Alasdair Fotheringham

Son of the Velvet Rat Artwork Solitary Company

Son of the Velvet Rat “Solitary Company”

March 25, 2021 Alasdair Fotheringham 0

Bleak but compelling desert tomb-stone Americana engraved with whimsical European folk-noir. OK, let’s get the ‘Is-that-really-what-they’re-called?’ reaction out of the way, given that a band name as strikingly odd as Son of the Velvet Rat feels […]

How I Write A Song: Ray Wylie Hubbard

March 5, 2021 Alasdair Fotheringham 0

Did you know a songwriter is like a shark that never sleeps? When asked to describe the process of creating a song, some writers, as we’ve already seen in this series, talk about their music first […]

artwork for Chris Pierce album "American Silence"

Chris Pierce “American Silence”

February 23, 2021 Alasdair Fotheringham 0

Passionate, well-constructed, generously-spirited protest music that can’t be ignored. There’s a quote attributed to Americana/folk musician Todd Snider out there where he says ‘I didn’t write this song to change people’s minds, I wrote it to […]

Willow Springs “Night-time Radio”

January 12, 2021 Alasdair Fotheringham 0

An album which fully deserves more than just a few spins of the dial Let’s be honest here: listening to ‘Night-time Radio’, the second album in three years by Belfast americana band Willow Springs and its […]

How I Write A Song: Karen Pittelman of Karen And The Sorrows

December 14, 2020 Alasdair Fotheringham 4

In the second part of this new series for Americana UK, artists from across the genre discuss their approach to song-writing. As part of his between-song patter in his concerts, the late, great Americana singer-songwriter Guy […]

Stamping on the passion: Why AI written PR is a bad thing for music

September 21, 2026 2

If a music writer opens ten press releases this month, they’ll spot something odd. They all sound like the same person wrote them. Not because the artists share a publicist, or because there’s a house style […]

Carla Gover and Friends “Williams Branch is Hard to Find”

September 21, 2026 0

A cycle of Appalachian folk songs from writer and activist Si Kahn, subtitled Songs for Strong Kentucky Women The subtitle for this album is “Si Kahn’s Songs for Strong Kentucky Women”. Si Kahn is one of […]

Ad for American Beauty album 5th December 1970

For the Sake of the Song: Grateful Dead “High Time”