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Our latest posts
  • [ May 7, 2026 ] Essentials: The Top 10 David Lowery Songs Essentials
  • [ May 7, 2026 ] Josiah and the Bonnevilles “As Is” Album Reviews
  • [ May 7, 2026 ] The Glass Hours release latest album “Chapel Glass” in June News
  • [ May 7, 2026 ] Live Review: True Foxes, FortyFive Vinyl Café, York – 25th April 2026 Live Reviews
  • [ May 7, 2026 ] Live Review: Gillian Welch & David Rawlings, Guthrie Green, Tulsa, Oklahoma – 29th April 2026 Live Reviews
HomeAuthorsBrian Hancill

Articles by Brian Hancill

About Brian Hancill
Retired sub-editor who worked at the Mirror for many years, followed by a stint at The Spectator. Music obsessive since I heard the Beatles aged seven in 1963. Turned on to country and Americana around the turn of the millennium by Bob Harris's Radio 2 shows.
Live Reviews

Live Review: The Unthanks, Barbican Hall, London – 31st January 2026

February 6, 2026 Brian Hancill 0
To celebrate their 20 years together as a band, folk superstars the Unthanks played not one but two UK tours. Late last year they visited 19 intimate venues, many of them harking back to their very […]
Live Reviews

Live Review: Frazey Ford + Phantom, La Maroquinerie, Paris – 30th October 2025

November 7, 2025 Brian Hancill 0
If I ever begin to doubt that great live music can lift my mood and make the world seem a better place, I will think back to this marvellous show. It was the perfect illustration. During […]
Live Reviews

Live Review: Graham Nash + Peter Asher, London Palladium – 19th October 2025

October 24, 2025 Brian Hancill 2
There’s something deeply satisfying about a live show where nearly everyone knows the words and sings along. And by the time Graham Nash left the stage we had sung ourselves hoarse. Looking around the Royal Balcony […]
Live Reviews

Live Review: The Cactus Blossoms, La Marbrerie, Montreuil, France – 12th February 2025

February 24, 2025 Brian Hancill 0
What do you think sets The Cactus Blossoms apart from other Americana-flavoured acts? Well, on the surface you might mention their short-haired, clean-shaven style. They wear matching jackets on stage instead of trying to look like […]
Live Reviews

Live Review: Lyle Lovett and his Acoustic Group, Cadogan Hall, London, 25th January 2025

January 29, 2025 Brian Hancill 2
This wasn’t billed as a music-and-storytelling show, but that’s what it was, and it was all the better for it. With a running time of almost two and a half hours and a set list of […]

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Recent Forum Posts

  • RE: What are you listening to at the moment?

    XTC - A Coat of Many Cupboards (excerpts...it's a 4 CD ...

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    I had a Rotel amp and turntable too until the buttons s...

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    You know those songs that you know and that song become...

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our latest posts

Asheville North carolina August 2006

Essentials: The Top 10 David Lowery Songs

Essentials
May 7, 2026 0

Josiah and the Bonnevilles “As Is”

Album Reviews
May 7, 2026 0
The Glass Hours

The Glass Hours release latest album “Chapel Glass” in June

News
May 7, 2026 0
True Foxes Live at FortyFive Vinyl Cafe, York on 25/04/2026

Live Review: True Foxes, FortyFive Vinyl Café, York – 25th April 2026

Live Reviews
May 7, 2026 0

Live Review: Gillian Welch & David Rawlings, Guthrie Green, Tulsa, Oklahoma – 29th April 2026

Live Reviews
May 7, 2026 0
Asheville North carolina August 2006
Essentials

Essentials: The Top 10 David Lowery Songs

May 7, 2026 0
David Lowery is an icon of americana who has been making music for over forty years and has never lost his passion for all things rootsy, rocky and melodic. His first band was Sitting Ducks which […]
Album Reviews

Josiah and the Bonnevilles “As Is”

May 7, 2026 0
A slight shift in musical style makes for a refreshing sound that relays strong stories. Josiah Leming, the man who goes by the stage moniker of Josiah and the Bonnevilles, has been honing his craft since […]
The Glass Hours
News

The Glass Hours release latest album “Chapel Glass” in June

May 7, 2026 0
The Glass Hours, the band name for songwriters Megan Barbera and Brad Armstrong, will release their latest album, Chapel Glass, via Cornelius Chapel Records on 26th June 2026. The record was recorded live in five days […]

  • Essentials: The Top 10 David Lowery Songs
  • Josiah and the Bonnevilles “As Is”
  • The Glass Hours release latest album “Chapel Glass” in June
  • Live Review: True Foxes, FortyFive Vinyl Café, York – 25th April 2026
  • Live Review: Gillian Welch & David Rawlings, Guthrie Green, Tulsa, Oklahoma – 29th April 2026
  • Adam Donen “Bible Stories”
  • Folk Roundup – Anna McLuckie, Arthur Coates & Kerran Cotterell, Emily Portman, Gareth Davies-Jones, Lady Maisery and Jimmy Alkdridge & Sid Goldsmith, Old Spot, Songs of the Folk
  • Deer Tick “ACI” – a place for porridge
  • Video Premiere: Michael McDermott “The Best We Get” – only focus on what is in your control
  • Florence Dore “Hold the Spark”
Billy Bragg Bob Dylan Bruce Springsteen Chuck Prophet Courtney Marie Andrews Dean Owens Drive By Truckers Emmylou Harris Jason Isbell Johnny Cash John Prine Lucinda Williams Margo Price Neil Young Peter Bruntnell Robert Vincent Ryan Adams Steve Earle Sturgill Simpson The Band The Byrds The Delines Tom Petty Wilco Willie Nelson
  • Jonathan Aird: Great - really enjoying the podcasts, and that should be a classic (no pressure there Keith!)
  • keith hargreaves: They’re on the podcast in a couple of weeks!
  • Jeremy Courtnadge: Thank you. Long overdue. Also well worth reading (well, I think so) is "That's The Bag I'm In - The…

Latest interviews

Interviews

Interview: The Milk Carton Kids’ Joey Ryan discusses “Lost Cause Lover Fool”

May 5, 2026 0
Joey Ryan and Kenneth Pattengale created their own take on sparse, acoustic indie folk when they formed the Milk Carton Kids in 2011 and found their own loyal audience. A lot can happen in fifteen years, […]
Interviews

Video Interview: Jim Lauderdale on releasing two new albums and supporting Emmylou Harris

April 28, 2026 0
Jim Lauderdale must be doing something right because he keeps doing it. He has recently released two albums, Country Super Hits Volume 2 and The Birds Know with The Po’ Ramblin’ Boys, which maintain his phenomenal […]
Interviews

Interview: David Wilcox on the way he tells the stories

April 27, 2026 0
David Wilcox makes records that are masterful in the way they prompt people to feel things deeply and heal themselves. To put it another way, his songs act as chicken soup for the soul. His music […]

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Album Reviews

Megan Lacy “Salvation”

March 29, 2021 0
Megan Lacy reveals her road to Salvation. ‘Salvation‘ is Megan Lacy’s debut EP and an invitation to follow this woman’s promising career. This singer-songwriter from California, now based in Austin, Texas is one to watch. More […]
News

John Prine appears on new documentary about his label

February 24, 2021 0
Oh Boy Records was launched back in 1991 by John Prine and his manager in order to directly serve his fans without having to go cap in hand to the bigger labels, and four decades later Oh […]
Album Reviews

Elle Mary & The Bad Men “Constant Unfailing Night” (Sideways Saloon, 2018)

March 15, 2018 0
The title gives a clue to the darkness enveloping this record – it wears its black heart proudly and does its best to draw us into the crepuscular. The music is core to the vision, tight […]

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