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There’s been a growing fan base over recent years for the plaintiff bluegrass of the North Carolina duo, Mandolin Orange. Their new record, ‘Tides Of A Teardrop’, has them developing that sound into one that leans more towards a band. It’s a risk in that there are more musicians handling their fragile but beautiful style…. Read more »
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Gilmore gets into the state of the nation on her latest album. Small World Turning leans into the acoustic folk and roots vibe that she has summoned throughout her career. Her songwriting is as on the nose, confrontational and gorgeous as ever, in fact it is perfect for the times we live in. And what… Read more »
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I was going to lump all of the reviews of these Topic reissues for their 80th birthday celebration into one big review. everyone knows these albums, as they are, quite rightly, regarded as something of a gold standard in the British Folk canon. So everybody is familiar with them (what, you’re not?! Get to the… Read more »
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This new EP from Eddi Reader contains five songs from the ‘Cavalier sessions’, three are unreleased, scarecrow Song, No Reply Dot Com and Build High, Build Wide (In Contempt), along with Starlight and My Favourite Dress that featured as a double A side single release from the Cavalier Album. If you liked Cavalier then you… Read more »
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Blimey, doesn’t seem ten minutes since Topic’s 70th anniversary! They celebrated that with the delightful ‘Three Score and Ten’ boxset, now they have hit their octogenarian phase they’ve pulled out all the stops to celebrate. 2019 will see a raft of reissues and new releases, this one in particular, Vision & Revision, is a brilliant… Read more »
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Like an army of foraging ants, those music lovers at Grapefruit Records are building up a collection of box sets that have become a ‘go to’ resource for anyone interested in folk music’s development in the 1960s and 70s. First, there was ‘Dust On The Nettles’ which compiled what was accurately sub-titled ‘A Journey Through… Read more »
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Authentic is a word that, today, pops up on a regular basis as folks struggle to separate ‘real’ from ‘fake’. In music, it’s often about whether the music is played by musicians steeped in the cultural background of their chosen style. However, it’s never a question asked of Dale Watson. Some years ago, I asked… Read more »
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If you’ve read any of my reviews of Nick Burbridge and McDermott’s 2 Hours albums in the past then you will know that I rate him as one of the best songwriters. Yep, full stop… OK so maybe that’s just my subjective view, but few could argue that he has a rare gift for songs… Read more »
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Having celebrated fifty years of performing with his album, ’50’, Michael Chapman returns to the fray with a new release, ‘True North’. The title suggests it draws on his roots in the north of England which it does to an extent. However, he also returns to fish from the same cultural pool as used on… Read more »
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If you were lucky enough to see the first tour of ‘The Ballad of Johnny Longstaff’, it will be no surprise to find that The Young’uns have packaged up the show into a new release. Mind you, the word ‘release’ doesn’t do its lavish packaging justice as you’ll find the music comes complete with a… Read more »
