Alistair Thorn

Frazey Ford @Celtic Connections, Saint Luke’s, Glasgow, 23rd January 2020

January 28, 2020 Alistair Thorn 0

Touring before a new album is released can be risky. There’s a desire from the artist to showcase their new material but these are songs that the audience doesn’t yet know. The sense of audience expectation […]

Laura Gibson, The Hug and Pint, Glasgow, 28th February 2019

March 4, 2019 Alistair Thorn 0

Laura Gibson has been making music for 15 years now. During that time she has self-released a debut EP, collaborated with sound artist and composer Ethan Rose, worked with ballet and musical theatre groups and released […]

Joan Shelley + Maiden Radio, The Glad Cafe, Glasgow, 10th October 2018

October 16, 2018 Alistair Thorn 0

Joan Shelley is no stranger to Glasgow’s Glad Cafe. Returning to the venue for a fourth time, the Kentucky-born artist has built up a loyal following. Whether a long term fan or a relative newbie attracted […]

Carter Sampson + Jesse Aycock & Lauren Barth, Glad Café, Glasgow, 12 May 2018

May 15, 2018 Alistair Thorn 0

Oklahoma’s Carter Sampson is no stranger to these shores. Her trademark red boots have graced many a UK music venue over the past few years. This was the opening night of her UK tour promoting her […]

RE: What are you listening to at the moment?
Chris Knight - Chris Knight
By Joe Nathan , 2 days ago
RE: What are you listening to at the moment?
Hurray for the Riff Raff - Live Forever
By Joe Nathan , 2 days ago
RE: What are you listening to at the moment?
Old 97s - Too Far to Care
By Joe Nathan , 3 days ago
RE: What are you listening to at the moment?
R.E.M. - New Adventures in Hi-Fi
By Joe Nathan , 3 days ago
RE: What are you listening to at the moment?
Whiskeytown - Strangers Almanac
By Joe Nathan , 4 days ago
RE: What are you listening to at the moment?
Wilco - summerteeth
By Joe Nathan , 4 days ago
RE: What are you listening to at the moment?
Matthew Sweet - 100% Fun
By Joe Nathan , 4 days ago
Calling fiction writers - we want to publish your stories
Americana UK is putting out a call for original short f...
By Tim Martin , 4 days ago
RE: What are you listening to at the moment?
Rolling Stones - Some Girls
By Joe Nathan , 5 days ago

Cat Clyde “Mud Blood Bone”

March 23, 2026 0

Superb fourth from Canadian song thrush. Mud Blood Bone is Cat Clyde’s fourth album and arrives just over four years since its predecessor, Down Rounder. In between times, Clyde released a live album, Live At Rare […]

For the Sake of the Song: Marah “Round Eye Blues”

March 23, 2026 0

Marah is at their best when singing about lonely urban streets where bums warm their hands around trash fires in rusty 50-gallon cans, transvestite prostitutes wrap their feather boas a little tighter against an unforgiving 4:00 […]

Elgin and the Marbles “The Sun Never Sets”

March 23, 2026 0

An ambitious debut album that bravely tackles some very British subjects with an americana-folk twang. The genre may be americana – and America is most certainly struggling with its own set of problems right now – […]

Interviews

Interview: Bob Lind on “It Oughta Be Easy”

March 12, 2026 0

Folk icon talks life, hope, and his 2026 record. Bob Lind recently released his fourth studio album of new material in the past fourteen years, “It Oughta Be Easy,” a characteristically literate, introspective, and often humorous […]

Interviews

Video Interview: Dave Alvin on The Third Mind’s “Spellbinder”

March 11, 2026 2

While Dave Alvin is regarded as one of the greats of American roots music, his taste in music and his own music from the Blasters onwards has included hints of his musical eclecticism. Evidently, he always […]

Interviews

Interview: Toad the Wet Sprocket – forty years of awkward grace

March 4, 2026 2

At 55, Glen Phillips sounds both reflective and lightly amused when he talks about the band he co-founded as a teenager in Santa Barbara, California. Four decades later, Toad the Wet Sprocket is still touring, still […]

Tracks

Ora Cogan ‘Katie Cruel’ – psychedelic folk

August 30, 2023 0

Ora Gogan brings a distinctly different interpretation to the traditional ‘Katie Cruel‘, a song that may date back to the American War of Independence and is almost certainly based on an earlier Scottish ballad. It tells […]

Tracks

VanWyck “Listen to you Breathe” – Listen

December 13, 2017 0

Just to show that it’s never too late to hear a contender for the song of the year, VanWyck’s Listen to you Breathe is, ironically, a breath taking piece of music. An artist that has tried […]

News

Impossible dream realised: Patty Griffin returns with new album in July

June 5, 2025 0

Patty Griffin is an artist who requires no introduction in these pages. The GRAMMY award-winning songwriter and performer has announced her new full-length opus, “Crown Of Roses”. It is her 11th studio album and first in […]

Articles by Alistair Thorn

Frazey Ford @Celtic Connections, Saint Luke’s, Glasgow, 23rd January 2020

Laura Gibson, The Hug and Pint, Glasgow, 28th February 2019

Joan Shelley + Maiden Radio, The Glad Cafe, Glasgow, 10th October 2018

Carter Sampson + Jesse Aycock & Lauren Barth, Glad Café, Glasgow, 12 May 2018

Cat Clyde “Mud Blood Bone”

For the Sake of the Song: Marah “Round Eye Blues”

Elgin and the Marbles “The Sun Never Sets”

Jack Studer “Falling Forward”

Sounds from beyond the Shed 228 “Don’t Panic”