Claire Vine
We Carve Our Path
(Cuculi Records)
★★★★☆

CLAIRE VINE found her way into folk music in her mid twenties while becoming politically active going to Calais to work with people seeking asylum. This debut solo album consists of five original songs and five traditional songs influenced by Peggy Seeger and Ewan MacColl.

Starting with The Maid on the Shore and Let No Man Steal Your Thyme from the traditional canon, the album also explores political themes in the self-penned tracks. Eyes Wide Open deals with climate change and Lost at Sea deals with migration and the demonisation of refugees by right-wing politicians.

Vine has a fine voice and her interpretation of MacColl’s Lullabye For the Times which is then followed by her own song Ceasefire shows her to be carrying on the tradition of Seeger and MacColl in both political song-writing and interpretations of traditional songs.

Amy Leach and Alasdair Paul
They’ll Aye Remain
(Self-Released)
★★★★☆

ALASDAIR PAUL is a Highland guitarist now based in Newcastle and Amy Leach is a singer based in Edinburgh. Having performed together on numerous occasions, they took time last September to record a debut album of songs they love to sing from the Scottish folk tradition.

The album title comes from a comment by traveller and singer Lucy Stewart with regard to old songs never dying out. This album is definitely testament to that. Starting with the love song Stone and Lime Wall we then have Mirk Mirk a retelling by Robert Burns of the tragic tale of Fair Annie of Lochroyan denied by her lover Lord Gregory.

Love and death also feature in their version of Babby Allan but there are brighter themes in Herd Laddie a song in praise of shepherds. A collection of traditional songs reflecting the tapestry of life.

Brooks Williams and Aaron Catlow
Working in Wood
(Red Guitar Blue Music)
★★★★☆

ORIGINALLY from Georgia but now resident in Cambridge, guitarist Brooks Williams has again teamed up with violinist Aaron Catlow to produce this fourth live studio album. The result is an uplifting combination of folk, country blues and Americana.

Opening with Whatcha Gonna Do About it, we then get Sleeping with the Dogs Tonight, a Bonnie “Prince” Billy song about a night out that should probably come to an end soon — an experience known to many readers of this review as well as the writer.

Their own composition Tornado Smith is a tribute to the first Wall of Death Rider in Britain and another original Rising is inspired by people affected by Hurricane Helene in North Carolina in 2024. The title track is a rock ballad about someone finding their life’s calling as a ship builder and we end with the traditional Hesitation Blues. A foot-stomping album overall.