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Iona Leigh - Beside The Waves Of TimeCrescent Moon Records

Gorgeous vocals floating over a folk tinged musical backdrop, with an intermingled sense of both tradition and the contemporary. READ MORE

Roger Chapman - Hide Go SeekHypertension

Formerly of Family and Streetwalkers, Roger Chapman is back with a new release of lost gems,

demos and remixes. READ MORE

Mawkin Causley - The Awkward RecruitNavigator Records

Superb, Essex, folk Instrumentalists and Gentleman Jim Causley unite in folk Boy-Band triumph.

READ MORE

Jo Hamilton - GownPoseidon Records

The ground-breaking debut album by one of the most stunning new voices of the century.

READ MORE

Melissa McClelland - Victoria DaySix Shooter Records

Lyrical and infectious debut for Six Shooter, stunningly produced by husband Luke Doucet and capped by

Melissa’s seductive, velvet tones. READ MORE

Hear full track audio samples from all of these CDs on the fully interactive version at www.wordmagazine.co.uk. Follow the Proper banner.

Subject to availability and change or withdrawal without notice. Terms and conditions apply – see www.amazon.co.uk for details.

Bruce Cockburn - Slice of Life:Live SoloTrue North Records

Double CD, for the price of one, that showcases a cross-section of Bruce Cockburn’s finest songs and some of

his most dazzling guitar work. READ MORE

Akron/Family Set ‘Em Wild, Set ‘Em Free

Crammed DiscsFirst Crammed Discs release from the unique,

kaleidoscopic US folk-rockers Akron/Family who tour the UK in May. “True sonic adventurers...seriously good

stuff” H H H H Q H H H H Mojo READ MORE

Justin Adams & Juldeh Camara Tell No Lies

Real World“The deepest trance-blues this side of Timbuktu.

Tougher, louder, edgier and more elemental than ever” H H H H Uncut READ MORE

Mamer - EagleReal World

Songs of the grasslands from one of China’s most innovative and influential artists. Lyrical, troubador folk

- infused with an alt-country sensibility.READ MORE

Michelle Shocked - Soul Of My SoulMighty Sound

Two intense emotions—love and anger—dovetail on Michelle Shocked’s all new studio release, a passionate

album in every sense. READ MORE

Steve Knightley Track Of Words - Retraced

Hands On MusicA decade on, Show of Hands’ inspired frontman

revamps his first mainstream-nudging solo album, emphatically demonstrating the sheer diversity of

his acclaimed songwriting. READ MORE

The Men They Couldn’t HangDevil On The Wind

IrregularTheir first album in 6 years on the eve of their 25th anniversary combines a legendary live ferocity with

undiminished lyricism. An essential rock-folk hybrid for volatile modern times. READ MORE

Out 22thJune

Two intense emotions—love and anger—dovetail on Michelle Shocked’s Soul of My Soul, a passionate album in every sense. “I think the meditation these past several years, ever since I stopped drinking, really, has been to jettison rage,” says Shocked, “without losing the ability to feel strong feelings.” Two “strong currents” in her present life conspired to teach her that lesson. Artist David Willardson, “the Official Love of My Life,” is one such tide. On the flipside is her “nemesis,” the Bush Administration “and their alleged enlightened self-interest. Between the two of them, my emotions have run quite high in recent years.”

The sentiments on Soul of My Soul, performed by Shocked and producer/multi-instrumentalist Devin Powers, are couched mainly in straight-four, no frills, rock n’ roll—just the context for Shocked’s two-pronged passion play. Among the songs about her new love is the acoustic ballad True Story, where Shocked sings directly to Willardson. Her “sweetheart” also is the subject of Love’s Song, an ebullient, Stones-y anthem; Heart to Heart, a spacey Kate Bush-meets-U2 meditation on the couple’s future; and the lusty Paperboy, about Willardson’s carnal near-miss at age 12.

Clearly there are no love songs for the Bush Administration, at least in the traditional sense. Shocked does proffer Other People which, at first blush, sounds like a kiss-off to an untrue lover. Well, it is. Except for one thing: Shocked is singing to Bush’s America, the ugly, war-mongering face of the country she loves. “I used to rant, ‘Bush, pull out like your father should have.’ Now I say, ‘I love you America, but I think we should see other people.’”

She gets feistier on The Ballad Of The Battle Of The Ballot And The Bullet, a Steve Earle-ish folk rock song that she sings “because I can.” On Liquid Prayer—Soul’s lone soul tune—Shocked meditates on the types of tears issued to a God she counts on to provide the tissues. In

the ironically tropical tune, “Pompeii,” she worries about the fate of a “broken democratic state” beholden to corporate compromise and “entwined in orgiastic lies, with the top about to blow.” Vexation fuels these songs: Shocked is righteously, morally, and intellectually pissed off—but even on the angriest song on Soul of My Soul, the snarling punk rock anthem Giant Killer, Shocked vents her vexation artfully and poetically, giving her message added philosophical oomph.

These Soul songs show that, though the fightin’ side of her remains, Michelle Shocked’s rage is adrift behind her. She feels purged, baptized and renewed, free to bask in new love and the eclipse of George Bush’s bad moon by Barack Obama’s promise of hope and change. “It was Zen and the art of Archery. I had a target, I took aim and I hit, I believe, a bull’s-eye. I’d love some more feedback on that estimation, but early indications from live performances are “Amen, Sister Shocked.

Michelle Shocked - Soul Of My Soul

Michelle Shocked - Soul Of My SoulMighty Sound MS11

‘Tell No Lies’ is the new sound of Justin Adams & Juldeh Camara. The sound of a nation with no borders, a place that needs no passport, no visa. This is where the deep roots of African music nourish the raw electric groove of rock and roll, where Gnawa spirit rhythms come up against Chicago distortion, where snaky N’awlins rhythm has a West London howl, and a Sahel Wail.

Juldeh Camara is an African Master Musician taught to play the ritti, a one-stringed fiddle, by his blind father, who himself was taught directly by the djinn. Juldeh participated as a griot (a West African poet, praise singer and repository of oral tradition) in traditional Fula society. With the drive and effortless flow of a great Bluesman, his instrument brings to mind Delta players like Big Joe Williams, as well as Ali Farka Touré. He describes magical shapes on his ritti; one minute it’s Blues harp, the next a Celtic fiddle, then a Saharan herdsman’s flute. It is hard to believe all this emotion, range and flexibility comes from just one string.

Justin Adams has been at the cutting edge of world music alchemy since the 1990’s with Jah Wobble, Robert Plant, Natacha Atlas, The Festival of the Desert, Tinariwen, LO’JO. Taking influences from African, Arabic and Irish traditions as well as rock and roll and the Blues, his distinctive, driving guitar style is the missing link between Bo Diddley and Munir Bashir. With Tell No Lies, Adams delves deeper into the African origins of black American music, following the roots of New Orleans and Mississippi soul right back to the Songhai, Fulani and Touareg peoples of West Africa.

Justin and Juldeh’s debut album “Soul Science” in 2007 was winner of the BBC Radio 3 World Music Award in the Crossing Continents category. “Yet that album pales next to its successor, which increases the intensity with no hint that there might be a limit to the seam they are mining.” The Sunday Times.

With “Tell No Lies”, an exciting new fusion is realized as Adams brings Clash-style punk energy to Camara’s West African trance rhythm. “...the interplay between the two sounds almost effortless as they switch from slinky Bo Diddley-style riffs to rolling blues with an African edge, and quieter trance-like songs. Magnificent.” The Guardian *****

“Like a blast of hot Saharan wind... an exotic, brilliantly realised example of a happy fusion of cultures.” The Sun ****

“This is an extraordinary album...picks up where Muddy Waters and Bo Diddley left off and leads us deep into their roots...” Mojo ****

“The stars of the show are still Adams’ growling, earthy guitar and Camara’s soaring ritti (single string fiddle)... Highly impressive stuff.” Songlines *****

“The deepest trance-blues this side of Timbuktu. Tougher, louder, edgier and more elemental than ever...” Uncut ****

“World music magic.” The Sunday Times

“Justin Adams is probably the most influential catalyst of African-Western musical crossovers of the last couple of decades…” The Independent ****

“Stunning… it’s a though an African troubadour wandered into Sun Studios.” Daily Express ****

See Justin & Juldeh31st May Wychwood Festival Cheltenham 5th June Acorn Arts Centre Penzance 6th June Pavillion Bath 11th June The Globe Cardiff

Justin Adams & Juldeh Camara - Tell No Lies

Justin Adams & Juldeh Camara Tell No Lies

Real World CDRW170

Mamer is one of China’s most original and influential young artists and the father of Chinagrass - simple, honest, direct music with one foot in the past and another in the future. A cult figure of Beijing’s underground music scene, Mamer was born and raised in Qitai County in Northwest China’s Xinjiang Province. He grew up on horseback, steeped in the strong musical tradition of Kazakh nomadic culture.Mamer’s debut album ‘Eagle’ features songs of the grasslands that are deeply rooted in traditional Kazakh folk song and dombra music. The music combines these traditional elements with Western folk, rock and virtuosic performances on guitar, dombra and other traditional instruments. Haunting, lyrical, ambient and subtle, ‘Eagle’ is a modern soundtrack to the open grasslands, breathing life into the ancient songs and instruments of this magical landscape.This is a seminal album, lyrical troubadour folk infused with an alt.country sensibility touched with the renegade spirit of everyone from Woody Guthrie to the Velvet Underground and Nick Cave. Guests including Grammy winner Bela Fleck, members of Hanggai and IZ, as well as the late, great French producer Hector Zazou.Mamer’s low, resonant voice adds a magical element to the often mournful, yet heartbreakingly beautiful music, traditional Kazakh folk songs and Mamer’s own compositions. ‘Iligai’, for instance, is a song about the annual nomadic migration; ‘Man’ is a simple folk song featuring the famed Ughar musician Adil on ghijek; ‘Kargashai’ features a dubby Jew’s harp, electric guitar loops and shamanic kobyz drones; ‘Flute Song’ is an instrumental composition for the sybyzghy (end-blown flute) which Mamer learned from an old man in the mountains; ‘Blackbird’ is Mamer

at his most rootsy and folksy and, with its wide array of string instruments, is also the album’s most countryfied song; ‘Where Are You Going?’ is Chinagrass at its most ambient and subtle: a lo-fi moment in a hi-fi album.These days Mamer spends a lot of time in Beijing with his band IZ who are credited with single-handedly kickstarting China’s alt.country scene and turning Mamer into a cult figure and underground hero of Beijing’s underground music scene. Yet his inspiration and creativity still comes from the grasslands where he returns at least once or twice a year. Having originally intended to produce Eagle, Hector Zazou fell ill during his collaboration with Mamer and was unable to continue working. His legacy is here, however. As are his words: “Mamer’s music is based on his acceptance of what has been done before and his reaction, here and now, to this tradition,” Zazou said. “Mamer is a very special artist trying to do something very subtle, and this is a beautiful record.”

Mamer - Eagle

Mamer - EagleReal World CDRW165

Mamer plays The Slaughtered Lamb London 18th May and Womad Charlton Park 24-26th July.

TMTCH return with their first album in 6 years on the eve of their 25th anniversary. Devil On The Wind combines a legendary live ferocity with a still undiminished lyricism to create an essential rock folk hybrid for volatile modern times.

Long considered one of the finest live experiences thrown up by the British music scene, TMTCH have harnessed their passionate live power to create a kaleidoscopic, fully realised album of folk, rock and country influences. Ably steered by producer Pat Collier, the material ranges from

International panoramas to intimate personal vignettes, all played with a seasoned sureness that still erupts into adrenalin pumped ferocity...With this finely realised album TMTCH are in grave danger of no longer being ‘the best kept secret of British rock...’

TMTCH were formed in the tailspin of punk when Stefan Cush met members of Catch 22 in London and brothers Phil ‘Swill’ and Jon Odgers accompanied by Paul Simmonds jumped ship. Choosing a more roots oriented style, the original line up was completed with Shanne Bradley, who as founder of the Nipple Erectors had ironically launched the career of one Shane McGowen down a parallel path.

The first single released in 1984 was a version of Eric Bogle’s Green Fields Of France, signaling their politically charged intensity and making a significant impression on the indie charts at a time when such things really meant something.

Championed by John Peel, they became fixtures of the Festive 50 and recorded numerous sessions. A series of successful albums and singles followed culminating in the critically lauded Domino Club in 90. But the non-stop touring had started to take its toll and as if wanting to go out on a high, the band split. An emotional final gig at London’s Town And Country club was recoded as the intended swansong Alive, Alive-O and released in 91. End of phase one.

The next five years saw numerous splinter projects take to the stage and studio, until the band reunited again in 96. Two releases swiftly followed, Never Born To Follow that year and Big Six Pack EP a year later. But the next two years saw only two volumes of a deserved, retrospective

career overview being released and once again the side projects started to gain the upper hand.

In cyclical style it was 2003 that another new studio album, The Cherry Red Jukebox, saw the light of day and this was followed in 2005 with another live album, Smugglers And Bounty Hunters. So, following that cycle again we are up to date with the brand new studio release, a series of UK dates including the Bicentennial festival in honour of the great British radical thinker Thomas Paine at the end of May in Norfolk. With political scandal, fat cat fall out and a rising tide of ordinary folk cast onto the scrapheap of the jobless, their return to the fray is both timely and most welcome.

The Men They Couldn’t Hang - Devil On The Wind

The Men They Couldn’t HangDevil On The Wind

Irregular IRR069

“Don’t let Akron/Family’s bearded hippy demeanour fool you. While fragments of hushed, angelic songcraft pepper this album, their folk is of a most freaked variety, spliced between rambling but purposeful jams heavy with polyrythmic Afrobeat, a heady and enveloping chaos that owes at least as much to the explosive ragas of Lightening Bolt as to former Young God labelmate Davendra Banhart.” **** MOJO“A revelation. Their fractured chamber-folk dotted with freakish, Pentecostal chorals and bursts of hectic rock-skronk.” Uncut“(They) have proved themselves capable of more extraordinary, kaleidoscopic musical feats than most - morphing from quiet country-gospel into heavy psych-rock workouts, dipping into strange marching-band anthems and reverberating free-jazz jams along the way... a genuine one-off.” The Guardian“Seriously good stuff.” ****QSteadily building up an incredible, word-of-mouth reputation during the last four years, gathering an ever-growing legion of obsessive fans, Akron/Family stand on the verge of a major breakthrough. Purveyors of an inimitable, kaleidoscopic brand of global, psychedelic, folk-rock music Set ‘Em Wild... is set to be one of the year’s landmark releases and, as its cover suggests, sees the band effect their own entirely unique and inclusive vision of a United States Of Music.From the impossibly slinky ethno-funk groove that kicks off opener Everyone Is Guilty onwards, it’s clear that this band adopts a wonderfully lateral approach to guitar-based rock music. Aside from the band’s signature close harmony vocal hooks, the Akron/Family musical vocabulary packs in Fela-like rhythmic momentum, heady Funkadelic guitar chops, intricate Ali Farka Toure chord tapestries, skittering, almost

Timbaland-esque electronic percussion, frenzied gusts of Albert Ayler brass... and all are laced with warm, infectious folk-pop melodies. Set ‘Em Wild, Set ‘Em Free is the band’s first recording since parting ways with ex-Swans Michael Gira’s label, Young God Records. They recorded two albums for Young God as well as recording and touring USA and Europe backing Gira as part of his Angels of Light project. Since the departure of Ryan Vanderhoof the trio now loosely breaks down as Seth Olinsky (guitar, vocals), Miles Seaton (bass, vocals), Dana Janssen (drums, vocals), but in truth all are multi instrumentalists, here supported by a brass and strings offering extra colour and spikey interludes.AKRON/FAMILY UK Tour Dates: May 20, London, ICA; May 22, Glasgow, Captains Rest; May 23, Manchester, Ruby Lounge; May 24, Bristol, Fiddlers

Akron/Family - Set ‘Em Wild, Set ‘Em Free

Akron/Family Set ‘Em Wild, Set ‘Em Free

Crammed Discs CRAM144

“Knightley dares to tackle subjects other songwriters leave well alone – his best songs are bleak, witty and finely observed” The Guardian“Committed and distinctive songs of conscience, love and history -spare and powerful” BBC Radio 2“One of England’s greatest singer songwriters” Mike Harding, BBC Radio 2“Steve Knightley’s songs have developed such an edge it’s hard to deny them any longer” MOJO

Steve Knightley is the songwriting force behind the phenomenally successful acoustic roots duo Show of Hands as well as a fine solo singer and musician. From a rock background, Knightley is known for his strong narrative songs, many inspired by people and places in his native West Country and cogent, inventive lyrics. His rock-style-rant Country Life and anthemic rally call Roots were both nominated for Best Original Song in the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards whilst Show of Hands won the category Best Live Act. Steve released his first solo album in seven years, Cruel River, in 2007 to critical acclaim and has also produced albums for other artists including Jez Lowe and young Devon singer songwriter Jenna.In May 09 he releases Track of Words-Retraced, which reworks his debut solo album of a decade ago. This recording, perhaps more than any other, underlines the sheer diversity of Knightley’s songwriting and cogent lyrics, stripping away the bigger production feel of the original album and investing in a more subtle and acoustic style for some numbers; adding new tempos, textures and unexpected instrumentation to others.Says Steve: “A decade ago I wanted to put some distance between the essentially big acoustic sound of Show of Hands and the Track Of Words project. Ten years on I find myself with a batch of little-known songs but utterly at home with both the genre and the acoustic tools of my trade. It feels like a good moment to revisit it.” Leading on from his stunningly sparse solo album Cruel River (2007), Track Of Words Retraced offers 13 tracks plus a bonus track co-written with Mercury Prize nominee and fellow Devon folk star Seth Lakeman. The eye-catching cover superimposes a current image of the musician over the original 1999 album cover.In addition to a defining title track it includes some of Knightley’s most arresting and emotionally literate songs – personal life-shaping events having infused them with

what he describes as “a few more gears and subtext”. There are co-writes with Matt Clifford, who has produced with The Rolling Stones, and songs like You’re Mine and the ever topical Cold Heart Of England that have gone on to become Show of Hands standards.There are soul-searching numbers like Rush Of Blood, Face In The Frame and the disarmingly fragile Broken, a more retro-sounding Faith In You and a memorable duet, Caught In The Rain, with 20 year-old Devon singer songwriter Jenna whose acclaimed debut album Steve produced. On the album, Steve plays guitars, mandocello, cuatro, acoustic bass and harmonica while guest musicians include Jenna on piano and vocals, Phil Beer on guitar, fiddle and mandocello, Dave Wood on slide guitar and Matt Clifford on piano. The input of musician Jerri Hart gives an unexpected twist to the album. Knightley first saw Hart entertaining on the streets of his home town – a chance encounter which led to Hart contributing the sensual trumpet riffs to several tracks.

Steve Knightley - Track Of Words - Retraced

Steve KnightleyTrack Of Words - Retraced

Hands On Music HMCD30

The best live albums create the illusion of being there, witnessing an artist in a memorable performance. Bruce Cockburn has recorded three previous live recordings: Circles in the Stream (1977), Live (1990) and You Pay Your Money And You Take Your Chance (1997), each critically acclaimed and featuring Cockburn in concert with a backing band. Now, the celebrated musician/activist delivers something new: his first-ever live solo album.

Recorded last spring over a series of dates in the north-eastern United States and one in Quebec, Slice O Life is a double CD that showcases a cross-section of Cockburn’s finest songs and some of his most dazzling guitar work. The album, produced by long-time associate Colin Linden, also includes one new

song, City Is Hungry, three tracks recorded at sound checks on the tour and some between-song banter that shows Cockburn to be both a quick wit and an engaging storyteller.

Slice O Life features such hits as Cockburn’s controversial If I Had A Rocket Launcher, his classic Lovers In A Dangerous Time and his breakthrough Wondering Where The Lions Are, which he rightly quips may be the only song ever to make the Billboard chart that includes the word “petroglyph.” Originally recorded with a full band, these and other songs like World Of Wonders have been rearranged and performed on acoustic guitar, often with stunning results. In particular, the polyrhythmic solo on Rocket Launcher, full of complex, cascading notes, is especially mesmerizing.

Besides the hits, the album recasts lesser-known songs such as Wait NoMore and Celestial Horses, both originally featured on Cockburn’s 2003 album You’ve Never Seen Everything, in a dramatic new light. The latter, full of slow, haunting reverb, now seems like an overlooked psych-folk masterpiece, while the former, played in a fast, bluesy drone on a Dobro guitar, takes on a compelling urgency. Similarly on Tibetan Side Of Town, Cockburn’s single guitar conveys a full, rich accompaniment, fluid, jazzy treble notes and Big Bill Broonzy-style droning bass notes, for his vivid tale of sensory nights in Kathmandu.

Cockburn has often cited the influence of the blues on his music, especially the work of country-blues pioneers like Mississippi John Hurt. The blues tinge shines through in several other performances on Slice O Life, including Cockburn’s gut-wrenching rendition of Blind

Willie Johnson’s Soul Of A Man and City Is Hungry, an hypnotic urban blues number in which Cockburn warns “hear that rumbling underground/better think twice before you go downtown.”

Meanwhile, the sound checks and introductions to songs reveal another side of the award-winning artist. One sound check involves Cockburn jamming wildly on his 12-string guitar before segueing into The Trains Don’t Go There Anymore, a rare track he co-wrote in the 1960s with Ottawa poet Bill Hawkins. Cockburn’s humour comes across in anecdotes about panhandlers who claim to know his music and a mercenary who once offered him a summer job as a gun-runner while he was a student at Boston’s prestigious Berklee School of Music.

Fortunately for us, Cockburn turned down the job and stuck with music. Over 35 years, the Ottawa-born musician has recorded almost as many albums while earning respect for his charitable and activist work. “My job is to try and trap the spirit of things in the scratches of pen on paper, in the pulling of notes out of metal,” Cockburn said when he was inducted into the Canadian

Music Hall of Fame in 2001. He was also made an Officer Of The Order Of Canada and has been the recipient of honorary degrees in Letters and Music from several North American universities, including Berklee and Toronto’s York University. His many other awards have included the Tenco Award for Lifetime Achievement in Italy and 20 gold and platinum awards in Canada.

As a songwriter, Cockburn is revered by fans and musicians alike. His songs have been covered by such diverse artists as Elbow, Jimmy Buffett, Judy Collins, the Skydiggers, Anne Murray, Third World, Chet Atkins, k.d. lang, Barenaked Ladies, Maria Muldaur and the Grateful Dead’s Jerry Garcia. As a guitarist, he is considered among the world’s best. The New York Times called Cockburn a “virtuoso on guitar,” while Acoustic Guitar magazine placed him in the esteemed company of Andrés Segovia, Bill Frisell and Django Reinhardt. With Slice O Life, all of Cockburn’s formidable gifts are on full display.

www.brucecockburn.com

Bruce Cockburn - Slice O Life - Live Solo

Bruce Cockburn - Slice O LifeTrue North Records TND520

Since the late 70s and the days when 60’s musicians were being indiscriminately pensioned off in this country, upstaged by the Sex Pistols and New Wave Music, Chappo has enjoyed a remarkable career in a parallel universe (Germany), where they are bit more loyal to those that make an impact on planet rock. Showing remarkable resilience, he rebuilt his career during the 1980s, packing out venues, promoting a spate of successful albums and enjoying a huge European hit with his impassioned rendition of Mike Oldfield’s Shadow On The Wall.

His impact in UK terms may be clearly defined by Family and the Streetwalkers (67-77), but the musical range of those two combos is extraordinarily diverse and gives an indication of what this double disc set delivers. Still going strong, Roger is back in 2009 with this new CD set and a busy touring schedule in the UK and the rest of Europe. Hide Go Seek contains a mammoth twenty-eight tracks of demos, lost gems and alternative versions of familiar titles. Some of the recordings are over twenty years old and have never been heard before, yet still sounding fresh and vibrant today.

For those that have lost touch, this is an invaluable collection of apparent off-cuts that proves those tonsils are still in fine shape and his distinctive warbling rasp (Peter Gabriel in a vibro-massage chair!?) is still as powerful. Much of this set majors on the funky-rock style that the Streetwalkers specialised in with prominent clavinet, bass, drums and clipped guitars. But tracks like Naked Hearts/The Movie are more reminiscent of the more pastoral, psyche-tinged Family moments.

With the likes of Mick Moody, Laurie Wisefield, Alvin Lee and Steve Simpson (Ry Cooder, Ronnie Lane, etc) adding their guitar skills, this is a great chance for a classic rockin’ catch up. Roger, it’s been a while. Come on in, it’s nice to see you.

www.chappo.com

Roger Chapman - Hide Go Seek

Roger Chapman - Hide Go SeekHypertenion HYP9267

Iona Leigh’s unique sound has been described as gorgeous vocals floating over a folk tinged musical backdrop, with an intermingled sense of both tradition and the contemporary. While her music is cleverly catchy, it washes over the listener with a serenity that is rare in the modern pop world, and the stories contained within her songs come to life with foot stomping rhythms, melodic arrangements and vivid lyrical imagery. Iona’s talent for song-writing is clear from her poignant lyrics, which make reference to nature, ancient legends and myths. But it is her striking voice, drawing comparisons to such individual artists as Sheila Chandra and Tori Amos, that heralds her arrival as a significant new artist.

Iona left her birthplace of Sydney, Australia at the age of 8 and moved half way across the world to the remote fishing village and community of Findhorn, in the north east of Scotland. In accordance with the philosophy of the Steiner School she attended, Iona had restricted access to television and spent most of her time playing her harp, writing

songs and singing to her mother’s alternative music collections in the cozy bungalow they called home. Music was woven into the fabric of Iona’s life in Findhorn, as traveling musicians came from far and wide to perform in the community’s Universal Hall. These alternative and traditional musical influences, combined with her deep love for the wild tumbling waves of the Moray Firth have all been uniquely captured in her new album; Beside The Waves Of Time, to be released in March 2009.

The album, produced by Nick Turner, employs a full contemporary folk band (complete with drums), and features some of Scotland and Ireland’s finest musicians including Jarlath Henderson (Uillean Pipes), Duncan Lyall (Upright Bass), Findlay Napier (Guitar), Mary Ann Kennedy (Harp), Paul Jennings (Drums) and Gillian Frame (Fiddle). One of Iona’s stunning and emotionally enticing songs on the album; ‘Trees’, is being used to raise awareness for the ‘Trees for Life’ charity (www.treesforlife.org.uk) as part of their efforts to regenerate the depleted Caledonian forest.

Iona Leigh - Beside The Waves Of Time

Iona Leigh - Besde The waves Of TimeCrescent Moon Records CMOON032009

www.ionaleigh.com

“ Heroes of the new folk revival” Critic’s Pick The Guardian

“ Unconditionally Mighty” **** MOJO

“ Remarkably assured - such conviction and a true sense of their music’s history” ***** Uncut

“ Supremely confident - a serious album, of considerable weight” fROOTS Playlist Award fROOTS

“ Genuinely artful arrangements - mighty, provocative, yet admirably considered” **** Observer Music Monthly

Not many bands can lay claim to being nominated for a prestigious BBC Folk Award, before they’ve even released an album but Mawkin:Causley can. Mawkin:

Causley are brothers James and David Delarre, Danny Crump, Alex Goldsmith (all previously known as Mawkin) and widely acclaimed Devon singer, Jim Causley (Under One Sky / Devil’s Interval).

With a heady mix of richly melodic vocals, melodeons, electric bass and acoustic guitar, they breathe youthful vigour and considerable energy into their folk- inspired music. As a testament to the impact they have made in a very short time, after less than 18 months together, not only have Mawkin:Causley been nominated as BEST GROUP at the BBC Folk Awards 2009 but their music has appeared frequently on Radio 2, with a seal of

approval from Bob Harris and Mike Harding, but also from the station usually more at home with indie rock artists, 6Music.

Despite this debut bringing together influences on the band from around the globe (there are continental twists, rhythms that hint at reggae and far from conventional instrumentation) ‘The Awkward Recruit’ (Navigator) is ultimately an exuberant exploration of traditional English fare.

The focus of the songs is rebellion and the futility of war, with a vivid cast of characters springing to life from every song. A blood-thirsty Elizabethan solider (‘Jolly Broom Man’) finally decides that killing people isn’t very rewarding afterall, whilst ‘Drummer Boy’ is a more

desperate tale of young man sent off to do his duty and despite his determination to serve his country and make his mother proud, he is shot down early in battle and never returns, a story which resonances throughout history. The title track, ‘The Awkward Recruit’ tells of an abused and increasingly deluded soldier who becomes convinced he is going to kill General Bonaparte and by doing so, save England. ‘The Downfall of Charing Cross’ is seventeenth century satire at its best, whilst ‘The Cutty Wren’ was believed to have been sung on the Peasants Revolt and used as a protest song to ridicule the king.

Mawkin:Causley have, between them, played over 50 UK festivals and have supported a range of well-regarded artists including Eliza Carthy, Show of Hands, Billy Bragg, Mr Scruff and more besides. With Jim Causley’s rich voice, charismatic stage presence and a rare ability to shift between melodrama and great subtly, in a heartbeat, this barn-storming band are set to get noticed on a much wide-scale in 2009.

Mawkin Causley - The Awkward Recruit

Mawkin Causley - The Awkward RecruitNavigator Records NAVIGATOR19

Innovative Canadian songstress Melissa McClelland returns with her highly anticipated third album, Victoria Day. Produced by husband Luke Doucet, her Six Shooter Records debut finds McClelland deeply in touch with a sense of melody and wordplay that rivals any of her contemporaries.

Once memorably described as a female Tom Waits, Canada-based Melissa McClelland follows her highly-rated previous two albums Stranded In Suburbia and Thumbelina’s One Night Stand by giving the Americana/alt.country goalposts a hefty shove.

This is an elusive collection, mixing sublime tenderness with hard-bitten rock, funky horns, chunky guitars and quirky stories. She seems to have one foot rooted in an innocent country world but with another foot firmly planted in a rip-roaring all-singing all-dancing beer joint; and in the midst of it Melissa swiftly transforms herself from the sweet girl next door to the raunchy hell-raiser who drinks the boys under the table.

When you can deliver what sounds like classic Patti Page on Cry On My Shoulder, lush strings and all, and follow it with the growly, seedy When The Lights Go Off In Hogtown and then duet with the inestimable Ron Sexsmith on the darkly beautiful Seasoned Lovers, that’s a powerful cocktail.

Husband Luke Doucet has done a mighty job knitting all the disparate strands into a cohesive whole and make no mistake, Ms McClelland fits no easy pigeonhole. On the string-laden Segovia, heavy with symbolism and backing choir, she’s come up with one of the most yearningly lovely songs you’ll hear all year; while God Loves Me is an alternative gospel song of the streets that suddenly

explodes in a sinister welter of electric guitar.

That sort of darkness is always prevalent in her songs and even when it seems at its fluffiest and most wide-eyed, the album is still likely to whip you off into some murky back street populated by unseemly characters. The scenarios depicted on Glenrio and the two tracks titled Victoria Day – the first rockabilly, the second classic early pop – complete the image of a movie scenario built around the changing seasons in a backwater town with the songwriter as colourful chameleon.

Colin Irwin.

www.melissamcclelland.com

Melissa McClelland - Victoria Day

Melissa McClelland - Victoria DaySix Shooter SIX49

Stemming from a nomadic family with roots in both Kenya and Jamaica, Jo Hamilton was brought up in a house two miles from the nearest neighbour in the wilds of northern Scotland. Her parents moved constantly in her youth, which saw her spending periods in Turkey, UAE, Kuwait, Sri Lanka and Cambodia.

In her late teens Jo studied classical viola in Edinburgh and at Birmingham Conservatoire. During this period the first hints of a solo talent began to emerge; she quietly recorded an early 3-track EP with the help of guitarist/drummer/producer Tom Livemore (the Ripps/Carina Round/Glen Ballard), and then went on to create a self-produced album of early songs (Palace Place) with the help of other musicians.

It was during the recording of Palace Place that she first met producer Jon Cotton (subsequently producer of Scott Matthews’ Ivor Novello winning Elusive), with whom she remained in touch over the next four years.

In the meantime, Jo began performing more widely, supporting Damien Rice and Michelle Shocked, and touring with Colin Vearncombe (Black) in the UK. She contributed viola and vocals to Kirsty McGee’s first album, and was invited by Fairport Convention founder (and discoverer of Nick Drake) Ashley Hutchings to sing lead vocals and play viola with first the Albion Band and then his new band the Rainbow Chasers on several European tours.

While welcomed by the folk world, Jo continued to develop her own very different, much darker and more layered material. She worked on developing sounds with Tom Livemore and a live band, and started using a computer for the first time to write. She travelled to Cambodia, making field recordings on a little minidisc recorder which accompanied her everywhere - recordings which were later incorporated into her work.

Back in the UK, the combined songs she’d accumulated with Tom, on her sequencers and in Cambodia began to

take shape as an album. On hearing the sketches, Jon Cotton signed her to his production company Poseidon, and over the next two years they developed the songs into the album Gown.

As the album began to take shape Jo and Jon Cotton developed a short film about it which became her electronic press kit – shot largely by Jo herself in Slovenia, Italy, France and the UK this film became another labour of love, taking nearly a year to complete in its own right.

Simultaneously, Jo collaborated with award-winning illustrator/animators Dave Neale and Jordan Cadby on the accompanying album sleeve and animations; many of the animations featuring on the electronic press kit.

“Absolutely gorgeous.” Janice Long (BBC Radio)

“When Jo sings, something thaws that I didn’t even realise was frozen.” Sweet Billy Pilgrim (artist signed to David Sylvian’s Samadhisound label)

“A staggering voice that can brush softly against your soul or fill you with the intensity of an earthquake.” Scott Matthews (Ivor Novello Award winning singer/songwriter)

“...intelligent, uncompromising material, gentle, muscular, and deeply appealing. Jo Hamilton’s work deserves your attention, and I’m pretty sure it’s going to get just that; if not today, then tomorrow.” Robin Valk (Radio To Go)

“Sophisticated, sensuous, complex, layered and utterly beguiling, there’s a song here called Paradise. A better description of the album would be hard to conjure.” Mike Davies (Netrhythms)

“Absolutely beautiful.” Clare English (BBC Radio Scotland)

“The devil is known for inhabiting the details, but there are some glimpses of heaven here.” Properganda

www.johamilton.com www.myspace.com/johamiltongown www.poseidonmusic.com

Jo’s EPK film at: www.johamilton.com/videos.php?id=18

Jo Hamilton - Gown

Jo Hamilton - GownPoseidon Records PSDN001

Stop Press Album release delayed until August 09.