Three Chords and the Truth UK

Joe Martin sharpens his writing tools, expands an horizon and revels in fertile pastures where good music grows. Frontiers are stripped away as a Brit heads out west following the scent of a road weary trail. The fruits of this endeavour lie in the bold tunes and incisive lyrics forming an album finding its optimum pitch. ALONE IN VALENTINE is heavily stocked with nuggets spilling across the imagination highway. Eleven songs purr with an inclusive warmth. Martin evokes a sense of space and feeling, respecting the country playbook, yet shaping it with anglicised eminence.  From rousing rocker ‘ Hand Me Down Heart’ igniting an authentic sound to the delicate ‘ Paris Texas ’ proving a idyllic resting place, there is much to admire in Martin’s take on the power of music to convey reality in storytelling mode. You are unashamedly in Isbell-Cobb territory with ‘ Strangers to Lovers ’, by instinct or design, you choose but the result is the same. At the heart of the album ‘ Coal Town ’ a...

30 words for 30 sets and lot of late night Neil Young. Enjoy...  The Background In 2017, amongst a crowded festival landscape, Ramblin’ Roots popped up with a mission to succeed. Keep it simple, affordable, connective and real. Nine years later and some from that crowded landscape have toppled. Not the Revue. Provide the right platform, and artists and fans will buy in. Here’s why:  Clubhouse Alumni and Associates Luke Tuchscherer and the Penny Dreadfuls What better way to start the Friday fun than powerful protest rock from a paid up member of the fiery proletariat, evoking resistance while sparking your inner sense of rebellion. The Dreaming Spires Late night special guests of little surprise. The Bennett brothers are woven into the fabric of Ramblin’ Roots. A mass of normal people assembled in a normal town will concur.   Paul McClure Refreshed and restocked with new material ably supported by innate wit. The saloon was his domain and everybody embraced a finale for th...

  While the 2024 AMA UK Emerging Artist award nominated by Bob Harris attracted attention and proved an influential launch pad, we are in the wake of the defining days of Jonny Morgan’s musical identity to a wider audience. A dedicated album release and an urge to get around the country unveils the dual layer of a recording and performing artist opening channels for justice to prevail. There is never a guarantee of the latter but the swagger of THE HOPE THAT KILLS YOU and the vivacious stage presence combine to impress. Replicating the bottled connective energy of a buzzing small room in the Hare and Hounds on larger platforms would be tasty progression and the frenzied activity of spring 2026 casts the mould. The ace in the pack is the Moral Support. Maybe there is a fluidity in personnel between the studio and Kings Heath on a Thursday night but the tight eminence of Joe Coombs (lead guitar), Matthew Green (bass guitar), Eve Lesedi (saxophone) and Joe Montague (drums) gift-w...

  The initial impact is of an Appalachian sound gently rolling along, followed by the subtle blending of homegrown themes. The music of Ruth Eliza epitomises the Anglo-American roots spirit. The clawhammer banjo sparks an imagination bouncing around cloud laden mountains, yet when the English vocals and lyrical relevance kick in, it is the dales and rugged greenery of rural Britain taking over. WHILE THE LIGHT SHINES captures a moment of serenity and idyllically depicts what acoustic music can evoke.  The banjo skills of Lancaster-based Eliza purvey the definitive sound of this thirteen track debut album accompanied by an expertly deployed array of instrumentation led by fiddle, garnished by mandolin and held together by double bass. Ten songs and three instrumentals form a packed content with the writing piquing an interest in what is expressed. Lots of tags can be applied - bluegrass, roots, old time, folk, Americana - all pertaining some descriptive purpose. The musici...

  When you have a song easily ranked in the top echelon of 21st century contemporary folk compositions flaunting it at every opportunity is a given. ‘ The Herring Girl’ has looked after Bella Hardy for around fifteen years and any live airing never fails to move especially the final line. True to form it appeared deep in the second set of her return to the Kitchen Garden. An evening when the howling wind and driving rain resembled her beloved Peak District. Bella Hardy’s status in the folk world is secure even if wider activity has taken a backseat letting other duties and activities take place. The fact she returned to Birmingham a little over a year since making her Kitchen Garden debut in November 2024 and shared a few new songs suggested a more prominent future. Prior to this larger venues were the domain and the resultant popularity garnered a near sell out for what was a show with little narrative attached. This time the trio format was assembled with Danny Wallington joinin...

  Roswell Road prise the best parts from mature pop, contemporary country and indie folk to forge a sound unique and elegantly formed. Harmony voices offer one shade, sincere writing another while the ability to shape a song for keen ears carves a body of music to lavishly reward time afforded. Jasmine Watkiss and Zoe Wren drew on experience from different aspects of music to frame an original duo named Rowell eventually upgraded to Roswell Road to avoid online confusion. REBEL JOY rolls out to be an agreeable debut album stocked with ample hooks and key moments aching to have the surface scratched.  If the crux of album promotion is to have a killer song at hand, Roswell Road achieved this early on with the release of the first promotional track at the back end of 2025. 'Back Row ' was full of accessible credentials headed by a catchy melody making it readily detectable in lengthy playlists. The other two songs to appear in the run up offered an alternative dimension to the d...

  On his seventh studio album, Sam Lewis almost presses the reset button and heads back to the raw domain of the stripped back song. Across nine original lyrical compositions, the light shines inwards exposing the skeletal status of country-folk songwriting. EVERYTHING’S FINE eventually gets up to full complement with an instrumental and a cover to propel an album with nothing to hide and everything to gain. From this vulnerable position, Lewis draws upon immense writing chops presenting a package hooking in a listener for a rewarding thirty-plus minutes.  Assigning John Prine as a comparison can be an exaggerated superlative but on two occasions you could be forgiven for sensing the presence of the maestro. Opening track ‘ Chase the Moon ’ possess a killer melody, is ripe with metaphors and meticulously strummed. Any similarity to the aforementioned legend is coincidental… or not. Later in the album, ‘ Making It Up ’ evokes a similar effect albeit with a little more pace....