Three Chords and the Truth UK

  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....

  Vibes freely flow. Words intuitively swirl. Sounds sweetly melt. Katherine Priddy leans on all the assets at her disposal to conjure a record of serious magnitude. Tossing a poetic instinct into an esteemed pot of musicians brews a stunning concoction of songs steering through personal change and insightful musings. Across ten tracks folk sensibilities court contemporary trappings dealing a sound purring with creative delight. THESE FRIGHTENED MACHINES buries itself into your psyche, inviting you to wallow in warm lyrical waters and bask in the sensuous mesmeric sounds. A single play piques the interest; multiple plays smooth the way for a keeper to bed in. Momentum for Birmingham-based Priddy has been building over the last couple of years. Gentle evolution across subsequent albums accrued growth on numerous platforms with this latest effort accelerating the pace of progression. Released on Cooking Vinyl Records puts Priddy in fine company and affords opportunity to explore past...

  Roswell Road have released the final single from the upcoming album REBEL JOY due on March 13th. Band member Jasmine Watkiss wrote the song from the personal experience of being uncomfortable in certain circumstances, and the theme can transcend its original inspiration to a multitude of other personal interactions. ' Weirdo at the Party' is an escalating track with alt-folk trappings. It leans in a different direction to the first two singles, perhaps requiring a couple more listens to grasp but suggesting the band aren't afraid to mix things up rather than just proceed down a pre-ordained path. All is set for a much anticipated debut full length record.  Weirdo at the Party by Roswell Road

  “You guys are so quiet.” Maybe it was something to do with a spell cast from the stage. A packed room of hypnotised devotees hanging on every lyric and note. The lure of Courtney Marie Andrews is strong, almost addictive. Her steely gaze captures attention and freezes the moment. Noise would breach the code and nobody in the Hare and Hounds was going to do that. “That’s Valentine folks.” A simple end to what was a minimalist exhibition of an album stirring emotive songwriting affection since surfacing in January. A segment designated as act 1. Unfiltered evidence of a songwriter and musician stretching every sinew of their creative nous came to the fore. Forty minutes when the songs spoke for themselves. You could argue the stage became a studio and the gig a session, however this form is the identity and one honed over the last decade as a prominent solo artist.  Courtney Marie Andrews is at ease with communicating through her music. Reenacting a record in its enshrined str...

  There is a creative stir at the heart of post-industrial Birmingham. In the dimly lit quarters of backstreet Digbeth, grimy relics are brought to life beneath the surface. Disguised bars, food joints, performing spaces and improvised studios align to regenerate. A single two level unit located in Minerva Works would likely once have been humming to one of the city’s thousand trades, tonight it purred to a brace of fiddles and guitars. Centrala was born from Central and Eastern European culture; on this Sunday evening the sounds were more Western Europe or to be more precise a curved spine from the west of Scotland through parts of England to the Iberian peninsula. Its performing space was commandeered by two duos, similar in set up, different in sound. Thorpe and Morrison were the hosts but Darach were far more than mere guests. Together they filled the air with mesmeric sounds, and hearts with the vibrant beat of grassroots music.  6:45 is a good time to begin a Sunday even...