Let's get social
We've been agonising for some time trying to find a way we can involve the public in the site more, existing ways of doing it are frustrating - forums end up being dominated by a handful of regulars, comment boxes at the end of every story are a have...more
09/02/2012
Folk sucks the big one
There, that title got you reading didn't it? Well, this weeks subject is Controversy, we all secretly love a bit of it, opposing opinions brought out for battle and the chance to get worked up and hot under the collar. The music business is a perfect...more
20/01/2012
Roll up, roll up, it's Awards Season!
It's awards season again, as I write this Mike Harding is running through the nominations for the BBC's awards. The Scots Trad awards have been nominated and the public are voting on them, we have our nominations in the pipeline for the Spirals. It d...more
16/11/2011
Not bloody Coldplay again...
You might have read an interview with Michael Eavis in last weeks Times. In it he said that the festival may only have 'three or four' years left as he believes music fans are getting tired of festivals, despite the 700 events that take place in the ...more
29/07/2011
No sleep at Heb Celt 2011
Travelling into up to the Hebrides from England really is like stepping into another land. Through the eerily empty miles of Dumfries and Galloway your mind adjusts to the scale of the landscape as the miles are effortlessly eaten up. Then Glasgow, E...more
18/07/2011
Time for a Revival?
Revival is a word we often hear associated with folk music, in British terms there are two significant ones, both in the 20th century. Basically the first was a bunch of collectors tramping around the country transcribing songs they heard for prosper...more
16/06/2011
Hands off our forests Cameron!
You must have heard that old joke; Q; 'How do you know when a politician is lying" A:'Their lips are moving'. Unfortunately with the government we have at the moment it seems less of a joke every day. The latest example is their claim to be the green...more
04/02/2011
Bye Bye Beefheart
It's that time of year when we look back nostalgically over the past twelve months at the highs and the lows and the middling bits that make up most of it. So who am I to challenge tradition? Let's get into it... actually, hang on, I'll have a mid li...more
21/12/2010
It's my soapbox
I have resisted the idea of an editor’s column for several years, preferring to let the site content speak for itself. Spiral Earth is well established and respected for the wide range of music it covers, always grounded in folk and roots but willing...more
01/12/2010
Iain started Spiral Earth in 2005 as a reaction against the apathy with which the mainstream media dealt with roots music in the UK.
Since then he has overseen its growth and watched it develop into one of the UK's most comprehensive and popular sources for all things folk and roots, with a constantly increasing readership.
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