BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards 2017

Although double-winner Daoirí Farrell is missing from the tracklist (presumably for contractual reasons) it is only a minor quibble with this bargain-priced double album that's a celebration of talent and achievement in the UK folk scene over the last year or so. With 20 tracks from the nominees for this year's awards, plus four more live recordings from the nominees for the Young Folk Award, it offers a bracing snapshot of a lively scene that's unafraid to both embrace the tradition and to explore folk's boundaries and potential. A thrilling openness to collaboration is also reflected, notable in the ten-woman supergroup Songs of Separation, who won Best Album, while the close-knit The Furrow Collective picked up Best Group accolade. Spanning the decades, Shirley Collins, that legend of the 1950s and 60s folk revival who staged one of the most unexpected and impressive returns of recent times with her album, Lodestar, sits comfortably alongside newcomers such as Fara from Orkney and Ninebarrow from Dorset – to say nothing of the dauntingly accomplished 16-21 year old musicians that are found in the Young Folk Awards category.