Reviews
Diamond in the Rough
Following 2017's The Things That Matter, 19th Street Band deliver Diamond in the Rough, a nine-track showcase for the core...
Reviewed by Doug Deloach in issue: March/2021
Echoes of the South
The original five Blind Boys long ago went to meet their maker, which is unsurprising given that they first raised...
Reviewed by Nigel Williamson in issue: October/2023
End of the Middle
Richard Dawson’s ability to squeeze complex multi-character storytelling into stripped-back folk songs has seen the Newcastle native earn the title...
Reviewed by Olivia Cheves in issue: February/March/2025
Adventures in the Now
This is the fourth instalment of genre crossing ethno-jazz fusion from Finnish multi-instrumentalist Ilkka Arola and his band Sound Tagine....
Reviewed by Andrew Taylor-Dawson in issue: June/2025
The Devil Rides Again
Adrian Raso & Fanfare Ciocarlia
There is no doubt that Fanfare Ciocarlia remain among the fastest and most precise brass bands in the world. And...
Reviewed by Ula Nowak in issue: August/2025
Star Above the Mountain
Celtic folk duo and married couple Josh and Julie Kinn serve up a handsome listen on Star Above the Mountain....
Reviewed by Billy Rough in issue: August/2025
Whistlin’ Past the Graveyard
Andy Cohen, Eleanor Ellis & William Lee Ellis
More than three decades after their last album as a trio, Andy Cohen, Eleanor Ellis and William Lee Ellis have...
Reviewed by Doug Deloach in issue: May/2026
Sun in the Sands
Owen Spafford, Will Allen and Ben Filmer-Sankey
Last year fiddle player Owen Spafford created the wonderfully weird album Tomorrow Held with guitarist Louis Campbell. Now, he’s got...
Reviewed by Julian May in issue: May/2026
Fire Under the Bridge
This sextet of folk musicians came together in Newcastle-upon-Tyne in northern England, in the shadow of the mighty Tyne Bridge,...
Reviewed by Nathaniel Handy in issue: April/2020
Breaking the Thermometer
The American-Haitian singer and multi-instrumentalist Leyla McCalla, who made her name with Carolina Chocolate Drops, won a Songlines Music Award...
Reviewed by Nigel Williamson in issue: June/2022
