Headlong - John Smith (29/06/17)

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• Artist: John Smith
• Release date: 29th June, 2017
• Genre: Folk, Americana, Singer-Songwriter, Acoustic
• Record Label: Barp Ltd
• Tracks: 11
• Website: http://www.johnsmithjohnsmith.com

It’s all for the love of the guitar. John plays a rumbling fingerstyle and sometimes uses a slide, sometimes plays the guitar on his lap, sometimes he detunes mid-song. His guitar work and honey-on-gravel vocals have brought crowds to pin-drop silence and rapturous applause.

Not by chance is it that John’s new record 'Headlong' comes bearing a title implying impulsive, breakneck motion - written as it was, during various touring stints in North America - with a view ahead, to new horizons and new songs, to new opportunities and new audiences. The album also bears the indelible loss of John’s friend and guitar hero John Renbourn, who called John “the future of folk music” and to whose memory 'Headlong' is dedicated.

John currently has five self-released records out; 'The Fox and the Monk' (2006), 'Map Or Direction' (2009), 'Eavesdropping' (2011) 'Great Lakes' (2013), and 'Headlong' (2017).

This One's For You - Luke Combs (09/06/17)

• Artist: Luke Combs
• Release Date: 9th June, 2017
• Genre: Country
• Record Label: Sony Music Cmg
• Tracks: 11
• Website: https://www.lukecombs.com

Bella Hardy - Eternal Spring (21/06/17)

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• Artist: Bella Hardy
• Genre: Folk
• Release Date: 21st June, 2017
• Record Label: Noe Records
• Tracks: 12
• Website: www.bellahardy.com

Since winning the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards Singer of the Year in 2014, Bella Hardy has cemented a reputation as one of the hardest-working and most-travelled singer-songwriters on the circuit.

Recently ensconced in Tennessee soaking up the vibe for an album of new material due out shortly, earlier this year Bella released this limited edition (of 500) CD album based upon research and writing she undertook as British Council and PRS for Music Foundation Musician in Residence in Yunnan Province, China in late 2015. The album was completed and recorded live on Bella’s return to Yunnan in May 2017, in Kunming, the ‘Eternal Spring’ of the title.

The album’s twelve tracks certainly reflect collectively what most listeners would recognise as Chinese musical styles and themes, notably the distinctive sound of the guzheng, a multi-stringed zither, beautifully played here throughout by Daixiao.

Chloe Chadwick - Dustbowl Jukebox (30/06/17)

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• Artist: Chloe Chadwick
• Genre: Country, Country-Pop, Americana
• Release Date: 30th June, 2017.
• Record Label: Independent
• Tracks: 10
• Website: https://www.chloechadwick.com/

Glen Campbell - Adios (09/06/17)

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• Artist: Glen Campbell
• Genre: Country, Singer-Songwriter
• Release Date: 9th June, 2017
• Record Label: UMC
• Tracks: 28 (Double album)
• Website: http://www.glencampbell.com/

ADIÓS is Glen’s farewell album. It was recorded in 2011-12 at the end of his final world tour. Friends and family recently revisited the recordings last year and decided it was time to finish the record. The album was a true family affair as Glen’s daughter Ashley and sons Cal and Shannon, all play on the record. It is a collection of songs he always sang but never had a chance to record including four Jimmy Webb penned songs, a duet with Willie Nelson on “Funny How Time Slips Away” and a version of “Everybody’s Talkin’” best known for Harry Nilsson’s version used in the film Midnight Cowboy. ADIÓS is a fitting swan song to a career that has spanned six decades, touching tens of millions of lives along way. Includes a second disc featuring a compilation Glen's greatest hits.

Rosie Hood - The Beautiful & The Actual (16/06/17)

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• Artist: Rosie Hood
• Genre: Folk
• Released Date: 16th June, 2017
• Record Label: Rootbeat Records
• Tracks: 12
• Website: http://www.rosiehood.co.uk

'The Beautiful & The Actual' displays Rosie’s artistic progress and creative partnerships that have developed since releasing her eponymous E.P. in 2011. 'From A Furlong of Flight', lamenting an 11th Century monk’s unrealised dreams, effortlessly enhanced by the Barber Sisters’ strings arrangements, to the tragic traditional ballad 'Lord Lovel', sung in classic duo harmony style with Folk Award winner Jefferson Hamer, and 'Undaunted Female', the story of a bold young woman, simply accompanied by Emma Smith’s driving double bass, Rosie’s vocal holds these songs together. John Archbold’s poignant war song 'The Hills of Kandahar' features Ollie King’s sensitive melodeon playing, whilst the stark and haunting version of 'The Cruel Mother' is sung with Folk Singer of the Year nominee Emily Portman. These sparse accompaniments allow each track to breathe and for Rosie’s timeless singing to tell the stories that make up this superb debut album.

Rosie Hood a young folk singer from Minety in Wiltshire, is known for her strong, pure voice and engaging solo performance. A BBC Performing Arts Fellow in 2015 and a 2016 Horizon Award nominee at the Radio 2 Folk Awards, Rosie has become more than purely a traditional singer. Having started learning folk songs at an early age from her family, Rosie has a keen interest in the history of traditional songs, particularly those of her native Wiltshire, where she has spent time researching in the local archives and developing a broad repertoire of local songs. Rosie’s Fellowship year with the English Folk Dance & Song Society proved a pivotal point in her career giving her time and space to develop as an artist. The year saw Rosie develop her song-writing with mentor Emily Portman, hone her instrumental skills and even resulted in a transatlantic collaboration with New York based singer and guitarist Jefferson Hamer.

Thea Gilmore - The Counterweight (02/06/17)

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• Artist: Thea Gilmore
• Genre: Folk, Rock, Pop
• Release Date: 2nd June, 2017
• Record Label: Cooking Vinyl
• Tracks: 13
• Website: https://theagilmore.net/

Saskia - Live At The Roundhouse (28/06/17)

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• Artist: Saskia
• Genre: Folk, Americana, Singer-Songwriter
• Release Date: 28th June, 2017
• Record Label: Independent
• Tracks: 10
• Website: http://www.saskiagm.com/

SASKIA is a 24 year old singer-songwriter, known for her pure clear voice and her nu-folk style repertoire: blending the classical simplicity of traditional songs with contemporary moods, melodies and meanings. 'Live At The Roundhouse' sees Saskia share an album of her favourite classics and covers. Artists covered include Sandy Denny, Joan Baez, Sting, The Beatles and Joni Mitchell.

Jamie Francis - The Patient Neighbour (02/06/17)

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• Artist: Jamie Francis
• Genre: Americana, Folk Acoustic
• Release Date: 2nd June, 2017
• Record Label: TCR Music
• Tracks: 10
• Website: https://www.jamiefrancismusic.com

Jamie Francis (of Sam Kelly & the Lost Boys, The Changing Room, and Stark) presents his debut solo album. The album is led by Jamie's banjo, but also features fiddle and whistles from Toby Shaer (John McCusker and Heidi Talbot) and cello from Graham Coe (Jellyman's Daughter and Blue Rose Code). The tracks are a mix of Irish and Americian traditional tunes, as well as some original compositions by Jamie.

Kronos Quartet - Folk Songs (08/06/17)

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• Artist: Kronos Quartet
• Genre: Folk
• Release Date: 8th June, 2017
• Record Label: Nonesuch
• Tracks: 9
• Website:

The cream of the US record label Nonesuch comes together to create a wonderful album of folk songs. Guests include Natalie Merchant, Rhiannon Giddens, Olivia Chaney and Sam Amidon. 

The Secret Sisters - You Don't Own Me Anymore (09/06/17)

• Artist: The Secret Sisters
• Genre: Country, Americana, Roots, Rock & Roll
• Release Date: 9th June, 2017
• Record Label: New West Records
• Tracks: 12
• Website: https://www.secretsistersband.com/

"These songs came to be a record accidentally and unintentionally. They were written sporadically over a tumultuous two years riddled with more valleys than mountaintops. We considered it a victory when we could actually make ourselves get together to write, even if we struggled to produce anything of any quality. Creativity was tough amidst half-hearted business relationships, being dropped from our label, inconsistent touring, and filing personal bankruptcy. It took a toll on everything: our confidence, our outlook, our health, our happiness. In late 2015, our friend Brandi Carlile invited us to Seattle to play a couple of shows in her hometown. It was there that we explained all that had transpired with our career, how we were barely staying afloat. It was also there that she told us she would be producing our next record. Once we saw that this fantasy could actually become a reality, the frantic search for enough songs to make an album began. To our surprise, we had many things to say, and though some were difficult to write and slow to reveal themselves, we pushed onward. The songs here carry a common thread of what remained when we felt like we'd lost everything. It was in the hardest times that we saw the core of where our music and our souls originate. We still had our homes, our family, our friends, and our fans. This is not a record about rising from the ashes. Rather, it is a deep look into ourselves in an attempt to put out the flames. These songs are our catharsis; an effort to forgive, an effort to heal, an effort to look back into the darkness with newfound light and undeterred fearlessness, an effort to redeem ourselves. The damage was done, but our hearts remained; this is the product of that damage, for worse and for better." - Laura & Lydia (2017)

Jaime Wyatt - Felony Blues (30/06/17)

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• Artist: Jaime Wyatt
• Genre: Country, Folk, Singer-Songwriter
• Release Date: 30th June, 2017
• Record Label: Forty Below Records
• Tracks: 7
• Website: https://www.jaimewyatt.com/

Jaime Wyatt’s newest release 'Felony Blues', whose title is a nod to records like David Allan Coe’s Penitentiary Blue, is largely an autobiographical collection of convict love stories, prison songs, and honky-tonk laments. After completing the record and looking for a label, Jaime met Forty Below Records head, producer Eric Corne (John Mayall, Walter Trout). Corne fell in love with the songs and agreed to remix the record and release via Forty Below Records. Most songs on 'Felony Blues' are inspired by reckless life choices.

The musicians on the record include top notch Americana and country pickers John Schreffler Jr and Ted Russell Kamp from Shooter Jennings band; Gabe Witcher of the Punch Brothers on fiddle; fellow Angelino country songwriter Sam Outlaw (who features on the duet “Your Loving Saves Me”); and long time friend and drummer Freddy Bokkenheuser, now the touring drummer for Ryan Adams.

Callaghan - The Other Side EP (30/06/17)

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• Artist: Callaghan
• Genre: Country, Pop, Rock
• Release Date: 30th June, 2017
• Record Label: Green Note Music
• Tracks: 5
• Website: https://www.callaghansongs.com/

Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit - The Nashville Sound (16/06/17)

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• Artist: Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit
• Genre: Country Rock
• Release Date: 16th June, 2017
• Record Label: Southeastern/Thirty Tigers
• Tracks: 10
• Website: http://www.jasonisbell.com/

The Nashville Sound was recorded at Nashville's legendary RCA Studio A and produced by Grammy Award-winner Dave Cobb, who produced 'Something More Than Free' and Isbell's celebrated 2013 breakthrough album 'Southeastern'. 'The Nashville Sound' features 10 new songs that address a range of subjects that include, politics and cultural privilege ("White Man's World") longing nostalgia ("The Last Of My Kind"), love and mortality ("If We Were Vampires"), the toxic effect of today's pressures ("Anxiety"), the remnants of a break up ("Chaos and Clothes") and finding hope ("Something To Love"). Songs such as "Cumberland Gap" and "Hope The Highroad" find Jason and his bandmates going back to their rock roots full force.

Hannah Aldridge - Gold Rush (16/06/17)

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• Name: Hannah Aldridge
• Genre: Rock, Americana, Singer-Songwriter
• Release date: 16th June, 2017
• Record Label: Rocksnob
• Tracks: 10
• Website: https://hannah-aldridge.com/

Americana is the perfect concoction of American roots music that comprises our musical ethos as we know it today. It is something so ingrained in our history, folklore, tradition, and mythology that it is not as simple as just "becoming" Americana, but rather, it is something that you are born into. It's that old cast-iron Coca-Cola sign that's been in your neighbor's shed for 50 years, a banjo and a Fender telecaster playing together, a 1955 Chevy with a modern stereo.

There are few artists that can truly encapsulate the essence and true range of Americana like Muscle Shoals artist Hannah Aldridge, whose musical pedigree precedes her and speaks for itself.

Hannah Aldridge is the daughter of Alabama Music Hall of Famer Walt Aldridge, who is one of the most prolific songwriters of the modern musical era. Twice named by Billboard magazine as one of the Top Country Songwriters of the year, ASCAP Songwriter of the Year, and countless Number One and Top Ten hits recorded by the likes of Lou Reed, Reba McEntire, Travis Tritt, Earl Thomas Conley, Ricky Van Shelton, Ronnie Milsap, and Conway Twitty.

With sounds ranging from blues in the Mississippi Delta to the dusty, dixieland jazz sounds from New Orleans, the musical stylings of Muscle Shoals on up to the primitive roots of American Country music, Hannah Aldridge leaves no inspiration or influence untapped. 

The excellent 'Gold Rush' is Hannah's second album and our LCM album of the month for July. Hannah is also on tour in the UK this month, catch her if you can.

"Gillian Welch backed by The Stones in their Country influenced days - Fabulous" 4* (Maverick)