Album of The Week

Janice Burns and Jon Doran’s shared love of traditional music shines brightly in the songs they dig out of the depths of our history. On this captivating album, the tracks tell vivid stories about the nature of life and our place in the world. The duo are compelling storytellers and deliver their musical tales through tight […]

Changing times including climate change plus a change in musical are all reflected effectively on 20-year-old, Arthur Coates’ latest album, Trapdoor to Hell that features stirring new compositions by him and a range of collaborators, alongside some much-loved borrowed songs. From Insch in Aberdeenshire, multi-instrumentalist, Arthur grew up surrounded by his parents’ love of folk […]

Ayrshire singer/songwriter and clarsach player, Pauline Vallance, loves exploring different styles and genres with songs on a range of subjects. On her vibrant and captivating new album, The World’s A Gift, she explores the concept of legacy with wit and invention. Pauline, who has performed in small venues to grand ones such as Stirling Castle […]

Scottish folk band Breabach – widely praised for their energetic and accomplished contemporary brand of folk music – make a wonderful return with Fàs their first full-length album in four years. Fàs is a Gaelic word meaning growth, developing and sprouting, and the band declare the music is heavily inspired by Scotland’s natural environment. Newest […]

Singer/songwriter and Celtic harpist, Chloe Matharu offers a refreshing insight into a new tradition of maritime folk music on her exquisite release, Small Voyages. From Wemyss Bay in Inverclyde, many of Chloe’s compositions carefully draw on her experience as a Navigational Officer in the Merchant Navy, sailing around the world on oil tankers. There’s a […]

Hailed as the best Americana band in Europe, The Wynntown Marshals show they clearly deserve the accolade given the quality of their fourth album, Big Ideas. Work on the 10-track gem got underway back in 2018 and they have skilfully overcome line-up changes and pandemic restrictions to create what the Scottish band reckon is their […]

Celebrated writer and Gaelic language advocate, Marcas Mac an Tuairneir, confirms his place in the vanguard of Gaelic song and song writing with this innovative new body of work. Speactram is very much regarded as a watershed moment for the Gaelic music scene as it revives the Gaelic popular music tradition, bringing it back into […]

A skilled guitarist, fiddler and songwriter, Shetlander Barry Nisbet is inspired by stories, both historical and contemporary. Performing in dialect and English, his songs give a sensitive, occasionally humorous take on past and contemporary events. Nisbet’s fiddle style derives from the local Cullivoe Fiddlers tradition. As likely to be seen at the wheel of a […]

The Often Herd, a four-piece band from Newcastle, mix boldly contemporary and soothingly familiar sounds on their latest release, Where The Big Lamp Shines. Their ten tracks are steeped in personal experience while drawing from a wide pool of influences ranging from old-time to psychedelia with fiery instrumental skills evident throughout as well. The band […]

This exceptional transatlantic collaboration is the brainchild of Scottish musician Norrie McCulloch who started it all off by recording lead vocal and acoustic guitar parts for Canyons & Highlands in his campervan in the driveway at his home during the first pandemic lockdown. Then the recording process continued with musicians here in Scotland and the […]