Tales of Love, War and Death by Hanging

Now that is a challenging title, no whimsy here. In fact the album plays out like an episode of Sharpe, often brutal yet beholden to a melancholic compassion. Ray Cooper, aka Chopper, of Oysterband fame has written a set of songs that are red in toot...more

30/06/2010

Hearts And Minds

That Seth Lakeman has gone from recording his albums in his parent's kitchen to having a producer of the stature of Grammy award-winning Tchad Blake at the helm of his latest album is quite a journey. The fact that he has maintained and enhanced his ...more

23/06/2010

False Lights From The Land EP

This EP comes on the heels of his BBC Radio 2 series 'The Ocean' in which Hawley explored the way seafaring culture has influenced British music, literature, poetry and art. At the 2010 Folk Awards he presented an award to Martin Simpson, In his spee...more

21/06/2010

Folk Against Fascism

This carefully programmed and perfectly mastered compilation is the first in a planned series. As a statement of musical solidarity and mutual intolerance of intolerance, it is very welcome, but it also more than stands up to scrutiny from a purely l...more

02/06/2010

The Longshot

'The Longshot' is the fourth album from Debbie and Stu Hanna, perpetual nominees for best duo at the BBC Folk Awards. Since their first album Stu has become a highly regarded and in demand producer in the folk world, being at the helm for Mawkin Caus...more

26/05/2010

Blue Beginnings

Who'd have thought a rag, in all its cheeky meanderings, could flow so nicely into an English Morris tune?...more

04/05/2010

Levellers Live

Following on from the Levellers being our guest editors in April we went to see them play at the Junction in Cambridge. Their first tour of 2010 is in smaller club venues, the Cambdidge Junction is a venue they have played many times in the past twen...more

27/04/2010

Show Of Hands

The gig the night before was cancelled. And so were the following three. We were lucky. Very lucky. But then again, Steve Knightley was never going to disappoint the punters at one of his favourite venues. Lazarus-like, he rose and delivered - despit...more

20/04/2010

Dust And Gold

It's the duty of all critics to compare any female musical artist to either Bjork or Joni Mitchell. At least that's what you'd assume if you regularly read the press. Of course this lazy and rampant compartmentalism doesn't do justice to many an inde...more

01/04/2010

Steve Knightley & Jenna

A NEAR capacity audience relished the extraordinary musicianship and singing of Steve Knightley at the Brewhouse Theatre, Taunton. Knightley - one half of the ever-popular West Country acoustic folk group Show of Hands - was in town on the second leg...more

05/03/2010

Work Harder & One Day You’ll Find Her

Barney Morse-Brown is probably best recognised on the folk circuit as the cellist in Eliza Carthy’s current band. But as Duotone, and in Work Harder & One Day You’ll Find Her, you won’t hear the link. ...more

02/03/2010

Shipwrecks And Static

Foghorns and lilting seas; wind catching in the sails, the promise of land on the horizon. Somehow Inge Thomson manages to capture all the essence of nautical life on Shipwrecks And Static, but the listener is left wondering how when this is not a ty...more

28/02/2010

Silent June

It wouldn’t be a gross exaggeration to deem Silent June a highly anticipated release, which, of course, is a coup for any new artist on the scene. Highly anticipated, because the listener simply could not know what to expect: there’s Belinda O’Hooley...more

08/02/2010

The Imagined Village: Live

Always a commanding performer, not one detail of Chris Wood's 'Hollow Point' is lost in this big hall; the nightmare lurches from daydream to grim reality, as the penny drops, and Charles De Menezes enters the tube station....more

02/02/2010

Mark The Hard Earth

Second album syndrome states that artists are creatively spent having used up their entire repertoire in one fell swoop previously. Coupled with this, many fail to make a stylistic leap, leaving a hollow release. And, although ‘Mark The Hard Earth’ d...more

26/01/2010

Rachel Taylor-Beales and Stacey Blythe Live

The grandeur of the Millennium Centre is a splendid place to witness an afternoon of live music. For some time now the venue have used their foyer stage to promote Welsh performers, from numerous genres, and it's here we find Rachel Taylor-Beales a...more

15/01/2010

Map Or Direction

John Smith has travelled to some far off places for 'Map Or Direction'. Firstly, the southern states of America, then, deep within his own psyche. Both journeys have led to some extraordinary material for this unforeseen release. ...more

19/12/2009

Lau Live

This may be greedy, seeing as Lau have been nominated for 'Best Group' and 'Best Live Act', but hang on, where's 'Arc Light', for 'Best Album, in the current BBC Folk Award nominations and criminal oversight of the year, where is 'Winter Moon', surel...more

08/12/2009

Dick Gaughan live

Tonight's opening act, Sally In The Wood (named after a stretch of road between Batheaston and Bradford upon Avon fact fans!) bring a lyrical stillness to the room with stylish arrangements of 'The Cuckoo Song', 'Waiting For The Lark', and 'Three Dru...more

01/12/2009

Karine Polwart Live

Flanked by her trusty stalwarts, brother Steven on guitar and Inge Thomson her multi-instrumentalist, Karine Polwart has this Cambridge crowd on their feet and shouting out requests long before the encores. And with the packed auditorium devouring e...more

26/11/2009

Lucy Wan

Lucy Wan marks the welcome return of this near legendary duo. Having been the catalyst for the group Last Nights Fun Chris and Denny have gone back to their alchemical pairing. The elements of guitar, anglo concertina and vocals are transmuted into a...more

24/11/2009

An English Arcanum

Telling The Bees second album delves deeper into the magical mine of pastoral wonder that their debut album opened up. An English Arcanum is more in every department than that debut, a mesmeric journey into another world....more

23/11/2009

Handmade Life

What happens after critical acclaim and accolades, well for Chris Wood, it's business as usual with 'Handmade Life' his new studio album. Here is Wood as folk reporter featuring headline news interspersed with tales of his allotment, his loved ones, ...more

18/11/2009

Show Of Hands Live

It was Show of Hands first tour since Phil Beer returned from sailing on Pegasus, so it seemed apt for the band to open the set at Chichester Festival Theatre with Tall Ships. A story of boats returning to England with valuable commodities, it had a...more

19/10/2009

Fernhill Live

Some bands entertain and some bring a measure of mystique, however, rarely does a band encompass all this and stretch time as Fernhill do. So, logical thought is extinguished and all we can do is surrender to the music....more

14/10/2009

Martyn Joseph

Martyn Joseph's record company once asked him for a trivial love song - but the Welsh singer songwriter couldn't deliver. He doesn't do the insignificant. His songs have to be serious, whether he's talking about love, life or politics. One of Joseph'...more

06/10/2009

Arrogance, Ignorance and Greed

Show of Hands twentieth album and still no sign of predictability or laurels being sat upon. They even have the temerity to start the album with Steve singing the trad 'lowland' starkly unaccompanied. Initial fears that the album will be all in this ...more

01/10/2009

Kerr Fagan Harbron Live

Nancy Kerr's autoharp proudly displays a silhouette of Australia as a sound hole, which is one of the more subtle clues to this trio's Antipodeon connections. In contrast, you soon realise, James Fagan is more than happy to regale his audience with s...more

20/09/2009

Whalebone Polly Live

There aren't many gigs delayed because of a pass the parcel competition. But, tonight it seems natural, as Whalebone Polly - that's Rachael Dadd and Kate Stables - do things a little differently. So, when they're warned about tonight's impending curf...more

12/09/2009

Tales We Might Know

For a genre that can often be critisized for its staidness things can move pretty quickly in folk music. So, once again, we are treated to a new collaboration. This time Darren Black and Deborah Peake have joined forces under the neat moniker, Black ...more

11/09/2009

Hyperboreans

Another solid album from double folk award winning Jackie Oates. Her winning formula of stunning vocals set against sparse yet engaging arrangements has been changed with the introduction of a full band and more ambitious arrangements. Brother Jim Mo...more

06/09/2009

Imidiwan:Companions

Tinariwen have had the world's music press heaping plaudits at their door since the turn of the century. Of course, all this seemed pretty unlikely when they still had to construct makeshift instruments from a tin can, a stick and bicycle brake wire....more

05/09/2009

Intro

The QP eat eclecticism for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and probably keep a snack of it handy for in-between times. It's the only conclusion to draw when confronted with a barrage folk, jazz, funk, rock and blues. And it's not as if it's perfectly bl...more

22/08/2009

Keepsakes

Sam's idea of a welcome is a frantically picked guitar, an explosive fight, and a prison sentence. This nicely unsettles any preconceptions about sensitive singer/songwriters sat in bedrooms and is a fitting introduction to Sam Carter's newly expand...more

10/08/2009

After The Ant Fight

Kristin Hersh's 'Uncle June And Aunt Kioto' contains a reference to geese, so vivid, it creates a freeze frame moment, where the listener can share the singer's exhilaration at the sight of these graceful birds. Whereas, Rachael Dadd's fascination wi...more

06/08/2009

The Spinning Top

Recently, Graham Coxon has been leading a dual life. On the one hand, he's back with Blur, playing to a sea of people at the Glastonbury festival. And, on the other, he's been criss-crossing the country, buying up the best handmade guitars on offer, ...more

24/07/2009

In The Shadow Of Mountains

Bella Hardy's second album, In The Shadow Of Mountains is a masterclass in melancholic sensuality, it reveals Bella as a gifted songwriter as well as confirming her as one of the best vocalists on the British folk circuit....more

18/07/2009

The Awkward Recruit

The Mawkin:Causley debut long player is a lusty blood soaked romp through battles, wars and rebellions, shown through the sometimes tortured minds of the victims, hard men and protagonists of the tales....more

14/07/2009

Thought Becomes Reality

Circulus make me want to take my clothes off. Not in a do a streak across the centre court at Wimbledon way, no, that wouldn't do at all. No, it's in the stripping away all the clutter and burden of modern life sense, I would of course then don the g...more

09/07/2009

Albion: An Anthology

Being hailed as 'one of our greatest songwriters' is a weighty title for anyone to shoulder. And, sadly, it can often form the selling point for lacklustre performances from artists who've always written in a snooze-inducing and rigid fashion. Not so...more

08/07/2009

Play My Heart

This album from Barbara J Hunt is a re-release, mainly due to the fact that two tracks are being featured on comedy movie 'Confetti'. Besides that, details are thin on the ground, especially biographical ones, as Barbara believes they aren't entirely...more

03/07/2009

Love, Loyalty And Other Lies

The two moustachioed gentlemen under the spotlight here are Sean and Paul Holden, both of which have lived several musical lifetimes. Sean spent twenty-five years as a heavy-metal and jazz drummer before 'seeing the acoustic light'. And still, with h...more

09/06/2009

Only For Three Months

Na-mara are Paul McNamara (voice, guitars) and Rob Gracia (mandolin, octave mandola, guitar, voice) and their combined musical vision doesn't appear to have many limitations or boundaries. The duo's repertoire includes music from the British Isles, B...more

04/06/2009

Under The Influence

Damien Barber and Mike Wilson have more than forty years experience of the folk world between them, and as stalwarts of the scene they are more than aware of their debt to previous generations of performers. This album acknowledges their original inf...more

03/06/2009

Live at Cropredy ‘08

Fairport’s loyal band of followers come together every year for what could be likened to a fan convention rather than a festival. Fairport’s Cropredy Convention attracts fans from all across the globe to witness the band and their guests, and this li...more

25/05/2009

Bright Day

Feldspar’s Bright Day is proof that acoustic music doesn’t have to be one-man-and-his-guitar with a set of overused chords. Second track and album highlight, ‘Black Ribbon’, with its frenetic piano peals, wouldn’t be out of place on the much-feted Am...more

04/05/2009

Track Of Words - Retraced

Steve Knightley recorded his first solo album Track Of Words in 1999, aiming for a more mainstream audience than the one Show Of Hands played to led to him producing a very 'radio friendly' album. Unfortunately,even by his own admission, it failed to...more

04/05/2009

Rachel Harrington Live - Support: Caroline Martin

Global Communications, a now defunct electronica band, used to claim that they composed their ambient opuses to match the pulse and rhythmns of the human body. Frome artist, Caroline Martin, appears to have taken this concept and slowed things down. ...more

02/05/2009

Levellers Live

Before the current UK tour the Levellers set up a vote on their web site for fans to choose five songs to be included in the set list, the ones that won were World Freakshow, Dance Before The Storm, Barrel Of A Gun, Exodus and Come On. Apart from Exo...more

28/04/2009

Beneath The Black Tree

Devonshire is a captivating area of the world and birthplace of some very fine music. And it's often you will find the beauty of that county reflected in the work of its artists such as Phil Beer and Seth Lakeman. Now, to add to that list of creative...more

28/04/2009

Kitchen Table

London based Bex Marshall has been bitten hard by the blues, and 'Kitchen Table' is about as good an example as you'll get at the moment of why this genre is as relevant and exciting as it ever was. ...more

22/04/2009

Maclaine Colston & Saul Rose Live

Saul Rose was in Spain on the morning of this gig, so consequently, he is a little frayed round the edges. And the strain is showing as he rolls his eyes for the umpteenth time at Maclaine's increasingly surreal stories. To call it banter would be t...more

14/04/2009

The Best Of Clive Gregson

Clive Gregson's career doesn't lend itself to easy documentation. With the sort of depth and breath any football manager would be proud of in a squad, the Manchester born singer/songwriter's tenure in the music business has had many proud moments. Th...more

07/04/2009

Rain For Sale

John Alexander is a Glaswegian song man whose main melodic gifts are a haunting acoustic guitar and a bruised and battered voice. Both are ample to bring his searching narratives to life. However, 'Rain For Sale' displays a fuller arsenal of instrume...more

22/04/2009

Dean Owens and Kim Edgar

Kim Edgar is in her natural setting tonight; sat on stage, at a grand piano, with a crystalline sound system at her disposal. Now, a good song is still a good song in any setting but The Chapel Arts Centre's acoustics leave each note hanging in the a...more

25/03/2009

Strewn With Ribbons

Lauren MacColl is an incredibly elegant lady. Not only does she never have a hair out of place, but her new album, Strewn With Ribbons, must be one of the most well presented issues out there on the folk scene. Tasteful, idiosyncratic artwork is comp...more

20/03/2009

Lau - Live Review

I have just spent two heady days in the company of Aidan, Kris and Martin of Lau whilst they were in Cambridge for a concert at the Junction. We've been shooting a documentary around it and also producing a promo video for the song 'Wintermoon', you ...more

12/03/2009

Beside The Waves Of Time

There is some wonderful high quality music coming out of Scotland at the moment, although Iona Leigh was born in Australia and currently lives in London, her heart is firmly at home in the Highlands. Beside The Waves Of Time is her second album and t...more

11/03/2009

Rozi Plain

Benign and understated, the Fence Collective are unlikely global conquerors. Based in Fife and describing themselves as an assortment of “musicians, artists, craftsfolk, chancers and slackers” the Fence Records label may be small but its charms are u...more

07/03/2009

Attic Thieves

Oly Ralfe appears to be the driving force behind Ralfe band. A one man creative dynamo who won the Raindance Award at the British Independent Film Awards for 'The Ballad of AJ Weberman' - a documentary about a New York odd-ball and infamous stalker o...more

02/03/2009

Jim Moray & Jackie Oates Live

Jim Moray and Jackie Oates are fast becoming the Rufus and Martha of the English folk scene. Tonight we’re lucky enough to catch these siblings on the same bill. The good fortune extends to the poetic choice of venue. Moored in Bristol’s murky harbou...more

28/02/2009

Arc Light

The second studio album from LAU is bigger in every sense than their debut 'Lightweights And Gentlemen'. It has a sheer exuberance of style, technique and musicianship that leaves you breathless with pleasure. They have spent a bit more time letting ...more

20/02/2009

Here In The Ground

Sam Carter now resides in London and plays a fair few gigs in the capital, however, you may have seen him touting his wares at numerous venues across the land. He already has an enviable list of achievements, for one so young, which include supportin...more

19/02/2009

Babel & Essie Jain

‘I don’t usually start gigs with my back to the audience’ explains the slender figure at the piano. Ms Jain needn’t apologise, her vocals may be wall-directed, but one suspects that this performer could enthral the room from the confines of a cardboa...more

18/02/2009

Sand and Soil

Hammered Dulcimer... what an evocative name for a musical instrument, and well deserved as it produces a deeply evocative and individual sound. Combine Maclaine Colston's skill on the dulcimer with Saul Rose's instantly recognisable melodeon techniqu...more

18/02/2009

Songbirds

CD and 6 part television series now available on DVD. In 2005, Co. Fermanagh singer and songwriter, Fil Campbell, presented a six part documentary screened on Irish television which examined the lives of five female Irish singers who were, at one tim...more

12/02/2009

On These Dark Nights

Jim Byrne recently embraced an acoustic path after years of rocking out on the Scottish scene and beyond. His guitar and voice has been an integral part of Dexter Slim And The Pick-ups, The Hemingways, Hyperstar, Loris and as a session man for hire. ...more

14/02/2009

DVD: Live At Shepherds Bush Empire

Hands up those who have seen Bellowhead? Yes, I know, quite a few of you. So, what do you need to know about this DVD release. Well it's footage of one particular concert that takes up the majority of this lavish visual feast. The gig is from Septemb...more

06/02/2009

Teddy Thompson

Bristol, The Thekla 4.02.09

From the downstairs area Teddy and the group look like suited and booted mods. It's only on the balcony that their jeans and trainers are visible. Those not in the know would probably think they're going to hear a slick...more

05/02/2009

A Piece Of What You Need

Teddy Thompson has kept up a consistently high work rate as a solo artist and this is actually his fourth album. Previously cutting his musical teeth on projects involving both his parents, Linda and Richard Thompson, he then toured as a member of Ro...more

27/01/2009