Album Review | Self Release | Review by Allan Wilkinson | Stars: 4/5 Like a lot of debut albums by gifted musicians who’ve already spent many years honing their craft, Chris Gray’s self-titled inaugural effort is brimming with musical dexterity, ingenuity and expressiveness throughout.  The Lockerbie-born multi-instrumentalist and composer places his inventive whistles and Pipes … Continue reading Chris Gray – Chris Gray

Album Review | Outhere Records | Review by Allan Wilkinson | Stars: 4/5 The debut album by the Accra-based eight-piece collective Santrofi, meaning a rare bird in Akan mythology, captures the dynamism and energy of their live set, seen by many last year at some of Europe’s biggest international festivals, including WOMAD (UK) and WOMEX … Continue reading Santrofi – Alewa

Album Review | Put Together Music | Review by Allan Wilkinson | Stars: 4/5 Subtly paying homage to the legendary blues harp master Little Walter, both visually - a thoroughly relaxed fan sits beside an airstream trailer listening to one of Walter’s records with the gatefold sleeve resting upon her lap, features in the picture … Continue reading The Reverend Shawn Amos and the Brotherhood – Blue Sky

Album Review | Self Release | Review by Allan Wilkinson | Stars: 5/5 If Peter Knight’s post-Steeleye outfit Gigspanner was always going to be a perfectly formed trio and Edgelarks, comprising Hannah Martin and Phillip Henry, were always going to be a perfectly formed duo, then despite some hesitation about whether or not perfectly formed … Continue reading Peter Knight’s Gigspanner Big Band – Natural Invention

Album Review | Self Release | Review by Allan Wilkinson | Stars: 5/5 After a brief period of time away from song writing in order to concentrate on a body of work related to her late father, Catherine MacLellan returns with her sixth album to date, a showcase of mature song writing with melodies you … Continue reading Catherine MacLellan – Coyote

Album Review | Linus Entertainment | Review by Allan Wilkinson | Stars: 4/5 Natalie MacMaster’s status as Canada’s ‘Queen of the Fiddle’ is confirmed once again here with her first album release in eight years.  As expected, there’s some inspired playing on the dozen tracks, not only from Natalie’s own dexterous fingers but also from … Continue reading Natalie MacMaster – Sketches

Album Review | Red Sky Records | Review by Allan Wilkinson | Stars: 3/5 Like most compilations that span decades, they usually provide a good place to start if you are not already familiar with a particular artist’s work. In the case of these thirty songs, the listener is formally introduced to the songwriting legacy … Continue reading Johnny Coppin – 30 Songs

Album Review | Bronson | Review by Marc Higgins | Stars: 3/5 Clever Square from Bologna have the dense, grainy sound of American indie rock. The disinterested knowing leer comes through in Giacomo D’Attorre’s vocals on “Are Glasses And Contacts Ruining Your Vision”. There are guitar sounds or bursts  rather than clever solos, long on … Continue reading Clever Square – Clever Square

Album Review | Song Circle Records | Review by Marc Higgins | Stars: 4/5 Franc Cinelli mixes the rich acoustic guitar of the classic folk singer songwriter with some more contemporary textures and beats. “Adventure / Love” has the feel of early Michael Chapman, with the chiming guitar, eastern raga like percussion and at times … Continue reading Franc Cinelli – Night Songs

Album Review | Self Release | Review by Marc Higgins | Stars: 5/5 Catfish Crawl, the eighteenth album from Catfish Keith is the sound of one man and his acoustic guitar, having a superb time playing dexterous, feel good folk blues. A lifetime of digging into Delta music means Catfish Keith approaches the material with … Continue reading Catfish Keith – Catfish Crawl