicians (including Rupert Brown, J.C. Grimshaw and Adam Kirk) to create a timeless and haunting piece of work, as the songwriter himself explains; Much of the material on the album concerns …

Salsa Celtica’s fusion of Scottish and Irish traditional music with all the Latin American elements of salsa has taken them and their music all over the world. In the last ten years the group has been a hit equally at major celtic, jazz, world music and salsa festivals. Their albums have topped the New York and L.A. salsa charts and European world music charts, the band has been nominated for …

Two-time Grammy-nominated Kim Richey opens her latest album with the title track “Wreck you Wheels” and the line “you can count the words…”. This is an album where the words do count. The album is woven through with emotional honesty and a multitude of co-written tracks with the likes of Will Kimbrough, the Jayhawks Mark Olson and the very talented Boo Hewerdine. These are treasured ingredients from a world of …

In honor of Memorial Day 2010, Cat Martino releases her alluring song about Jennie Hodgers, turned Civil War Veteran, Albert Cashier. “Last May (2009), I woke up to read a story on NPR about Jennie Hodgers, a woman who changed her identity to Albert Cashier to fight in the Civil War,” says Martino. “Her story was so compelling, I went straight with my morning coffee to my guitar to write …