So, I guess the exciting news this week is that we have finally lunched our podcast. It is available to listen and follow wherever you get your podcasts and features some amazing artists from our playlists. The first episode is with Jennifer Reid and is well worth a listen.

To kick off the list this week we pay Will Pound and Jenn Butterworth a visit, to include their joyous romp ‘Better Things‘. Will’s remarkable harmonica work on this track is simply superb and set against Jenn’s amazing guitar and vocals it is a collaboration that I am totally in love with…

Next a short but sweet little gem called ‘on the road again‘ resulting from the great collaboration between Nick Mosh, and the sensational duo Gundalee, I love Gunda’s guitar on this track and the vocal harmonies are brilliant. I suggest put this on before heading off on a road trip to your next festival, to get you in the road trip mood.

You might have noticed I have a soft spot for Scottish folk music by now, and it was only a matter of time before the Scottish Folk Powerhouse ‘Fara‘ fired up their amazing strings and unleashed their unique vocal sound onto the list. This clean, crisp and delightful track is not their most recent by far but it is one of my favourites. I strongly recommend if you have time taking a long break and listening to their breathtaking album 2022 album ‘Energy Islands’… I hope you are as hooked as I am.

Next up this week is a beautifully blissed out love letter to the British Waterways tradition, Ellie Gowers offers a truly romanic treat as she tells the story of a ‘Woman of the Waterways‘ in her adorable style. Musically brilliant this gentle song truly captures the peace and tranquility the canals, but confronts the tension of retiring to the land from a life on the water.

I will never tire of hearing the unique and unmistakable voice of Nancy Kerr, so I hope you will forgive me for including a classic from the archives this week, her work with the group Melrose Quartet, is as classic as it is iconic, and it hasn’t aged a day since ‘Hand Me Down‘ was released in 2017. Proof that high quality folk, can be as relevant today as is was at any point in history. The idea of handing down songs from generation to generation fills my with joy and encaopsulates the whole idea of the folkmylife playlist ! Thanks for the reminder Nancy?

Now for something that crosses the musical boundaries on so many levels, seamlessly Jamie Scott, boasts billions of streams across his combined back catalogue, but this song haunts me sometimes, by being defiantly catchy, unique but familiar and frustratingly easy to remember. ‘Emily‘ is one of those songs which I succumb to every now and then and so it’s a wonder it took until week 24 to appear in the list.

Now I have gone all nostalgic and I cant help it… I have to indulge my trad side, there is something about Granny’s Attic, which claws at my soul, as lamaenting as it is longing, this anguish filled love song to ‘The False Bride‘ to my ears at least, is the epitome of the folk tradition, accepting and honest this painful love song will catch you off guard and I hope will become a gateway to the amazing music of Cohen, Lewis and George. They are one of the most exciting and interesting English Folk acts on the scene and I hope you fall in love with them.

Sticking with the English tad sound for a bit if I may, let’s turn up the volume on a bit with an eight-picece raging fire of Merry Hell. Founded in the Northwest, they have toped the charts in the US, and while I am in love with their new album “Rising of the Bold” I have chosen something slightly softer and lamenting to follow ‘The False Bride‘. I went with ‘We need Each other Now‘ because I simply adore the restrained power of the recording. I do recommend taking some time to discover their other outstanding work though…

The next two songs on the list are honestly my favourites, (not supposed to have favourites but, hey I’m human…. ‘In the Gloaming‘, but the outstanding duo Hannah James and Toby Kuhn, is such brilliant track, traditional and toe curlingly good, I could listen to it on reappear for hours, as with ‘Handsome Molly‘ by award winning singer-songwriter Lucy Wise. Another Sensation musician from down under, taking the world by storm….

Now when folk music becomes so popular that its pop, I’m not sure what to call it … Skerryvore were suggested to me by a dear friend, and I love them so much… I couldn’t refuse. If you have not discovered them yet…. Where have you been? Click the links, you will not be disappointed..

Ok, so I guess we are doing the loud trad then now… After Skerryvore I figured the drums are out, we might as well use them. Bring on Herron Vally, to show us just how lively, trad, folk-rock should be done. The track ‘Anne Lacey’s‘ is a masterclass on every level and it is infectious. A friend of mine gardens while listening to the list and I am sure he will mow the lawn in half the time with this on his headphones… Love it . !

Ok, we need to calm down, a touch of Americana folk cant hurt, so I offer you the wandering hearts, who provide a brilliant parting handbook in ‘teach your children‘. This whimsical and bright romp is possibly a little on the cliched side of jaunty, but I cant help but love the complex layered harmonies and deceptively simple guitar.

The Cody Sisters are another longtime love of mine, and the vocal connections between Maddie, Will and Megan are so infectious as they blend the bluegrass sound with a lyrical style out of the classic folk playbook.

The weeks one to watch, is ‘little Busy‘ – This sensational track, ‘out in the wash‘ is transporting across glistening, sweeping coastlines, soaring like an eagle and wide open in a way that has truly challenged me. In some respects this track is subtle in its brilliance, but there is something infectious about this song that will, if you let it, burrow into your brain and make a warm little nest.

I also want to special mention this week, for a song by Louella JC, which I have become incredibly fond of. I only discovered this a couple of days ago, which is how it ended up on in the last slot on the list…. I am sure it is not the last time Louella is to be included, but ‘The Athiest’s Lament‘ is how I want to leave the list this week. Lyrically this song has its claws in my soul and its raw simplicity allows the aching heart of this musician to hang out for all to see. Sometime complexity can hide behind the simplest of melodies.

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This is the Week 24 list published on 9th June 2025 and running until 16th June , 2025.

The List. #24.2025

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