Three Chords and the Truth UK

  It was as though time had stood still. Engagement with Red Sky July fizzled out a few years ago after a trio of releases and a couple of ventures out to see them live. The band admitted the last time they visited Birmingham was to open for Beth Neilson Chapman at the Town Hall. That was 2014, a year where the band connected with a lot of new fans. SHADOWBIRDS was the excellent album opening doors and later in the year a first Red Sky July headline gig was caught at the now demised Musician in Leicester. TRUTH AND THE LIE and VOYAGER records followed though alas no more opportunities to see them live. Now fast forward to 2025 and a year of reconnection, at least with some in the Kitchen Garden. A new album and tour dates in support of it brought the years flooding back with the final night being a long awaited return to Birmingham. There was one major change with the line up since the heady days a decade ago. Haley Glennie-Smith has replaced Charity Hair as the third member joinin...

  www.samoutlaw.com The clue is the pun in the title but the fact this collection did not follow the conventional album route is irrelevant. A lot of these quality songs trickled out as digital releases over the last year or so and packaging them in a collectable format adds value to an impressive catalogue. Sam Outlaw has long held sway as an enigmatic performer. His work is often a conduit between staunch country and a desire to intelligently experiment. This album quintessentially spells out the last ten years. Orphaned tracks maybe but now an entity at the heart of a treasured collection.  The Nonessential by Sam Outlaw

  www.theagilmore.net Thea Gilmore has found her new post-pandemic solo format a productive route for a career spanning well over twenty years. Three albums and at least four tours have materialised since the brief surfacing of her temporary moniker Afterlight. The West Midlands regular hosts tour shows with twin Birmingham venues The Glee Club and MAC welcoming her on three occasions since 2021. This time it was the turn of Wolverhampton to roll out the welcome mat, and a sold out sign weeks in advance proved it was a popular choice.  When an artist goes solo there is no place to hide. Gilmore thrives in this setting using her stature and experience to sidestep any blips. The key to this phase, that has been attracting new admirers, is how repeated rays of creativity beam from the music, words and performance. The middle of this trio is most pertinent to one of England's most literary inspired songwriters. She is not afraid to insert spoken word into her work and each song ly...

  www.cartersampson.net There are few as hypnotic and persuasive singer-songwriters as Carter Sampson. The Queen of Oklahoma possesses the knack of sprinkling her stardust in equal portions on both studio recordings and live performances. Oklahoma City’s much loved intimate venue The Blue Door has been the venue of lush live albums before and proves the perfect setting for a Oklahoma luminary to re-stock that all important grass roots accomplice - the merch table. Expect a crisp presentation and an adorable persona to accompany an exceptional artist with the songs to move you. Make this your go-to live album for 2025. 

  www.richielawrence.com Full kudos to the year’s most poignant album title. A message for all to navigate this world and savour beauty in whatever format we desire. The pace of the opening track sets the tone for a record echoing the metaphorical motto. Sweet and rugged vocals intermingle as we glide through a contemplative landscape. Absorbing influences and accomplices’s contributions gives substance applying smoother touches especially to the vocals.  Lawerence is open to sharing from his base as pianist, main writer and chief architect. A mature outlook is sonically captured within a package right on cue and finely laced for the ears.  Moving at the Speed of Trees by Richie Lawrence

Over the last dozen years, each Danny and the Champions World performance (festival set or headline gig) would draw a similar conclusion. You sensed a band playing their hearts out as though the final curtain was about to come down. Such consistency cemented an appeal rewarding a strong bond with an outstanding outfit. There was something different about the Champs return to Birmingham, a town where the relationship is measured in dedication rather than numbers. This time you sensed a band in control and playing with a tight composure. Far from a curtain coming down, the revised five-piece appeared in the zone ready to play for eternity rather than maximising a limited scope.  You cannot underestimate the impact of the latest album, where the band bravely contorted their rock 'n' roll chops in an experimental mood-driven electro direction. YOU ARE NOT A STRANGER HERE needs time to ferment especially to fresh ears. Likewise its live presence matured from a slow moving intro witn...

  www.steveknightley.com Steve Knightley’s lengthy performing career has seen him play large venues and village halls. While Stourbridge may sit somewhere in-between, finding new places to play is always on the radar for one of England’s premier folk artists. Strictly speaking this was actually a return visit to Katie Fitzgeralds’s, although the performing space has radically changed. The introduction reminisced about a show over twenty years ago in the venue’s now mothballed cellar stage. In 2025 live music is held in Katie’s Secret Garden, a purpose built annexe superbly appointed and equipped to host performing arts. With the seated capacity almost full, the scene was set for an entertaining evening of solo-performed songs and stories.  Since announcing an indefinite hiatus for Show of Hands, Steve Knightley has been exploring other aspects of his craft. Key output was a solo album released in 2024 titled THE WINTER YARDS and now two extensive run of dates. Stourbridge was ...

  www.nikkioneill.com Make an album accessible and sweet sounding and you are half way there. Stack it with interest arousing story songs and its potential starts to unravel. Nikki O’Neill’s soulful driven Americana is just the tonic to brighten up a record collection with a fresh and vibrant bunch of songs. All the classic soul and r’n’ b sounds mingle with a range of tempos. Agreeable vocals and top musicianship tackle personal issues of inclusion and migration, pertinent for a resettled American with a European upbringing. The eleven tracks leave a warm glow inducing further artist delving. Sample lavishly at your pleasure.  Stories I Only Tell My Friends by Nikki O'Neill

  www.regmeuross.com The match is spot on. Reg Meuross has cultivated a role as a modern protest singer, so the call to reinterpret the life of Woody Guthrie was a smart move. Four covers keep the iconic music of the Dustbowl troubadour in the spotlight; twelve original compositions spin the project on a different axis. Meticulous research combines with astute songwriting to view a life from multiple angles. Voices and events inspire the writing wrapped in a sprightly soundtrack. The accompanying insert essay adds context as a flame of importance gets fanned when needed most. A folk spirit captured and significantly nurtured.  Fire & Dust: A Woody Guthrie Story by Reg Meuross

www.themexicanstandoff.com The spirit of music can take your mind anywhere. Buckle up for a journey from your own home to an exotic border town filled with a joyous fiesta where music moves each sinew and vein. Bi-lingual vocals strip away frontiers as sonic waves send messages of hope, unity and pure fun. The Mexican Standoff achieve this in six vibrant tracks melding the Hispanic cocktail of Texas and California. No wheel reinvented, just an all-female line up tapping into heritage talent carrying an atmospheric style further on its way. Ending with softly spun sublime steel delivers a fitting adios.  

  www.krisdelmhorst.com From the tempting chimes of 'Summer’s Growing Old ', you feel sated in the warm presence of Kris Delmhorst. Eleven acutely crafted songs gently drift around majoring on a variety of tempos. Mature Americana with twists of contemporary folk emanate from a classy singer-songwriter, a frequent curator of pedigree releases. ' Won’t Be Long' punctuates a serene template with resonating energy, while ' Age of Innocence ' glitters in melodic gold. Multiple themes are explored in the lyrics. Precedented high standards are met in the stride of an accomplished performer. The music of Kris Delmhorst turns heads. GHOSTS IN THE GARDEN continues the trend. 

  www.facebook.com/sylvielewismusic LIVES WISELY presents Sylvie Lewis in a fluid and uninhibited mode as she lets her sound freely roam across various landscapes. The sheen comes courtesy of vocals born to softly serenade. Covering John Prine suggests a songwriting radar in the right place and evidence mounts with each listen. Light jazz influences sparkle in the early stages before contemporary folk leanings take the lead, most pleasingly in ' Everything Waits to Begin' . A touch of steel towards the end is also welcome. The deeply personal ' Famous to Me' draws a keen ear as an eloquently desirable record sets a positive tone throughout. 

  www.steveknightley.com Full marks for the pun or a major groan. Away from the title, you are cordially invited to a Steve Knightley indulgence as he celebrates the work of two of his heroes in a compact and coordinated album. Bob Dylan and Martin Carthy are two of the most documented icons in folk music since its revival. Twelve songs from their canon including some well travelled across popular music get a sparse reworking by an artist himself at the pinnacle of his field.  The rotation and pairing work well  to leave a record able to make an impact in select settings .  www.elm-farm-music.com/positively-folk

The night itself may not have been unique but the tour certainly is. Collaborations between high calibre artists is not unusual with the impact often having an immediate effect. It was Mary Chapin Carpenter's itchy creative urge that first reached out to two of Scotland's most eminent folk artists in the aftermath of the pandemic, namely Julie Fowlis and Karine Polwart. From a launching pad of an inaugural Celtic Connections concert it was systems go as the trio headed off to a secluded place to write the songs set to cement the relationship. Fast forward to the early months of 2025 and the album is now out for wider enjoyment alongside an opportunity for a lucky few to see it played live.  Birmingham Town Hall hung up the sold out sign as 900 fans headed to this lavish location for a prompt 7:30 start. All three artists are no strangers to the Town Hall and its slightly larger neighbour: the Symphony Hall. Whether through solo shows or part of events such as Transatlantic Sess...

  Carter Sampson indicated how lucky she is to be doing what she does. Likewise those overseas who have enjoyed the music of the self-anointed ‘Queen of Oklahoma’ for over a decade are exceedingly lucky. Meanwhile ‘Lucky’ was the track that closed this Carter Sampson show with a difference. Not only was this a first appearance at Thimblemill Library, a brand new incarnation in the Carter Sampson Band is hitting the UK for the first time. The band were new to Carter but not to keen observers of the UK Americana scene. The list of artists and bands to benefit from the guitar skills of Joe Coombs, bass playing of Scott Warman and Jamie Dawson’s drumming is getting lengthier by the tour. A credit to their versatility and ability to adapt seamlessly. They brought a renewed dimension to Carter’s songs, impressively from the high bar of their solo eminence. Across two sets, a stylish demeanour shared engaging stories and anecdotes fashioning life in Oklahoma.  Carter joined a growin...