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Bellowhead - Fine Sally
- Revival - Island Records
www.bellowhead.co.uk/
Lucy Ward - Icarus - Single Flame - Navigator Records
www.lucywardsings.com/
Greg Russell & Ciaran Algar
- A Season In Your Arms - The Call - Fellside
Recordings
www.russellalgar.co.uk/
Kris Drever - Mark The Hard
Earth - Mark The Hard Earth (Remastered) - Reveal
Records www.krisdrever.com/
Sara Grey w. Kieron Means - Bright Sunny South - Down In
Old Dolores - Fellside Recordings www.saragrey.com/
Joe Kemp - Twilight - Kaleidoscope -
joekempmusic.bandcamp.com
Bellowhead - Let Union Be -
Revival - Island Records
www.bellowhead.co.uk/
Lucy Ward - For
The Dead Men - Single Flame - Navigator Records
www.lucywardsings.com/
Greg Russell & Ciaran Algar
- The Workhouse - The Call - Fellside
Recordings
www.russellalgar.co.uk/
Kris Drever - Allegory - Mark
The Hard Earth (Remastered) - Reveal Records www.krisdrever.com/
Sara Grey w. Kieron Means - Merry Willow Tree - Down In
Old Dolores - Fellside Recordings www.saragrey.com/
Joe Kemp - Oh How My Heart Aches - Kaleidoscope -
joekempmusic.bandcamp.com
Bellowhead - marking their
10th year as one of the best live bands in the UK (BBC Radio 2 Best Live
Folk Act Award winners a record 5 times!) with a couple of hugely
successful major concerts in substantial venues (Manchester's Bridgewater
Hall and London's Royal Albert Hall) in April and now a new 5th CD, on a new
label even, the juggernaut rolls on taking on board 10 traditional songs,
plus Richard Thompson's I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight, and bellowheading them with big band brass and flying
fiddles - a sonic feast;
Lucy Ward -
a superb 2nd release from this 24 year old BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards
award-winning singer, songwriter, guitarist, ukeleleist
and concertina player from Derby who imbues her songs with the
craftsmanship that is the traditional process whilst dealing with
contemporary matters such as governmental incompetence and honor killings,
and employing a broad array of styles from a cappella to tender traditional
ballads to full on folk-rock and all featuring her wondrously powerful and
rich Derbyshire accented voice - so, there's the oft-difficult second album
all sorted, and what a gem it is!;
Greg Russell & Ciaran Algar:
yet another superb second release, this time from this individually
multi-instrumentalist duo, formed in 2011, who in addition to being 2014
BBC Radio 2 Horizon Award winners and 2013 BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Award
winners, also have All-Ireland and All-Britain fiddle championships wins on
several occasions by Algar in their resume. With
a mix of traditional and contemporary songs, including writers such as
James Keelaghan, Mick Ryan and Phil Colclough and a lovely Swedish song adapted into
English by Jonny Dyer, plus a couple of excellent songs from Algar, and tune sets including pieces from such
composers as Phil Cunningham, Joanie Madden and Kevin Crawford, the
periodically expressed pessimistic outlook for folk music appears to be
rather happily mistaken whilst albums such as this are being released;
Kris Drever - Orkney born
singer, songwriter and fabulous guitarist, formerly with Fine Friday for 3
albums, and currently a member of Lau with whom he has released 3 albums,
and a duo release with Eamonn Coyne, this marks
his 2nd solo release since his 2006 debut Black Water and in this instance
it is a remastered 2009 Celtic Connections album
featuring an all-star cast including John McCusker,
Ian Carr, Tim O'Brien, Phil Cunningham, Karine Polwart, Heidi Talbot
and more. Comprising contemporary fare from writers such as Caleb Klauder, Sandy Wright, the previously mentioned Phil Colclough (for the same song!) and Duncan Drever, and traditional songs including The Banks Of
The Nile and O' A' the Airts, this marks a
fabulous addition to his repertoire;
Sara Grey w. Kieron Means: mother and son duo featuring
well regarded longtime UK-domiciled US traditional and singer banjoist Grey
and superb guitarist and singer Means, abetted on this release by fellow
American Ben Paley, also a longtime UK resident I believe. With good liner
notes to accompany each song this is an album to be savored with repeated listenings. Having performed for Little Rock Folk Club
on a couple of occasions, their time in the state was well spent as
evidenced by Merry Willow Tree, a version of the Golden Vanity learned from
the singing of Almeda Riddle, from Timbo, AR and housed in the Quincy Wolf Folklore Collection,
Lyon College, in Batesville, AR.
Joe Kemp - clearly talented young Leeds,UK-based singer-songwriter mining the blue-eyed
Northern Soul seam with forays into nimbly picked acoustic guitar-powered
folk-jazz, somewhat reminiscent of a young John Martin though without his
tortured artiste angst, rather than say Clive Gregson's
Any Trouble era. The 8 song album was recorded at his home over a 12 month
period using fairly primitive recording equipment and his learn-as-you-go
technical recording and mastering skills and is a testament to his
creativity and technical come with a ringing endorsement from my Bradford
UK correspondent :-)
mail: albion@kuar.org
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