Category Archives: Album reviews

Folk/bluegrass: album review – Damien O’Kane & Ron Block ‘Banjovial’

Album reviews, Folk music, , , , , ,

Dubbed a ‘banjo bromance’ following two highly successful albums, Damien O’Kane and Ron Block are now back with a third.

The pair’s USP is all about fusing the equally distinctive sounds of the five-string banjo (that highly rhythmic sound prominent in American bluegrass) and the tenor banjo (heard in countless renditions of traditional Irish jigs and reels).

Northern-Ireland born Damien O’Kane (with an enviable CV as a musician working in the traditional sphere and husband of folk singer Kate Rusby) plays the latter; while California-born Ron Block (with a slew of Grammy awards and best known for his work with Alison Kraus & Union Station) plays the former.

As with the previous Banjophonics album released in 2022 (reviewed here), Banjovial is a mainly instrumental album that showcases their unique and highly infectious style across an array of equally inventive tunes.

The duo don’t write together. Each of the tunes on the album are written by one or the other but the individual labours of each are often paired together in some imaginative tune-sets. Block’s beautifully mellow ‘Shabby and Cookie’, for example, (inspired by a couple of easy-going black cats who showed up when his children were young) is coupled with O’Kane’s much more frenetic ‘St. Patrick’s Day’ (so titled because he wrote it on St. Patrick’s Day).

Both Block and O’Kane also contribute a song a piece, with Block taking lead vocal on the genuinely lovely ‘Love Is Like That’ – written as a tribute to his mother; and O’Kane taking the lead on ‘The Loudest Word’ – a charming paean to the power of music and kindness.

As with its two predecessors, Banjovial showcases stunningly adept musicianship, both from the two main protagonists with their respective banjos, and from the talented cast of long-time collaborators and special guests. Yet again, they take us on a captivating journey across a range of musical styles, moods and tempos, proving once more that the humble banjo continues to attain new heights of cool in the hands of these two.  

Released: 3rd October 2025 https://damienokane.co.uk/band/

Related posts:

Folk/bluegrass: album review – Damien O’Kane & Ron Block ‘Banjophonics’

Eagles / Robert Plant & Alison Krauss at Hyde Park 2022

This week’s featured artist: Scottish folk musician and singer-songwriter Donald WG Lindsay

Album reviews, Folk music, , , , ,

Two Boats Under the Moon is the solo song debut of Scottish musician and musical instrument inventor and builder, Donald WG Lindsay.

Writing in the accompanying album notes, the Scottish folk musician Alasdair Roberts observes:

“Donald WG Lindsay is rightly renowned as a piper of considerable skill, and many will be aware of his innovative work as the inventor of the novel extended-range chanter system which bears his name. However what many piping aficionados (as well as more general listeners) might not know is that he is also a very fine singer, guitarist and writer of songs.”

“It might seem confounding that it’s taken Donald until now, in his late forties, to release his first full-length album of songs (following the 2003 Album of pipe tunes To the Drum of the Sea). But he’s a careful, patient man; one surmises that he’s been quietly and diligently serving out a very thorough apprenticeship, emerging when he feels the time is right as a fully-formed master craftsman. And, as if making up for lost time, he’s generously bestowed upon the world a long-awaited double album, spanning some ninety-one minutes over fourteen tracks.”

Two Boats Under the Moon is a two-disc collection of 14 live-in-the-studio recordings, made during December 2024 at Watercolour Music in Ardgour, in the Scottish Highlands.Lindsay sings, plays guitar, and plays on his own Lindsay System Scottish smallpipes. Roo Geddes plays fiddle, and on three numbers, piano.

The first disc is themed as a disc of original songs, including ‘Casuarina’ inspired by the casuarina trees Lindsay encountered during his three-year stay on Ascension Island in the South Atlantic. They are also known as the whistling tree, after the distinctive shushing or whispering sound made by its pines when even a light breeze blows through them. The title track ‘Two Boats Under the Moon‘ is another song Lindsay wrote during his stay on Ascension Island. This first disc also includes a setting of a Scots poem by Vale of Leven poet Hugh Caldwell to an original tune he wrote a few years ago, and a rendition of a little-sung number by Allan Ramsay ‘An Thou Were My Ain Thing’.

The second disc is themed as a disc of traditional, mainly Scots, songs from a variety of sources and directions. These are songs that have held their seat in Lindsay’s repertoire for many years – in most cases for many decades. This second disc also includes two instrumental sets, pairing Roo’s fiddle with Donald’s Bb Lindsay System Scottish smallpipes.

Released back in May, the album has received numerous plaudits from reviewers as well as attracting warm reactions from fellow musicians as diverse as singer-songwriter, Tom Brosseau; piper and composer, Matthew Welch; and rock and roll legend, Iggy Pop.

With a voice rich in character, poignant songwriting and inspired interpretations of traditional material, Donald WG Lindsay’s Two Boats Under The Moon is a delightful album with beautifully-evocative musical accompaniment.

Released: 2 May 2025 https://www.donaldwglindsay.com/

Folk: album review – Ninebarrow ‘The Hour of the Blackbird’

Album reviews, Folk music, , , , , , ,

After twelve years performing together and five extremely well-received studio albums, the folk duo Ninebarrow revisit some favourite songs with reworkings of material from their back catalogue. All of the key components you would expect from a Ninebarrow release are present and correct here: the lovely vocal harmonies of Jon Whitley and Jay LaBouchardiere, the intuitive connection to the natural world around us and the innovative adaptation of traditional material combined with compelling original songwriting.

However, the extra magical ingredient that is sprinkled throughout this collection are the stunning choral accompaniments, with Whitley’s and LaBouchardiere’s own harmony vocals joined by over forty others, courtesy of two locally-based choirs: Hart Voices from Hampshire and Chantry Singers from Surrey.

The genesis of the project can be traced back to the Covid lockdown, when the moratorium on live performances gave rise to a plethora of online concerts, Zoom choirs and sundry charity fundraising singles, the latter ranging in quality from the genuinely breath-taking to the frankly bizarre. But while we can safely assume that few people now sit at home listening to Captain Tom’s rendition of ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’, Ninebarrow’s own charity single for MIND, ‘The Hour of the Blackbird’, certainly does stand  up artistically. What’s more, it convinced the duo that there was further mileage yet in such an approach.

Jay LaBouchardiere: “The response to that blew us away with people making donations from all over the world and we thought if one song can sound this good recorded through phones and laptops imagine what a studio collaboration could sound like.”

The result is simply stunning, with the thirteen tracks on The Hour of the Blackbird showcasing some truly spellbinding choral arrangements which take Ninebarrow’s elegant, understated, trademark magic to new heights. From the ethereal qualities of ‘Names In The Sky’ to the heart-warming optimism of the title track to the jaunty defiance of live favourite ‘The Weeds’, to the fresh take on folk perennial ‘John Barleycorn’, there’s plenty to marvel at here. A wonderfully uplifting album.

Released: 3 October 2025 https://www.ninebarrow.co.uk/

Related posts:

Album review: Ninebarrow – The Colour of Night

Album review – Ninebarrow ‘A Pocket Full of Acorns’

This week’s featured artist: singer-songwriter Jim Borrows – debut album ‘Carry Me Back to My Old Front Door’

Album reviews, Folk music, Rock music, , , , , , , , , ,

Jim Borrows will not be a name many people will have heard of but back in July, after a lifetime of playing piano primarily for his own amusement, he fulfilled a long-held ambition of releasing his debut album. Of course, many musicians have trodden a similar path and while many aspects of the modern-day music industry may be broken, technology has made it easier than ever for emerging artists to record and release new music these days.

What immediately marks Borrows’ venture out from many others, however, is the friends he’s been able to call upon to bring his dream to fruition. Firstly, it’s produced by experienced multi-instrumentalist and highly talented producer, James Wood, who also contributes guitars, keyboards, percussion and backing vocals to the album.

James wood, Jim Borrows and Dave Pegg

Moreover, and of particular interest to any fans of folk rock legends Fairport Convention, it features the band’s veteran bass-player, Dave Pegg, who contributes bass, mandolin and electric guitar. And just to underline the Fairport connections even further, the album also features an additional guest appearance from the band’s fiddle supremo, Ric Sanders, who contributes electric violin on one track, a cover of Dylan’s ‘Seven Days’.

As Sanders recollects in this summer’s Cropredy festival programme, Borrows’ and Fairport’s paths first crossed when the band were doing some of their European riverboat cruises and they performed various themed karaoke nights together. “Jim was without doubt the star performer,” noted Sanders. “Not only a great singer but also a fine pianist.”

Anyone who has seen Fairport on stage with guest artists will know that Peggy and co. can turn their hand to a whole panoply of musical styles, far beyond the folk rock canon with which they are most closely associated. Carry Me Back To My Old Front Door is no exception.

Featuring seven of Borrows’ own compositions and alongside six Bob Dylan covers and a couple of further covers of Neil Young and Sandy Denny songs, it’s an entertaining album. Borrows own compositions are highly personal chronicles of a range of his experiences and thoughts on themes including time, life and love; and they reflect his multiple influences, including The Beatles and Bob Dylan. Sleeve notes and lyrics for the self-penned compositions are contained in the detailed twelve-page CD liner notes.

With Borrows’ piano and vocals front and centre, ably assisted by the hugely talented Pegg and Wood, Carry Me Back To My Old Front Door creates a jazzy, bluesy singer-song-writer vibe with some compelling rock elements. It’s well worth checking out.

As Fairport Convention’s own Chris Leslie sums it up: “A lovely album with some fab song writing from Jim.”

Released: 18 July 2025 – Available to stream and download from all major platforms. For CDs, contact jimborrows@yahoo.co.uk

Related posts:

Interview with Fairport Convention’s Dave Pegg

Interview with Fairport Convention’s Ric Sanders

Live review: Fairport’s Cropredy Convention August 2025

Folk: Album review – Amelia Hogan ‘Burnished’

Album reviews, Folk music, , , , , , ,

I really enjoyed Taking Flight, the 2023 album by San Francisco-based folk singer, Amelia Hogan, praising her distinctive vocal style and the album’s beautiful musical accompaniment when I reviewed it two years ago. It wasn’t just me who thought that either. The album picked up many favourable reviews and made the top ten of the Folk Alliance International chart in the month it was released. Now Hogan is back with a brand-new album, Burnished.

Like Taking Flight there’s one song that’s a self-composed original which is written in a traditional style, with the remaining thirteen tracks being a mixture of traditional numbers and Hogan’s own interpretations of songs by more contemporary songwriters.

Amelia Hogan: “The album highlights familiar, often overlooked folklore about real places, sharing the hidden magic found in connecting with the natural world and its spirits of place, or Genius Loci. It also reflects on the emotional impact of remembering an animist perspective (what happens when we act as if everything around us is conscious?), where we share our space with everything around us-both seen and unseen. Through this, I encourage us to approach our relationships mindfully – with people, nature, and the world we co-inhabit.”

Highlights include the self-composed opening track, ‘Rolling in the Gold’ – a lovely song with both Americana and Celtic influences and described as ‘a love-song to California’. The traditional material includes a poignant version of ‘Wayfaring Stranger’ a seventeenth century American spiritual with roots back in England; as well as a lively, uplifting version of ‘Dh’eirich Mi Moch Madainn Chetein’ – a traditional Gaelic song originally sung by textile workers in the Scottish highlands as they treated wool in the process of making tweed.

Other material on the album includes a heartfelt rendition of the Irish singer, Dominic Behan’s ‘Patriot Game’. Originally written in the 1950s reflecting on the Troubles in Ireland, Hogan gives it renewed potency as a warning of the dangers of blind patriotism and manipulation by unscrupulous political leaders.

With Hogan’s characteristically distinctive vocals, intuitive feel for emotive story-telling and gorgeous instrumentation, Burnished is a worthy follow-up to Taking Flight.

Released: 1 April 2025 https://ameliahogan.com/

Related post:

Latest folk reviews: Amelia Hogan, RURA, Milton Hide, Joy Dunlop and Megson

This week’s featured artists: folk trio Curmudgeon – new album Travelling North

Album reviews, Folk music, Uncategorized, , , , , , ,

Travelling North is the debut album from this Edinburgh-based folk trio. Curmudgeon is made up of Donald Gorman, Laurie Brett, Donald Gorman and Andrew Macintyre

Donald Gorman is a highly rated Edinburgh-based fiddle player specialising in traditional Scottish music. He also plays mandola and adds accompanying vocals on the album.

Laurie Brett, meanwhile, is the band’s lead singer and guitarist and although originally from Essex, he’s spent the last four decades based in Scotland.

The third member of the trio, Andrew Macintyre, is a familiar figure on the Edinburgh folk session scene and a teacher of small pipes and highland pipes. In the band he plays Scottish small pipes and various whistles as well as providing vocals.

Photo: Caitlynn Neil

The ten-track album features five songs interspersed with five tune-sets. The songs are drawn from the trad. arr. canon with a couple of contemporary folk-scene favourites thrown in, including a reworking of the Richard Thompson classic ‘Beeswing’. Meanwhile the tune-sets feature a charming array of traditional  jigs, airs, reels and hornpipes originating from Scotland and the north of England.

There’s a quiet, gentle dignity about the trio’s music but no shortage of creativity. The arrangements are built around the wonderful musical interplay between the three musicians. The warm, engaging vocals of  both Brett and Macintyre bring empathy and sincerity to the storytelling in each of the songs and informative liner-notes provide insightful background information on the origins of each of the compositions.

Regardless of the name, it’s clear the trio have been anything but curmudgeonly in the way they’ve approached the making of Travelling North. A lovely debut.  

Released: 1 June 2025 https://www.curmudgeonfolk.co.uk/

Alt-rock: album review – Revolution Rabbit Deluxe ‘Rise’

Album reviews, Rock music, Uncategorized, , , , ,

Formed in Blackwood, South Wales in 2019 the deliciously-named Revolution Rabbit Deluxe are Ant Gingell (vocals/guitar), Max Perera (vocals/guitar), Tim Lawley (bass) and Lee Titterrell (drums). The band-name was  inspired by Gingell’s lifelong love of said furry friends with the random thought of one of them appearing on an iconic Che Guevara-style poster coming to him during a car journey discussing potential names one day. The ‘Deluxe’ part was then added to give a bit of extra sparkle.

The Pixies, Smashing Pumpkins and Feeder are all cited as influences, alongside the Beatles and XTC.

https://revolutionrabbitdeluxe.bandcamp.com/track/parabellum

As the name might imply, Revolution Rabbit Deluxe are a band that certainly don’t shy away from strident political commentary in their music. The new album Rise addresses such themes as Elon Musk and Jeff Bezoz blowing money on their pet space projects while children die of hunger (‘Chapter 9’); the fashion for cheap, easy virtue-signalling while failing to address fundamental issues of corporate power and economic inequality (‘We’re So Woke – We Haven’t Slept in Years’); and standing up and being counted (‘Rise’).

While there’s certainly anger and angst (and why shouldn’t there be!), there’s also plenty of joy, optimism and bags and bags of catchy melodies to be found on this album. The shared male/female vocals also work extremely well and while Gingell takes the lead vocal on the songs already mentioned, Max Perera provides some light and shade on the album with her lead vocal contributions on tracks like the anthemic ‘Starlight’ and the more mellow, acoustically-driven ‘The Night The Stars Fell’ which closes the album.

With it’s catchy tunes, spiky lyrics and punky attitude, Rise is well worth a listen.

Released: 19 September 2025 by Bad Monkey Records

This week’s featured artist: traditional flute player, Frances Morton – new album ‘Sliocht’

Album reviews, Folk music, , , , , , , , ,

Growing up in Glasgow, Frances Morton is a much celebrated flute-player with familial roots in both Scotland and Ireland. Learning piano at a young age, she later took up whistle and flute, winning several All-Ireland medals and becoming immersed in the session scenes in both Scotland and Ireland.

Since then, Morton has performed at festivals and concerts across Europe and the USA and has appeared in programmes for the BBC and TG4. Now living in Ireland, she has been active in the session scenes in Belfast, Galway and Donegal, playing alongside local musicians.​

Sliocht is Morton’s debut solo album. Meaning ‘trace’ or ‘lineage’, it celebrates Morton’s Scottish and Irish musical heritage where, from her extensive repertoire, she has curated a selection of jigs, reels, strathspeys and marches that have held a particular meaning for her throughout her life, all accompanied by an extensive set of liner notes, tracing the origins of the traditional tunes and explaining where she first learned them.

https://francesmorton.bandcamp.com/track/the-mayo-set-seit-mhaigh-eo

Produced by guitarist, Eamon McElholm, the album features a number of the top-flight traditional musicians Morton has collaborated with over the years, including fiddle-player, Ciarán Tourish; singer, Doimnic Mac Giolla Bhríde, on the one vocal track; Mark Maguire and Seamus O’Kane playing bodhrán on several tracks; and Ryan O’Donnell and Malcolm Stitt on bouzouki. Julie Langan, fiddle player from Mayo, also plays on one track.

From lively jigs to mighty reels to graceful airs, this album is packed full of majestic tunes and equally majestic playing, immediately transporting the listener from wherever they may be to the bars, community halls and timeless rugged landscapes of Scotland and Ireland. Dedicated to the memory of her late father, Sliocht celebrates Frances Morton’s musical heritage in style and does her forebears proud.

Released: 15 March 2025  www.francesmorton.com

Americana: album review – John Jenkins ‘Restless Hearts’

Album reviews, americana, Uncategorized, , , , ,

Singer-songwriter, John Jenkins, was once part of Liverpool’s ‘80s post-punk scene as a member of The Persuaders and Come in Tokio but as the decades rolled on it was as a solo performer and on the Americana scene where he began to really make his mark.

I reviewed his third album, the extremely promising Growing Old (Songs From My Front Porch) back in 2020, noting “Jenkins’ lyrics have a nice turn of phrase to them and he can clearly turn out some really, strong memorable melodies, too.”

A further album, If You Can’t Forgive You Can’t Love followed in 2021. However, it was his next album Tuebrook, that appeared to be something of a gamechanger and cemented his reputation as a critically-acclaimed figure on the UK’s Americana scene. Following a well-received EP, Weary, in 2024, Jenkins is back with a new full-length album.

John Jenkins: “My previous album, Tuebrook, was deeply personal, with most tracks drawing inspiration from significant moments in my own life. For this new album, I aimed to return to storytelling, crafting narratives that were less autobiographical yet still rich in character and emotion. Even while consciously creating fictional personas, I found that elements from my own experiences and the lives of those around me naturally wove their way into the fabric of the songs. The result is a blend of truth and fiction, where distinguishing one from the other is often challenging.”

Drawing inspiration from Bob Dylan’s John Wesley Harding album and Nanci Griffiths’ Last of the True Believers, Restless Hearts explores the theme of restlessness with songs about those who, in one way or another, are searching for more in their lives.

Restless Hearts demonstrates just what a gifted storyteller John Jenkins is. Its twelve tracks hit the sweet spot in capturing that enigmatic blend of sadness, longing and hope, set to some instantly appealing melodies and with a crack squad of A-list musicians, bringing depth, emotion and sheer class to this gorgeous collection songs. Highly recommended.

Released: 4 July 2025 https://www.johnjenkinsmusic.com/

Related Post:

Album review – John Jenkins ‘Growing Old (Songs From My Front Porch)’

This week’s featured artists: psychedelic indie alt-rock band, Innocents Abroad

Album reviews, Rock music, , , , , , , ,

Psychedelic indie alt-rock band, Innocents Abroad, were formed in Liverpool by four students in the 1980s: Martin Malone (guitar), Peter Mills (vocals), Stuart Hilton (drums) and Steve Goodrich (keyboards). After recording two albums (Quaker City in 1986 and Eleven in 1988) the band went their separate ways and, like many other bands of that era that was seemingly the end of the story.

But improbably, they released their third album back in March of this year. Three of the four original members (Hilton, Malone and Mills) are back in the fold, each bringing their different musical perspectives and life experiences. These days, Hilton occupies the drum-stool  for the band, Cult Figures, alongside running a degree course in animation; while Malone has pursued a solo career as well as recording with both Eskimo Chains and The Scaremongers and is also an award-winning poet. After spending time in Eastern Europe, meanwhile, Mills returned to the UK to teach music at English universities. Around ten years ago, they started occasionally playing together once again, with Malone and Mills eventually writing songs with one another and the bones of an album beginning to take shape.

With the addition of Jane Breed (bass/vocals) Late Spring weaves together the band’s love of jangly Rickenbacker rock with strands of European pop and folk music, Bossa Nova and cult movie soundtracks. Once memorably hailed by the Guardian as a “home-grown answer to REM”, the new album has picked up plenty of plaudits, with comparisons being made to the US Paisley Underground scene and bands like Hüsker Dü and 10,000 Maniacs. Listening to Late Spring there’s no shortage of home-grown comparisons to make either – and devotees of Merseyside legends like The Las and The Coral will find lots to love here.

With jangling Rickenbacker, soaring melodies and joy-infused, trippy vibes, Innocents Abroad have created a polished and confident album bursting with exquisitely-crafted indie-pop anthems.

Late Spring released: 31 March 2025

https://innocentsabroad3.bandcamp.com/album/late-spring