Old Spot
Old Spot II
(Scribe Records)
⭑⭑⭑⭑☆

OLD SPOT consists of fiddle player Rowan Piggot and banjo player Joe Danks who released their first album in 2023. This second album of 10 tracks continues their love of bluegrass and old time Appalachian music.

The album begins with the classic Tom Dooley whose tragic tale seems perfect for the combination of vocals, fiddle and banjo. Other tracks have their roots in Irish, English and other European traditions. The Roustabout Song, despite its American-sounding lyric, may first have started as a shanty song and has a social political edge towards the end in contrasting the lives of rich and poor.

From the Sacred Harp tradition we have the intensity of Am I Born to Die? and Irish and US traditions come together in instrumentals like The Blackbird ending with an original composition Square and Compass. A good combination of songs and tunes representing different styles.

Chris Marksberry
The Perry Vale Sessions
(Sound Performance)
⭑⭑⭑⭑☆

CHRIS MARKSBERRY is a south-east London based singer-songwriter who released his first album End of the American Dream last year. In this second album recorded at Perry Vale Studios he incorporates different musical styles including folk rock, blues, jazz and country taking inspiration from artists such as Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell and Neil Young.

The songs are his own however. Starting with the rock and roll feel of A Bolt of Lightning there is a more bluesy feel to Let’s Ride and Razor Love while we come back to a rockier beat with Gun in My Hand.

For me however the stand out track is Hippy World. Name checking a range of artists from Janis Joplin to The Mamas and The Papas and festivals from Monteray to Woodstock the refrain of I Want to Live in a Hippy World has never seemed more apt.

Clementine Lovell
Permutations
(Self-Released)
⭑⭑⭑⭑☆

FOLLOWING her award-winning debut album Westbound Clementine Lovell has now released a follow-up with seven tracks showcasing her impressive vocal and piano skills.

The album continues her interest in traditional folk tale and legend starting with her own rewritten tale of The Selkie but changing the half-human, half-seal creature to a woman who marries a fisherman and bears his children but yearns for the freedom she used to enjoy in the sea.

Lovell gives her distinct interpretation to traditional songs like Black Jack Davey, The Elfin Knight and True Thomas but her other self-penned song The Death of An Ordinary Star explores change in our own lives and place in the universe inspired by her grandfather radio astronomer Bernard Lovell. The final track is Dougie MacLean’s Ready for the Storm with a message of strength and hope making a fitting end to the album.