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Album:That's Proper Folk!!

Label:Proper Records

Website: http://www.myspace.com/propermusic

If you're looking for a folk starter kit to attract friends and colleagues into the genre, this is it. Featuring a baker's dozen of the best contemporary performers currently doing the rounds. It's a compilation that showcases a number of folk styles, solo artists and bands. Whilst most of the artists on the compilation hail from the Uk, there's enough space for the odd Australian band and American singer/songwriter. This is an exceptional compilation and it's virtually being given away. Check it out and then check out the featured artists. You know it makes sense.

Album:The Unabridged Version

Label:Confused Ladybird Recordings

Website: http://www.myspace.com/tinataylormusic

English folk music has all the vitality and appeal of it's Celtic cousins. It's fight for recognition continues to gain pace and as it does so, fresh names and faces will come to the fore. Judging by the quality of her debut album, Tina Taylor is a name that you'll become very familiar. Inspired by 500 odd years of music, Taylor delivers an album that includes, unaccompanied, just her and her guitar, a band, self penned songs and interpretations. She even manages a smile or two. Tina Taylor nails the songs with a vocal performance that captures the essence of English Song.

Album:Sailing The Ice

Website: http://www.simonguitar.co.uk

I'm a huge fan of the music of Freddie Phillips, best known for the music for Trumpton, Camberwick Green and Chigley. Simon Jackson's guitar style reminded me very much of that, almost whimsical and enchanting sound. He sprinkles instrumentals through the album and blends them with songs, both self penned and adapted from the likes of Maggie Holland and Huw Williams. Like a lot of folk tales, including his take on "Coals On The Devil's Hearth", there is a darker side to the songs that is often at odds with the deceptively simple melodies that support them. An impressive debut.

Label:Ravine Records

Website: http://www.garronfrith.co.uk

Having served his apprenticeship supporting a whose who of folk and acoustic artists in the North West, singer/songwriter, Garron Frith, is more than ready to strike out with his self-titled debut album. It's an album that seems to take snap shots of Garron's thought processes. It feels personal, but not to the point of excluding the listener, nor is it diary singing, rather someone exploring their place in the world and how they interact with it and the people that populate it. Consequently you gain an empathy with the writer because you've been there yourself, and probably still have the scars.

Album:The Fox's Wedding

Website: http://www.sharronkraus.com

"The Fox's Wedding" is not what you'ld call an instant hit. In fact on the first play through there were bits of the album that grated, leaving a raw feeling and yet like that small bit of skin by a ripped finger nail, you know you are going to go back to it. Suddenly it's intensity begins to grow. It's, at times, almost gothic, beauty finds a duckling turning into a swan. Kraus is a gifted writer, drawing on pagan imagery to inform her narrative and music. It's an album rich in symbolism and connected to nature. A seed that finds ground on which to grow.

Website: http://www.myspace.com/elowenfolk

It's back to simpler times with this, their eponymously titled debut, to times when maids were sweetly singing in Bedlam, Johnny was busy cobbling away in the workshop, the Scots and English were trying to reconcile their differences on either side of the Tweed and the English Rose was actually a rather lovely folk song, and not Kate Winslet as we all previously thought. Elowen's album has put a smile on my face and has unwittingly set my imagination on otherworldly courses, through vernacular agrarian festivities. The songs and harmonies invoking harmless daydreaming.

Label:House Of Mercy Records

Website: http://www.myspace.com/bexmarshall

Bex Marshall has one of those great southern state, rockabilly filly voices. There is that classic drawl that permeates through the country and gospel tinged Americana. "Kitchen Table" summons up images of big fin cars and dinettes, Dr Peppers and moonshine. This is music that's right at home in a honkytonk behind a wire mesh cage as the locals dance the night away. It's about as authentic rockabilly as you can get., well except that the state that Bex originally hails from is Devon. "Kitchen Table" makes a mockery of geography, this is the real thing, it would be at home on Sun.

Website: http://www.myspace.com/ivorgametunes

Ivor Game, seems to have found himself a comfortable niche, in a market rich in singer songwriters. The songs tend to be just Ivor and his guitar, but they are deceptive in their apparent simplicity. It's lighter in sound than a lot of his contempories, picking up a swing quality along the way. It's got that feel of spring and summer, flake girls blowing dandelion clocks. "From A Plane" has a dreamt escapist feel without sounding too frothy. Game has landed on the right side of easy listening. He's a man that knows how to pin down a tune, find a hook and make it catchy

The Chas Burnett Blues Band

Website: http://www.chasburnett.com

"Blues It Up!!" is real rockin' blues from ex-pat blues trio, The Chas Burnett Blues Band. Hailing from different parts of the UK, the band migrated to Spain where they've made a living grafting along the Costa Del Sol. Taking the opportunity of long days in the sun to perfect their craft. Burnett, a broadcaster as well as a musician, penned the twelve songs on the album. Hands up there are some familiar themes that run through the album and a few familiar riffs here and there, but it doesn't detract from an album that ultimately hits the entertainment buttons.

Website: http://www.myspace.com/laumusic

Lau, "Live" is one of those strange albums. It fails to inspire me, but I can't fully place my finger on why. It features virtuoso performances by all three musicians in the band, Aidan O’Rourke, Martin Green and Kris Dreever. The songs and tunes are well balanced. A good mix of texture and pace. There's a sense of vitality and energy and there are the phases where Lau push the boat out and take a chance. I think the problem is the interaction with the audience, I think the crowd are too reserved and it takes away from the atmosphere of an otherwise strong release.

Website: http://www.myspace.com/karimfanous

Karim Fanous, has plenty influences to draw on, a Greek Arabic background and plenty of travel has exposed him to many different sounds and cultures. He's both classically trained and a fan of rock music. His approach to song writing seems to be to give the lyric what it needs, so "Stir Crazy" can move from an almost Gallic lilt to out and out rocker, if that's what the song demands. It's a release rich in diversity. It's also more a collection of songs than an album. There's no overriding arc to bind it all together and give it a sense of continuity.

Website: http://www.thebelieversusa.com

With the exception of the title track, "Lucky You", which is an out and out blues rocker, The Believers seem to be mining a rich vein of gospel influenced country and acoustic rock. It's almost like listening to the bastard offspring of Lone Justice and Johnny Cash.(Yes I know the former are a band it's the DNA that matters not the genetics.) Consequently this is a rollicking album that's almost impossible to ignore. Cyd Franzzini has a voice to die for and a delivery to coat the pill. Once discovered, this is a band you'll claim for yourself. You heard it here first. Now to buy albums 1&2.