Spades And Roses - Caroline Spence (03/03/17)
- Artist: Caroline Spence
- Release Date: 3th March, 2017
- Genre: Americana, Folk, Singer-Songwriter
- Record Label: Caroline Spence / Tone Tree Music
- Tracks: 11
- Website: http://www.carolinespencemusic.com/
Filtering by Tag: March 2017
Far Beyond The Stars - The Henry Girls (03/03/17)
- Artist: The Henry Girls
- Release Date: 3rd March, 2017
- Genre: Folk
- Record Label: Independent
- Tracks: 13
- Website:
When We Fall - All Our Exes Live In Texas (03/03/17)
- Artist: All Our Exes Live In Texas
- Genre: Folk
- Release Date: 3rd March, 2017
- Record Label: Whirlwind Entertainment LLC
- Tracks: 12
- Website: www.allourexesliveintexas.com
All Our Exes Live in Texas have had an impressive career to date. They've toured with The Backstreet Boys (USA), Passenger (UK), Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats (USA) and Tiny Ruins (NZ), not to mention Australian icons Megan Washington, Kate Miller-Heidke and Mama Kin. It wasn't until three years ago at an O Brother Where Art Thou show, featuring Sydney folk royalty, that they combined their musical forces. Little did they know they were planting the seeds for a folk foursome of epic proportions.
The Exes share a deep passion for vocal harmonies and heartbreakingly good songwriting. This killer combination has seduced audiences across the country and the world as they criss-crossed Australia from Port Fairy Folk Festival to Darwin Festival, Woodford Folk Festival, WOMADelaide and The National Folk Festival, not to mention closing proceedings at the Sydney Opera House for TEDx, to an audience of 4500 creative innovators who exploded into rapturous applause.
Since the release of their self-titled, widely celebrated EP, 'All Our Exes Live in Texas' has embarked on three national headline tours releasing singles Tell Me, Sailboat and The Devil’s Part from their successfully crowd-funded debut album, 'When We Fall', released on March 3 via ABC Music.
The Exes were shortlisted for the Vanda & Young Songwriting competition and were nominated for four National Live Music Awards. Their Tell Me film clip is an hilarious take on the modern break up and was listed in the top 10 film clips of 2014 by Double J. The Exes also recently showcased their wares to US, UK and Irish audiences, solidifying partnerships for future touring adventures. They amped up the Exes assault at Folk Alliance International and SXSW, turning heads of all varieties from industry taste-makers to music-loving legends. In short, the Exes are on fire.
When We Fall was produced and engineered by Wayne Connolly (Sarah Blasko, Silverchair, You Am I) and features musicians Zoe Hauptmann (Finn Brothers, Lanie Lane, Paul Kelly), Evan Mannell (Faker, Bertie Blackman, Lior), Dave Symes (Boy and Bear, Sarah Blasko), Tim Hart (Boy and Bear) and Hamish Stuart (Lucie Thorne, Jackie Orszáczky).
A testament to their musical strength and vulnerability, this album is a collection of songs that are enough to make grown men cry. But beneath the sweet, potent harmonies and lamentations of love, lie four witty and intelligent feminists who harness their talent for good not evil. When you come to an All Our Exes Live in Texas show brace yourselves to experience four uber talented musicians and gifted song-writers, each with their own unique vocal beauty and individual charm. Add to this, great humour, whip-cracking banter and an on-stage synergy that is as magical as it is alluring, and there’s no chance you can resist the call of the Exes sirens.
Tedeschi Trucks Band - Live From The Fox Oakland (17/03/17)
- Artist: Tedeschi Trucks Band
- Genre: Rock & Blues
- Release Date: 17th March, 2017
- Record Label: Decca (UMO)
- Format: CD+DVD, Deluxe Edition, Live, Box set (3 Discs)
- Tracks: 17
- Website: http://tedeschitrucksband.com/
After many years on the road building separate, successful solo careers, Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi have united to form a new band with an extended pool of collaborators and friends. Well-known for their outstanding live performances, the formidable husband-and-wife duo are now exploring new ideas together through songs rooted in the blues and infused with their own unique blend of southern soul, American roots music, authentic rock ‘n’ roll, and a touch of Florida swamp magic.
Marty Stuart - Way Out West (10/03/17)
- Artist: Marty Stuart And His Fabulous Superlatives
- Genre: Country
- Release Date: 10th March, 2017
- Record Label: Wrasse Records
- Tracks: 15
- Website: https://www.martystuart.net/
Emma Ballantine - Somebody's Story EP (31/03/17)
- Artist: Emma Ballantine
- Genre: Folk, Pop, Singer-Songwriter
- Release Date: 31st March, 2017
- Record Label: Shut Up Jo Records
- Tracks: 4
- Website:
Alison Krauss - Windy City (03/03/17)
- Artist: Alison Krauss
- Genre: Americana, Bluegrass
- Release Date: 3rd March, 2017
- Record Label: Capitol Records
- Tracks: 10
- Website: https://alisonkrauss.com/
Before I start I must confess that I'm a huge fan of this lady and her music. Alison Krauss has one of the purest vocals in the music industry and currently has an incredible 27 Grammy awards to her name. This new solo album 'Windy City' has been a long while in the making, but it has certainly been worth the wait. It's her first effort away from her band Union Station since Raising Sand and her debut album for Capitol Records. The album features Alison performing 10 classic songs that she carefully selected with producer Buddy Cannon. Already receiving much critical acclaim, this is certain to be one of the Country albums of the year.
Coven - Unholy Choir EP (01/03/17)
- Artist: Coven ( Belinda O'Hooley, Heidi Tidow, Rowan Rheingans, Hannah James, Hazel Askew and Grace Petrie)
- Genre: Folk
- Release Date: 1st March, 2017
- Record Label: Coven (independent)
- Tracks: 6
- Website:
It's always very exciting when some of our favourite UK folk artists come together a form a new supergroup. Coven are a collective of three of the British folk scene's finest, most formidable and forthright female acts. Combining the talents of the multi-award winning O'Hooley & Tidow, Lady Maisery and Grace Petrie 'Unholy Choir' is their first recording and it's a great one too. Brought together three years ago to celebrate 'International Women's Day' this new supergroup has gone from strength to strength, currently embarking on a twelve date UK tour including two London dates. Before listening to this EP you're assured of a few things excellent songwriting and arrangements, super harmonies, musicianship and plenty of heart and passion. To quote an old Ronseal advert 'it does what it says on the tin'......or it this case the cover.
Ned Roberts - Outside My Mind (24/03/17)
- Artist: Ned Roberts
- Genre: Singer-Songwriter, Folk, Acoustic
- Release Date: 24th March, 2017
- Record Label: Aveline Records
- Tracks: 10
- Website: https://www.nedroberts.co.uk
After Ned Roberts' excellent self titled and critically acclaimed debut released in 2014, we were looking forward to more music from this very talented London based singer-songwriter. His latest release 'Outside My Mind' doesn't disappoint. It is a collection of self penned songs released by the excellent Aveline Records who stable include artists such as Ani DiFranco, Ruth Theodore, Linah Rocio and The Goat Roper Band.
The album boasts excellent high quality and pure vocal from Ned combined with perfectly complementary stripped arrangements. Reflective, heartfelt, melancholy and bittersweet...but with a feeling of hope for the future. It exists in spirit in the original Laurel Canyon and Greenwich Village of the late 60's, while remaining true to its modern London roots.
Good Harvest - In A Life And Place Like This (31/03/17)
- Artist: Good Harvest
- Genre: Folk, Americana, Singer-Songwriter
- Release Date: 31st March, 2017
- Record Label: Space Station 12 / BMG Rights Management (UK) Ltd
- Tracks: 15 or 16 (with extra live bonus track)
- Website: http://goodharvestmusic.com/
Scandinavia has long been a hotbed of great music and musicians and Hanna Enlöf & Ylva Eriksson of Good Harvest are the latest excellent emerging acoustic duo. Based in Falan in Sweden their music has been described as "extraordinary beautiful, emotional and well crafted". They call themselves musical twins, which shines through the inter-weaved harmonies and excellent interaction on stage. Quite simply they have the 'wow!' factor. Conjuring the vibe of modern groups like The Staves and First Aid Kit and Joseph while echoing classic 'Laurel Canyon' musicians like Joni Mitchell and CSNY. To best describe their music, imagine a mix of how Simon & Garfunkel play together add the harmonies of Nick Drake and finish of with the strong approach and narrative style of Gillian Welch.
Keston Cobbler's Club - Almost Home (31/03/17)
- Artist: Keston Cobbler's Club
- Genre: Indie Folk, Pop
- Release Date: 31st March, 2017
- Record Label: Tricolour Records
- Tracks: 12
- Website: http://kestoncobblers.club/
London five-piece the Keston Cobblers Club have always been a very innovative band with super foot stomping and toe tapping live shows and highly creative home-made videos. With amazing warmth and musicianship, they are a very hard band not to like. After their highly acclaimed previous album 'Wildfire' gained huge praise across the board, their latest album 'Almost Home'is a similar masterpiece of fresh ingenuity and infectious earworm melodies. The new album is slightly more stripped than 'Wildfire' but still has the trademark KCC high quality. It sees the band returning to it's roots and taking a more simple approach to their songwriting.
Beatrix Players - Magnified (31/03/17)
- Artist: Beatrix Players
- Genre: Indie folk
- Release Date: 31st March, 2017
- Record Label: Beatrix Players
- Tracks: 13
- Website: http://www.beatrixplayers.co.uk/
Beatrix Players are a London-based all-female trio who make florid, adventurous music that operates at the interface between folk, singer-songwriter acoustica, prog and quasi-classical baroque chamber pop. There is a light, translucent quality to the music, and yet when it is not being hushed and reverent, it has the attack and thrust, the surging dynamism, of rock. It can be soft and intimate, but it can also be fiery and intense, epic and immense. There are tempestuous passages in their music that you can imagine being delivered by traditional rock instrumentation but it is the very absence of guitars and drums that means that there is nobody out there quite like them. Beatrix Players' music is sung, and largely performed, by Amanda Alvarez (cello), Jess Kennedy (piano, backing vocals) and Amy Birks(lead and backing vocals), with a little help from friends on violin and double-bass. Amanda Alvarez is the Beatrix Player in love with Bach s cello suites, the one whose contribution to the group's melodies is a matter of record. Spanish-born, with an Australian mother who has sung with choirs in the Spanish capital, her musical experience ranges from playing in classical orchestras to pummelling her way through a series of punk and grunge bands in her teens and early twenties. 'I listened to the melodies, not the lyrics,' she says by way of explanation, adding that her mind was further blown with the advent of female-fronted 90s acts such as Garbage and No Doubt. BP s other Australian, Jess Kennedy - along with Amy Birks the co-writer of the songs - had a modern folk phase and is also classically trained. She has a penchant for 'dramatic and emotional-type piano music', which possibly explains why Beatrix Players' music is so dramatic and emotional. Jess is the one in thrall to the romanticism of Chopin and Beethoven and darkness of Rachmaninov, as well as the film soundtracks of Thomas Newman, Michael Nyman and Yann Tiersen. She has been penning songs since childhood, and describes her writing tentatively as a sort of emotional splurge. Amy Birks is BP's vocalist, lyricist and art director - the one responsible for their art work, not surprisingly she works by day as a graphic designer (Jess has a job in environmental sustainability). She arrived in London from Stoke-on-Trent with a degree in music technology and a background in melancholy songcraft, from the 60s to the 90s (she loves Joni Mitchell, Don McLean and Mazzy Star). She's no fey troubadour, though: she is friends with 'new wave of British heavy metal' band Diamond Head. 'I used to watch them rehearse,' she says. 'They showed me the ropes.' Beatrix Players are getting used to acclaim, and all manner of genre names being ascribed to what they do, from modern folk and baroque exotica to dark classical pop. They have been written about in Prog magazine, but they could easily be featured in Folk Roots or MOJO as well as Classical Music given their chamber music influences which come through in their song structures and arrangements, focused as they are on cello, violin, double-bass and piano. 'People try to fit us in a box, but we don t fit in any box,' says Amanda. 'They struggle with that.'