Locating proceedings in Graeme Taylor’s studio with Brain Gulland and Dave Oberle as perma-presences means that there is much that’s Gryphon like from the crumhorn breaks to Taylor’s fierce electric guitar- especially effective on the ‘Foxhunter’s Jig,’ yet that never overpowers Carroll’s ideas and settings. Likewise the familiar bass of Dave Pegg and Chris Leslie’s fiddle could suggest Fairport but assured production and sympathetic desk work from Taylor means no one dominates and balance is kept. These including She Moved Through The Fair and Banks of the Nile as well as a fine revamp of Dave Cousins’s classic The Battle, stylishly aided and abetted by assorted members of venerable institutions such as Fairport Convention and Gryphon, whose multi-talented Brian Gulland displays his mastery of the crumhorn, contra bassoon and cor anglais in the process. JETHRO TULL ‘The Broadsword And The Beast’ (40th Anniversary deluxe 8CD/DVD, four-disc vinyl) Warner Music On Tuesday 7 February the Official Charts Company in partnership with English Folk Expo reveal the Top 40 best-selling and most streamed folk albums released in the January reporting period in the UK. The chart is first announced to the public at 7pm GMT as part of the Official Folk Albums Chart Show presented by Folk on Foot via their YouTube channel.

Archie Churchill-Moss is one of the best young squeezebox players around, known for his work with Moore Moss Rutter and his duo with Tom Moore. This playful debut solo album is a chance for him to explore his creative potential and really showcase what he can do. A rousing ‘High Barbaree’, a famous tale of thwarted piracy is next and David proves my earlier point by restoring all the verses of ‘Poor Man’s Sorrow’ relating all the gory details of the miserable chap’s marriage’. THIS interesting collection was the brainchild of David Carroll, who has actively immersed himself in the delights of traditional music for the past half a century or so as both a performer and instrument maker.Funded by Help Musicians UK the songs are interspersed with interviews with music therapists, mental health charities and guest musicians including Blair Dunlop, Nancy Kerr and Julie Matthews. JANICE BURNS and Jon Doran are a young folk duo who met while studying at Newcastle University. Having released an EP two years ago this debut album uses mainly traditional songs to explore our relationship with nature and themes of love and loss. The services of renowned Gryphon, Fairport, The Professionals and The Men They Couldn’t Hang members provide accomplished support on the album. A collection of traditional style folk songs given fascinating arrangements by David Carroll to whet the appetite of purist traditional folk song fans.

On Tuesday 7 February the Official Charts Company in partnership with English Folk Expo revealed the Top 40 best-selling and most streamed folk albums released in the January reporting period in the UK. The chart is first announced to the public at 7pm GMT as part of the Official Folk Albums Chart Show presented by Folk on Foot via their YouTube channel. The finished product should appeal to anyone who’s ever enjoyed the collected works of Albert or Freddie King or any of the fine musicians who recorded for the Stax organisation during its creative heyday, and roots music enthusiasts should find it well nigh indispensable. CHILDREN OF BODOM ‘A Chapter Called Children of Bodom (Final Show in Helsinki Ice Hall 2019)’ Spinefarm Records Brass Monkey> Songs> The Foxhunt Bold Reynolds / Reynard the Fox / Gentlemen of High Renown / The Foxhunt / Old SnowballBold Reynolds / Reynard the Fox / Gentlemen of High Renown / The Foxhunt / Old Snowball (Roud 190) Mainly Norfolk: English From 2 January we’ll be featuring significant albums reviewed 2003-2023 in our featured album sequences as part of GRTR!@20 A strong feminist theme runs throughout the album including in their treatment of the traditional songs. I Never Will Marry and Hares on the Mountains. But there is also the lively Appalachian feel of Fall on My Knees. Ending with a cover of the Eurythmics Sweet Dreams this is an album full of surprises. We are always interested in hearing from anyone that may consider being a reviewer for Fatea and joining the team.

Themes of nature and freedom are explored in The Corncrake and the song from which the album title is taken The Greenmore Hare. There is also a powerful version of Four Loom Weaver the 19th century lament about the Lancashire cotton famine.

New releases from Jeremiah Johnson, Quicksilver Messenger Service, The Magpies, David Carroll and Friends, Dr Feelgood, Lizzy Hardingham, Steamhammer, Trapeze, Janice Burns and Jon Doran

Whilst we will do our best to review any release that comes through the office we are not able to guarantee that we will be able to review everything Straight in at No.1 is James Yorkston, Nina Persson and The Second Hand Orchestra’s The Great White Sea Eagle (Domino Recordings), the follow up to James Yorkston and The Second Hand Orchestra’s The Wide, Wide River – a Guardian Top 10 Folk Album of 2021. The record didn’t start life as a follow up; in early 2021, Yorkston began visiting his studio in Cellardyke, Fife and for the first time, started writing songs on the piano as opposed to his usual guitar, as he gazed upon the sea outside his window. After sending the first five or six songs to Karl-Jonas Winqvist (the ringleader/conductor of TSHO), they began to discuss working on the music together. With Yorkston’s shift from guitar to piano, they thought about what other changes they could make to their process which led to the involvement of a guest singer and the legendary Nina Persson (The Cardigans) was brought into the fold. They followed the same methodology as The Wide, Wide River – apart from James, Nina and KJ, none of The Second Hand Orchestra had heard the music prior to entering the studio – and the arrangements were made up on the spot.