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.
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.
Greenshanks is the alter-ego of Will Boyd-Wallis from Strathspey in the Scottish Highlands. He gained recognition performing at Glasgow’s Celtic Connections in 2023 where he was a finalist at the Danny Kyle Open Stage. Stormbird is his debut EP and after forty years of playing and writing music, this is the first time any of his songs have been officially released.
The five-track EP features a stellar cast of notable musicians from the Scottish contemporary folk scene. As well as Boyd-Wallis (vocals, guitar, guitalele), Stormbird boasts Hamish Napier (harmonium, organ, piano); James Lindsey (double bass, electric bass): James Mackintosh (percussion); Ross Ainslie (low whistle); Becky Doe (viola, violin); and Iain Forrest (slide guitar).
Will Boyd-Wallis:“This EP has been a long time coming. The first track Fistful of Sand has been growing in me ever since I was a boy when my mother told me that my great-great-grandfather was born on the Isle of Rum on the West Coast of Scotland. He was evicted and sailed to Nova Scotia, eventually settling in New Zealand. This story led me to move to the Highlands in my early twenties with a vow to put something back. I dedicate this EP to my mother Maha, great-granddaughter of John Mòr McLean.”
Putting that something back has, for Boyd-Wallis, resulted in him dedicating the past thirty years to working in caring for woodlands, moorlands, mountains and coasts in hard-to-reach places in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland and he adds:
“All of the other songs have been inspired by the many people, places and creatures I have met on my daily life and work with the National Trust for Scotland. I am grateful to all of them – animal, plant and mineral – for all the joy and comfort they have given me.”
From the aforementioned ‘Fistful of Sand’, which immortalises the pain and suffering of the Rum islanders as a result of the clearance of 1826; to ‘Sandstone’, described as a modern-day Selkie song; to the title track which outlines a life-enhancing encounter with a storm petrel chick on the island of Hirta in St Kilda, the Stormbird EP reveals Boyd-Wallis to be a fine storyteller and songwriter. The songs are sung with passion and conviction but also genuine tenderness. Along with some seriously good musicianship and some lovely cover art and beautifully-written liner notes, it makes for a highly impressive recording debut.
“The album is about the quest to right wrongs, the search for inner peace, andthe reconnection with the land of my birth.” – Joe Hodgson
While firmly grounded in the rock and blues influences of his youth, Fields of Redemption sees Irish guitarist Joe Hodgson encompass a myriad of musical styles, which he blends and moulds to stunning effect. The result is an almost entirely instrumental album that is insanely diverse and refuses to fit neatly into any musical genre.
Hodgson explains:“You’ll find all my influences in there: rock, blues, jazz, classical, country, and even Irish traditional music. I also recorded two acoustic tracks, which was a first for me.”
Feelings of introspection and soul-searching pervade the record, but it also radiates brighter, less angst-ridden melodic explorations than its predecessor, Apparitions. The inspiration for the album came from an extended journey around his native Ireland with his new wife and his trusty Gibson Les Paul, soaking up the land of his birth.
Hodgson adds:“The album is fundamentally about reconnecting with my roots, reconciling with and embracing the past, while steadfastly looking to the future. It’s also about a journey to find inner peace, which for me is punctuated by laughter and a whole lotta fun. Overall, I think it’s a very uplifting record.”
The album is co-produced by Hodgson and Chris James Ryan (Keith Urban, Go West, The Church), and it features the Austrian rhythm section of Philipp Groyssboeck on drums and Vinzenz Benjamin on bass, both currently members of Go West and Cutting Crew. The nucleus of the band is completed by Otger Garcia on Hammond organ, Kelly O’Donohue on horns, João Paulo Drumond on percussion, and All-Ireland Champion bodhrán player, Paul McClure. Recording sessions took place in Ireland, England, Germany, Canada, the USA, and the Czech Republic.
For Joe, the most memorable recording session took place in Prague with the Czech Philharmonic, who appear on one of the album’s flagship tracks, “You I Think Of”. He describes this as “a spine-tingling moment”. Another highlight comes with the guest appearance of Irish singer Glen Harkin on “Since You Had a Hold on Me”. The album was mastered by Grammy Award-winning engineer Will Bowden (Gotye).
Fields Of Redemption is a big-sounding record, but not an over-produced one. It covers a wide range of emotions, moods, and styles, and it takes the listener on an epic journey. It is ambitious and brave, and the frequent twists and turns will keep listeners constantly on their toes. Despite the blending and blurring of musical genres, Fields of Redemption has a truly cohesive feel to it, and it is an album that is meant to be listened to from start to finish.
Read my feature-length interview with Joe Hodgson here
About Joe Hodgson:
Guitarist Joe Hodgson hails from the village of Ballymagorry in Co. Tyrone, Northern Ireland. His music, shaped by his upbringing during The Troubles, mirrors the fierce rain and winds of the Emerald Isle. It is both sweeping and intense, boldly blending rock, blues, jazz, and Irish traditions into finely crafted instrumentals, which reveal a multifaceted, emotive, and diverse performer.
After many years of playing and recording with London-based bands and touring throughout Europe, Joe returned to his birthplace in 2018. In 2020, he released his debut solo album Apparitions to wide critical acclaim. Guitar World called his playing “elite”. Prominent Canadian music journalist Steve Newton said he is “the best guitarist you’ve never heard of”. ANR Factory, meanwhile, described the album as “a modern-day masterpiece”.
On June 20th, 2025, Hodgson is set to release his second solo album, Fields of Redemption, an almost entirely instrumental collection of tunes which, in typical style, straddles, blends and bends musical genres. The album also features a guest appearance by Irish singer Glen Harkin. Three singles from the album have been released to date, garnering glowing reviews.
Reviewing Odette Michell’s debut album for the much-missed fRoots magazine back in 2019, I wrote that The Wildest Rose was “one of the stand-out debuts of 2019”. Lots of commentators expressed similar levels of enthusiasm and she soon found herself on many people’s ‘one to watch’ lists that year.
Since then, Michell has performed alongside the likes of Show of Hands, as well as opening for folk luminaries like Martin Carthy, Phil Beer, Reg Meuross and Ninebarrow amongst others. She’s also recently begun performing with Karen Pfeiffer and Daria Kulesh in a new trio formation: Michell, Pfeiffer & Kulesh. However, it’s been quite some wait for a follow-up solo album – but finally it’s here.
Comprising ten original songs, The Queen of the Lowlands features an impressive line-up of guest musicians, including Chris Leslie, Phil Beer, Lukas Drinkwater, Vicki Swann and Stu Hanna (who also produced); alongside additional vocal contributions from Daria Kulesh, Calum Gilligan and the duo, Ninebarrow.
Reviewing Michell’s debut album I noted she had a “knack for writing songs that could easily have been collected over a hundred years ago”. A similar approach is clearly evident on this latest album, as Michell herself acknowledges.
“My approach to songwriting is to try to be as authentic as possible while keeping a foothold in the folk tradition – it’s a balancing act but every song is personal to me at some level.”
Highlights include the gentle nature-themed opening track ‘The Woodlark and the Fieldfare’ with vocal contributions from the equally nature-loving Ninebarrow; the more contemporary-sounding but no less gorgeous ‘Hourglass’, dedicated to Michell’s father and sung as a duet with Callum Gilligan; and the jaunty fiddle-driven closing track ‘All The Bonny Ships’, written about Michell’s Polish grandparents who got separated during WW2 but were miraculously reunited in Britain at the end of the war.
Title track ‘The Queen of the Lowlands’, meanwhile, (which features some characteristically spell-binding fiddle from Fairport’s Chris Leslie) is not about Queen Wilhelmina, the former Dutch monarch, but rather the ship named after her that played a heroic role in the First World War, transporting US troops safely back home. It’s one of several nautical-themed songs on the album, hence the striking cover art.
Following her hugely-impressive debut album, here Odette Michell has gone on to deliver an absolutely stunning follow-up. Infused with her deep appreciation and obvious knowledge of traditional song, The Queen of the Lowlands is a beautiful album with gripping storytelling, crystal-clear vocals and first-class musicianship.
Guitarist, Joe Hodgson, hails from the village of Ballymagorry in Co. Tyrone, Northern Ireland. His music, shaped by his upbringing during The Troubles, mirrors the fierce rain and winds of the Emerald Isle. I catch up with Joe to talk about his musical heroes, his solo career and the release of his new solo album, Fields of Redemption, which comes out on June 20th.
For my first question, let’s go right back to the beginning. When did you first pick up a guitar?
I picked up the first guitar after my cousins in Dublin played me some Rory Gallagher, you know? I think it was the Stage Struck album, which was him at his most rocky and stuff. And then I just was totally sold on the guitar. And then I actually got tickets to see Rory Gallagher and I was just totally blown away. And from that moment on, it’s all I ever wanted to do, you know?
Was that your first concert then, Rory Gallagher?
No, my first gig I ever went to was Thin Lizzy, I think on the Renegade tour.
That tour was my first gig as well, how weird!
Yeah, I saw them in Dublin and yeah, they were great, you know. Snowy White was with them at the time. It was brilliant. But it was definitely Rory Gallagher who was the was my main reason for playing guitar. And then after it became Gary Moore – when I first heard him. Those two were my biggest influences. Two Irish guys just coincidentally.
Two iconic and very expressive guitar players, so obviously some of that has embedded itself in you from an early age.
Oh God, yeah. I was out for a few beers last night with my wife, and the guy put on Rory Gallagher on the video screen. And he was absolutely incredible. Amazing showmanship. He never messed up. He never got out of tune, never out of time. Raw. And that was amazing, you know. Brilliant.
If you want to talk about sort of the music that’s influenced me when I was growing up… as I say, Rory, and then Gary was definitely my biggest single ever. I’d say he was one of the greatest players of all time. But I was also into – and I still listen to – all the older, the English guys. Like, obviously, Eric Clapton’s a huge influence on me. Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck, Peter Green. Those four are still, to this day… you don’t get any better than them! And I still go back and listen to Clapton and Beck quite regularly, you know?
But in the ‘80s, ‘90s, I was heavily influenced by all the American players, you know. Van Halen, Randy Rhoads and Jake E. Lee and all those great players. But I was also into other music. Stuff like ELO and some quite melodic music, which probably has helped define me. Melodically, it’s given me that sense, I like to think, that my influence isn’t just from the hard rock. It’s from that kind of more pop rock as well. Fleetwood Mac and stuff like that. I love listening to that.
I think that’s something that really shines through in your own music.
So, from those early days, you went on to play in a number of bands. That was over in England. Did you want to tell us about that?
Well, it was a catalogue of almost-made-it type bands, you know. The band I suppose that came closest to cracking it was a band called Rime. At the time we released an album back in the mid-2000s. And we were about to be signed up by a major promoter in America. And at the last minute, just as the CDs had been printed, the singer walked out of the band. A French guy. It was unbelievable luck, you know? And we replaced him, but it was never the same when you replace a singer. The guy in this booking agency in America, he loved the singer, you know? So, when you replace the singer, it’s always difficult.
But I was in lots of different bands over there. And the last band I was in before I left was a band called Good Guy Dies. I was with a female singer from Latvia, and we did some BBC stuff. BBC Radio Kent and local stuff in and around London. And we toured all over the country but, again, that was a weird one because my background is Thin Lizzy, Rory Gallagher, Gary Moore, Led Zeppelin, all that. And her background was Tori Amos, Bjork. So, I thought it was a good idea to try and mix these, but it was like trying to mix oil and water, you know? So, it didn’t work in the end, I don’t think, musically. But I enjoyed playing that stuff and experimenting, you know?
And then you relocated back to Northern Ireland and released your debut solo album a few years later. Was that a conscious decision to move back to Ireland and launch a solo career, or did it just happen in the way sometimes things happen in life?
Yeah, the reason I came back here was that band Good Guy Dies broke up and I just wanted to get away from London for a while. Then my mum was diagnosed with motor neurone disease. So, I ended up back here and I nursed her in the last year of her life. She died here at home. I had no intention whatsoever of coming back here permanently but as the days went on, I thought I kind of like it here, you know. People talk to you here. It’s not like London, you know, and you go for a pint and people are going, “Hey Joe, how are you man? How you doing?” So, I felt just right at home again after a while. You couldn’t pay me now to go back to London, you know! I’m quite happy here.
Brilliant. I’m sorry to hear about your mum though. Although something very creative and very positive came out of a family tragedy.
Absolutely. It was always my dream to come back. This room where I’m in now, you can see all my guitars and stuff there. This is the room I learned to play guitar in. And I always had this sort of dream to come back here and record a solo album in this room which is what I did. I recorded all the guitars in here.
So yeah, it was always in the back of my mind to do something like this, you know, the solo stuff. I just found I really enjoyed the creative freedom. And I self-financed it all myself so there’s nobody breathing down my neck saying, “You shouldn’t be doing that.” I can experiment as much as I like. So that’s probably why you see quite a lot of different styles on the album. Because I’m the boss here of this little organisation, you know, and it’s really liberating. If I want to play a blues track, I’ll play a blues track, if I want to play a jazzy track, if I want to play some harder rock, I’ll do it, you know?
Yeah, those different styles certainly come out on the new album, and I know that’s been commented on in reviews.So, what do you want to tell us about the album Fields of Redemption that comes out on June the 20th?
Well, as I say, it’s very varied. It’s not like, say – and I’m not knocking them because I actually really like them – but you buy an Oasis album, you know what every track’s going to be. You know what it’s going to sound like before you even play it all. It’s great. But for me, that sort of approach is very limiting. So, I just wanted to be able to play whatever style I wanted at any given time, you know.
But also, the difference between this album and the last album was I got a co-producer on this album. A guy called Chris James Ryan. He’s Australian. He lives in Canada and he mixed Apparitions (Joe’s first solo album). That’s how I met him. But this time I wanted to widen the sound a bit and use orchestral elements and I wanted to bring in brass. And he was a great help with that. Communicating with these musicians along with me, you know? And we really went to town a bit more on the production this time – went really deep into getting the sounds right.
And, as I say, the guitars were recorded here in Northern Ireland, but the rest of it, like the drums and bass, were recorded in England. There were these two Austrian guys, Philipp Groyssboeck and Vinzenz Benjamin. And then I had musicians dotted all over the world. Like the horns were recorded in Germany by this Australian guy. I had a Brazilian percussionist. He was in Salvador. He recorded percussion over there.
Then one of the highlights for me was working with a guy called Paul McClure, who’s a bodhran player, the Irish drum. He was an ex-All-Ireland champion and he was phenomenal to work with. I did a couple of acoustic tracks. He’s on those, which is a first for me. I’ve never recorded an acoustic track from start to finish and I did two on this album so that was different.
It’s something I’m happy that I did, you know. Happy that I went so wide with the spectrum. But I would like to think that my guitar is the unifying factor, which brings it from start to finish and kind of makes sense of it, you know?
Oh yeah, absolutely. Your guitar shines throughout and your personality through that, I think. That’s definitely the unifying factor, isn’t it?
Yeah, and I also got to work with a singer who I’ve wanted to work with for a long time. A guy called Glen Harkin, who you heard on ‘Since You Had a Hold On Me’. Glen’s amazing. He’s probably the best male vocalist I’ve ever worked with, you know. You just turn on the mic, he was standing there behind me and I just let him open his mouth and sing. I’d say that track was done, his singing part in an hour, hour and a half.
His voice is perfect for that track. But as we say, it’s a mainly instrumental album. And I think with a lot of instrumental albums, they’re good at capturing abstract moods, but yours is actually telling stories, which I think is really, really fascinating. The music actually tells a story once you know the title. That’s quite a feat.
I’m really pleased you picked up on that because even though there’s maybe no words on the track, the tracks do mean things to me, you know? And there’s one track, that’s the very last track on the album. It’s the acoustic track, ‘The Ballad of Joe Clarke’. That’s quite a special track to me because it’s dedicated to a friend of mine who sadly died last year. And he was the person that brought me down to see Thin Lizzy in Dublin, you know? And he was a huge inspiration to me, because he played in local bands and he was a bit older than me, so I looked up to him. And I wanted to do this for him and his wife, Helena. That track means something to me, you know?
So finally, what next after this current album is released?
Next? Well, I would love to be able to tour this, you know, but it’s very, very difficult to do that with instrumental music. But if someone like a Robin Ford or a Joe Bonamassa said they want a support act. Yeah, count me in!
But looking further down the line with myself and Chris, we’ve already talked about the next album. And we actually want to go and do it in Nashville because he’s got quite a few contacts over there. Because you get these players in Nashville and they’re just unbelievable, you know. Probably do the ten songs, we’ll get the backing tracks done in a couple of days and then come back and work on the guitar. But that’s going to be a fair bit down the line, as I say, because all this is self-financed. So, it takes a while to get it together but that’s the next plan recording-wise.
“The best guitarist you’ve never heard of” “a brilliantly adventurous player, right up there with the likes of Satriani and Vai” – Steve Newton, Ear Of Newt
After a four-year hiatus, spent travelling, writing and recording, Irish guitarist Joe Hodgson returned to the scene in March 2025 with a double A-side instrumental offering, ‘The Grass Is Greener’ and ‘Shapeshifting’. This was followed in May by another double single, ‘Since You Had A Hold On Me’ featuring Glen Harkin on vocals, and the instrumental ‘Stick Or Twist’.
The third single of 2025, an instrumental ballad titled ‘You I Think Of’, is released on Friday 6th June and features a guest appearance by the world-renowned Czech Philharmonic Orchestra.
Hodgson explains the origins of the track:
‘In early 2021, I was working on an acoustic arrangement of the Irish folk song, “Molly Malone”. It’s the unofficial anthem of Dublin City, one of my favourite places in the world. While I was working on the track, I started envisaging this story in my head of meeting and falling in love with a woman from Dublin. As the story gathered pace in my mind, I started playing melodies of my own over the same underlying chord sequence, and before I realised I had a complete piece of music composed. It had a beginning, a middle, and, thanks to the Molly Malone refrain, an end too’.
To fully complement the melodies of the new song, Joe decided to use strings, and he approached the Czech Philharmonic. He describes the resulting recording session in Prague as ‘a spine-tingling moment; the most memorable of the whole album’. But the story didn’t finish there. Joe did, in fact, meet his fantasy woman from Dublin, and in July 2022, they married. Most poignantly of all, though, she walked up the aisle to the string arrangement of ‘You I Think Of’.
The music itself is indeed a love story, and the track overflows with poignant melodies and hooks. Stylistically, Hodgson’s playing is a mixture of delicacy and intricacy, as his blues, jazz and rock-infused runs freely roam and colour the track. In combination with the orchestral strings, the purity of the guitar sound gives a lush and distinctly dream-like quality to the music. This track, taken from his forthcoming album, Fields Of Redemption, captures feelings of introspection, hope and inner peace, and comes from a guitar player who is certainly not afraid to expand his sound and take chances in pursuit of his art.
About Joe Hodgson:
Guitarist Joe Hodgson hails from the village of Ballymagorry in Co. Tyrone, Northern Ireland. His music, shaped by his upbringing during The Troubles, mirrors the fierce rain and winds of the Emerald Isle. It is both sweeping and intense, boldly blending rock, blues, jazz, and Irish traditions into finely crafted instrumentals, which reveal a multifaceted, emotive, and diverse performer.
After many years of playing and recording with London-based bands and touring throughout Europe, Joe returned to his birthplace in 2018. In 2020, he released his debut solo album “Apparitions” to wide critical acclaim. Guitar World called his playing “elite”. Prominent Canadian music journalist Steve Newton said he is “the best guitarist you’ve never heard of”. While ANR Factory described the album as “a modern-day masterpiece”.
On June 20th, 2025, Hodgson is set to release his second solo album, Fields Of Redemption.
Eilidh Shaw (fiddle and vocals) and Ross Martin (guitar) are best known for their work with two leading Scottish traditional bands. Shaw for her work with The Poozies and Martin with Daimh. Between them they have spent over two decades touring with both their own bands and as guest artists with an vast array of top performers, including Julie Fowlis, Bonnie Prince Billy, Tony Christie and Arnaud Ciapolino.
Performing under the name Birl-Esque, Stay Here All Night is their second album as a duo. Born out of the long musical winter of lockdowns and cancelled gigs, the obvious choice faced by many couples was to either order another case of wine or build a home studio. Eilidh Shaw and Ross Martin did both of these things. The resulting album is a festival of creativity, full of the style and character that the duo has become known for.
Eilidh Shaw’s fiddle takes the lead on the instrumentals, such as ‘Swimmy Tunes’ above. The duo comment: “Two tunes written by Eilidh after a glorious west coast summer swimming in the sea around Arisaig. No swimming in this video as, although still very beautiful, it was a very cold day in January. The beautiful islands of Eigg and a snow-capped Rum in the background.”
New compositions such as this sit alongside old Highland classics like the ‘Thief of Lochaber’ and ‘Paddy’s Waltzes’, a set of Gaelic waltzes taken from her father’s home-made music book.
The four songs on the album include covers of contemporary Scottish writers such as ‘Stoned Again’ by Sandy Wright and ‘Better Off Dead’ by Willie MacAskill while the title track ‘Stay Here All Night’ showcases Shaw’s own songwriting.
Ross Martin’s consummate guitar arrangements tie the album together while the whole project is further decorated by a star-studded list of guest musicians that happened to be either passing the duo’s Highland home in Morar or had made the same decision during the dark days of covid and contributed from their own home studios.
With a combined total of 74 years of gigging experience and over 100 album appearances between them this dazzling duo seamlessly blur the lines between the traditional and the contemporary with a uniquely mischievous style.
Those who felt a Show of Hands-shaped hole in their lives, since the acclaimed west country duo went on indefinite hiatus last year, didn’t have to wait too long for new material featuring those warm, impassioned, familiar tones of vocalist, Steve Knightley.
First there was last Autum’s solo album, The Winter Yards (“poignant, tender, thought-provoking and rousing, in turn…”) and equally quick-off-the-mark came a follow-up in the Spring, Positively Folk Street: Dylan, Carthy & Me. While the former was very much a showcase for Knightley’s continuing brilliance as a songwriter and passionate observance of the world around him, this latter release is all about returning to his formative influences: back to when the young Knightley first tentatively dipped his toes into the world of acoustic folk.
Steve Knightley: “When I first picked up an acoustic guitar in my mid-teens, my repertoire was very limited – and then I discovered ‘The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan’. That album was a revelation. At the time, I had no idea Dylan had drawn so deeply from our own folk traditions to shape many of his songs.Later that summer, I found myself at Sidmouth Folk Festival, where I saw martin Carthy perform live for the first time. Another moment of discovery.“
“This album is a tribute to those formative influences. Across these twelve songs I revisit the worlds of Bob Dylan and martin Carthy – two artists who shaped my musical journey and set me on a path I’m still working.”
Containing six Dylan songs and six trad. arr. compositions from the repertoire of Carthy, it’s rare to come across a contemporary folk release these days where one is quite so familiar with the material. But Knightley applies his characteristic verve, passion and singularity and breathes new life into a beautifully-chosen set of songs. A must-buy for any Show of Hands and Steve Knightley fans, giving an insight into the songs and artists that helped shape his own career.
When Norwich-based folk duo, Christina Alden & Alex Patterson, released their debut album, Hunter, back in 2021 I found it a highly enjoyable listen and was struck by the duo’s lovely melodies, heart-warming vocals and charming story-telling.
We’ve had a while to wait but now they are back with a brand-new album, Safe Travels, featuring ten original songs and a duo-composed instrumental.
Recorded at the couple’s home studio in the centre of Norwich, they outline the genesis of the album as follows:
“We began making this album at the start of 2022 as the world was emerging from the global pandemic and just before the birth of our daughter, Etta. Some of these songs are like old friends that have travelled many miles with us, while others came about in the final stages of production. This is a collection of songs and tunes that feel as if they have grown and changed with us over the years. Those keen listeners among you may even hear some of our home life; our old cat pottering and meowing around the house; our daughter talking in the background or the sound of city life just beyond the city walls. We are so proud of this album and it’s been a real pleasure creating the music together.”
A number of the songs on the album are highly personal, such as the lovely ‘Etta’s Song’ (above) celebrating the birth of the couple’s baby daughter; the charmingly infectious ‘Our House’ which recalls Alden’s memories of growing up in a home filled with music; and the poignant ‘A Hundred Years Ago’ which, rather than being an epic historical folk tale, is all about recalling momentous events in one’s own life. However, as with the previous album, songs celebrating the beauty of the natural world also feature heavily and, as in the case of the ecologically-themed ‘The Mountain Hair’, the threat that the effects of man-made climate change poses to our natural landscape.
Both Alden and Patterson are accomplished multi-instrumentalists and finger-picked guitar interwoven with beautiful string arrangements make for a gentle yet versatile backdrop for Alden’s crystal clear lead vocal and Patterson’s warm harmonising. As with the debut album, pleasing melodies and heart-warming story-telling is the order of the day.
After a four-year journey Safe Travels has finally reached its intended destination and it’s an album that’s been well worth the wait.
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