It’s about time that the wider world was introduced to the wonder that is Jake Xerxes Fussell – a song collector raised in Columbus, Georgia and the son of a folklorist and curator is his own right, Fred C. Fussell.…
Eliza Marshall’s Freedom to Roam is a music and film project inspired by a desire for universal compassion and respect for nature. The project traverses themes such as climate change, conflict, restriction, empathy and ecological destruction. Each facet of the…
It’s been another strange year for everyone, but in difficult times there’s always music to look after us. 2021 saw some wonderful releases across the spectrum, so here For Folk’s Sake writers round up some of their favourites. Thanks for…
Earlier this year, on 30 March, Riley Basford died by suicide. To Christian Parker, he was a family friends’ 15 year-old stepson. ‘Last Glance’ is the artist’s beautiful tribute to the young man and his family. Replete with gorgeous mandolin,…
Neil Young has always felt at his best when he’s playing rough and ready, and his best foils have always been Crazy Horse. Together they have created some of the most deceptively simple music, raw rock that captures a moment…
This is a remarkable and beautiful album, charming, moving, heartfelt and absolutely of the moment. Kick back and relax, let the wild world into your eyes, your voice, your heart. You are in safe hands here. Part praise, part blessing,…
Akin to her Appalachian contemporaries, folkie Heather Sarona sews her roots from the mountainside. The singer-songwriter grew up surrounded by folk and bluegrass music in the Uwharrie Mountains of North Carolina. Americana runs intrinsically through her veins, informing her warm, rootsy songwriting and multi-instrumentalist abilities—Sarona plays guitar in a way that recalls Saratoga greats, plus banjo and uke. Her debut LP, Head Above Water, invokes all of these elements into a cozy, inhabitable folk soundscape that recalls the likes of Gillian Welch and Watchhouse.
Everything changes over time. That’s certainly true for Sea Wolf’s Through a Dark Wood. Some of the pain has passed and now songs that didn’t make sense when the album was released in March of 2020 resonate differently. Eighteen months have…
Capturing magic in a bottle is hard, doing it twice is almost impossible. But that’s what Robert Plant and Alison Krauss have done with Raise the Roof. The first notes of ‘Quattro (World Drifts In)’ suggest that while it has taken…
Devin Hoff first heard Anne Briggs’ music about ten years ago, and that moment changed his life, leading him to spend thousands of hours listening to Briggs and eventually recording Voices from the Empty Moor (Songs of Anne Briggs). Striking a chord…