Three Chords and the Truth UK

Listening to any Old Man Luedecke album is a pleasurable experience and the fruits of his latest endeavours show no deviation from the norm. Apart from his own zestful exuberance for sharing a bottomless pit of creative outpourings via the folk and roots music medium, Luedecke has once again teamed up with Tim O’Brien, forming a formidable force of joint Grammy and Juno winners. DOMESTIC ECCENTRIC rattles along with maximum effect showing the value of the purposeful song wrapped in a velvet blanket of spellbinding acoustic musicianship. The album is once again released on the esteemed Canadian label True North Records, a trusted source for outstanding traditional inspired music. Luedecke and O’Brien took themselves off to a cabin in a secluded part of Nova Scotia to make the record, mainly employing straight from the floor recording techniques. Whether pinning the sound to banjo, fiddle, mandolin or guitar, the input from O’Brien has proved invaluable. This creates a vibrant bac...

Taylor  Goldsmith Two key moments summed up Dawes performance on the opening night of the Shrewsbury Folk Festival. Only a few songs into their set, frontman Taylor Goldsmith almost apologised for their presence by indicating that ‘underneath all the electric and amplification these were just a bunch of folk songs.’ Upon completion of their scintillating performance, compere Steve Knightley strode onto the stage adding nothing more than proclaiming ‘that was a band’. What the main stage had just witnessed was a sublime exhibition of classic American folk rock, bristling with spellbinding musicianship providing a magnificent backdrop for Goldsmith to wrap his unequivocal vocal style around a deluge of top rate songs. The booking may have been a left field choice and a desire to unleash a dose of West Coast folk rock on festival goers, but the sheer class of Dawes paid off the decision tenfold. Attendance at this four day festival over the August Bank Holiday weekend was curta...

CONFLICT TOURISM may be one of the more interesting album titles of the year and it is to the credit of Kat Gilmore and Jamie Roberts that the substance of the record far outweighs the intrigue. The major award nominated duo have created their own niche in the wave of young folk artists adding a youthful vibrancy to the genre. This niche is set to become an entrenched anchor as the new album possesses an enormous depth of song writing superiority. This strong album is full of magical moments combining enthralling stories, highly crafted songs and a balanced delivery reaching across the purist divide. Apart from their established duo act, Kat and Jamie have professional music activities elsewhere and diving deep into the construction of this record will reveal a marked differentiation to each of their input. The writing of the eleven songs is credited to either artist with Jamie just edging the numerical advantage with six cuts and the general rule of thumb is that the writer lea...

The contrasting structure of the album title suggests an artist toying with a multitude of feelings. This leads into a record supported by a strong indie spine, flavoured with folk sensibilities and allowed to saunter into occasional classic rock territory. ALONE, TOGETHER is Daniel Pearson’s third album release and joins his previous efforts in punching above its weight. This time a central streak of orchestral grandeur weaves around the variety of core guitar input suggesting a middling maturity to Daniel’s music. Not an ounce of the forty minute playing time is wasted as nine tracks succinctly portray the intended conviction of a singer-songwriter strong on sentimental message. The numerous string arrangements differentiate this from Daniel’s other albums which have all had their release on Saint in the City Records. However the carefully constructed lyrics remain to decorate a clarity evocative vocal style ensuring maximum listener impact. If you’re acquainted with Daniel’s mus...

When The Stray Birds are in town, old time is cool. On the back of widespread acclaim for their performances at Cambridge Folk Festival and assorted dates, the roots trio originally from Lancaster Pennsylvania rolled into Stafford to once again demonstrate a timeless breath taking spin on the beautiful fusion of harmony, virtuoso musicianship and an innate ability to capture the spirit of a bygone age. With precision skill, the band’s performance ascended to impressive heights, maturing with each song that continually portrayed the trio in a different configuration. This ranged from the lead vocal interchange of Maya de Vitry and Oliver Craven, not forgetting the multiple contributions in this facet from bassist Charles Muench, to the instrumental exchange of mandolin, fiddle and guitars. Whatever the format, the single mic soaked up the sound before projecting its elegance to a near-sold out venue. The guys from the town’s Fish Records promoted this show which was held in The Met...

She was first introduced this year as an ‘Alabama sweetheart’ on the Saturday of the Maverick Festival and what a fine ambassador for her home state Debbie Bond has proved to be. Since that glorious day at the beginning of July, Debbie and her husband/musical partner Rick Asherson have stayed in the country playing countless gigs to continue to promote the state via their brand of inspirational blues music. This evening they swapped the idyllic surroundings of rural Suffolk for a more down to earth pub in Bromsgrove, Worcestershire without any let up in their mission to thrill, inform and most of all entertain. Debbie wasn’t the first Alabama based artist to tread the boards of the Hop Pole this year as Hannah Aldridge payed the venue in March. Co-incidentally Hannah also appeared at the Maverick Festival as part of the themed Alabama feature. While Hannah’s heady mix of country, folk and soul music ventures heavily into Americana territory, Debbie keeps her feet firmly planted in...

In the past Sarah MacDougall will always be remembered as the artist who played an encore song at the Kitchen Garden Café in Birmingham standing on a table amongst a small gathering of people. The evening like so many gigs there was a thoroughly enjoyable one. Alas no return visit has meant a little detachment from Sarah’s music, which has now been reversed via a re-introduction through the channels of her new album GRAND CANYON. Where perception of Sarah was of a straight down the middle Canadian folk singer, this new record heralds a highly explorative and experimental artist ready to stretch the boundaries of the genre. The result is an eight track record, though its thirty four minute running time accumulates the standard album feel, which does require a little industry of the listener and a freeing of the mind to unlock the merits of its content. Perhaps it was that lodged memory of Sarah that persisted with the album, an action that paid off while coming across others who ...

The search for that genuine powerhouse vocalist to grace the UK Americana scene can be called off as Lauren Housley announces her formal arrival into the full length recording world. Her debut album SWEET SURRENDER has been a long time coming and any pain from the journey can be immediately extinguished right from the opening snippets of the first track. Where others pretend, Lauren mixes genuine gift, a keen ear and an authentic path to unleash a special record which has the potential to interest the mainstream, while being totally anchored to the terms of the untainted independent. The rose colour of her home has switched from white to red over the formative years of a burgeoning career, but the prosperous blooming of the music should entail a nationwide interest for starters. Rather than hooking on one specific genre, Lauren draws upon inspiration from country, soul and blues to form this ten track collection, rich in fine song writing and utilising the collective authority o...

They say good things come in threes and Case Hardin’s new album COLOURS SIMPLE explicitly lives up to this quip. It’s their issue number three on the Clubhouse Records label, the third full collaboration from the four core band members and the astute listener can implicitly detect three strands to the sound of the record. On by far one of the most interesting releases of 2015 to date, Pete Gow leads Case Hardin into the territory of song writing excellence, ensuring every ounce of small letter soul infiltrates each crevice to once again proclaim the majesty of the full album. To further ingrain that classic feel, the liner notes inspire with heartfelt nostalgia alongside some beautiful mind bending cover art suggesting a blending of simplicity with the abstract. This is in tune with the mood of the album which blossoms with maturity and intelligence as the listener is taken on a path, dark in places, but for ever lit up by the glow of Gow’s lyrical brilliance. This pedigree rele...

The sad song troubadour with a voice burrowing deep into an emotive state of mind returns in the mystique that is Daniel Romano and the vehicle of his latest album release IF I’VE ONLY ONE TIME ASKIN’. It’s a pure record paradoxically heavy on production, far from single driven and achingly formed for the vinyl event. The Canadian can come across as a curious character on stage, probably due to being someone totally engrossed in his music, which has that compass pointing in the right direction on a path to righteousness and once again blessed with the winning formula. Daniel is unequivocally and reassuringly country. Many addictive plays of the disc reveal a record commendable from tracks one to eleven. Although that killer number like ‘ Helen’s Restaurant’ from 2011’s SLEEP BENEATH THE WILLOW remains allusive, perhaps time and the live experience may ultimately crown a subsequent heir. In the meantime a trio of tracks in the latter part of the album make credible cases for pea...

Once you’ve spent thirty minutes in the musical presence of Mo Kenney, the spell of her magnetic appeal is a lasting emotion. The event referred to was the support slot Mo played for Rachel Sermanni last year and once hooked you eagerly await the next move. Well in the UK, the follow up to Mo’s debut album, which was a popular purchase on the aforementioned evening, is now about to be released and it further enshrines the enigma that is Mo Kenney. Instantly the more ratchetted up sound will hit your senses hard as IN MY DREAMS steers you away from the previous sensitive song writer into an artist with a greater profound impact. Of course this is likely to be your introduction to Mo Kenney and be prepared for an unconventional record where a pop tinge belies the deep and dark undertones buried within the lyrical substance. Bordering on insular and heavily in explorative mode, this album challenges itself to maximise the impression in its thirty minute duration and is forever fasci...

More known for projecting the talent of south coast England, the good guys from Hidden Trail Records and At the Helm Records have teamed up, broadened their wings and delivered a brand new sound from the west coast of America in the guise of M Lockwood Porter. Titled 27 for the obvious rock n’ roll reason, this is Porter’s first European release and unveils an album cut and primed in the model Americana tradition. Underpinned by a combination of folk spirit, singer-songwriter sentiment and rock drive, the record delivers a well-balanced listen, steeped in formula while containing enough edges to lift it out of the malaise of like-minded releases. All ten tracks have been written by Porter who also took control of the production duties during its recording in San Francisco. Predominately driven by guitar with assured vocals, the album dabbles in an assortment of pedal steel, harmonica and keys as well as sufficiently varying its pace to hook in your absolute attention. The album ...

Its name belied the northern location of the host city, but undeniably the air was full of sounds, smells and sentiments that meant for one weekend Perth in Scotland could make a valid claim as the UK’s capital of American roots music. The Southern Fried Festival resumed its role as a pre-eminent force in fulfilling a desire for folks to indulge in a romantic love affair with cultural and culinary offerings from that collective group of states affectionately known as the ‘Deep South’. Alongside the daily serving of inventive soul food (far from your usual feast of festival transient cuisine), the organisers once again invited an exceptional band of guests to ensure the whole pot of bubbling roots music was represented with artists excelling in styles such as gospel, soul, blues, bluegrass, country, folk and Cajun. Throw in some good ole rock n’ roll and that indefinable genre of Americana into the mix before being served expertly by home grown artists from either  side of the ...