David Cowling

Arborist “Home Burial” (Kirkinrola Records, 2016)

December 21, 2016 David Cowling 0

This is a most impressive debut by the Northern Irish band. It’s an Americana soufflé wearing its graft and craft lightly, the apparent effortlessness coming at the price of hard work and talent. There is substance […]

Tim Houlihan “Another Orion’ (Independent, 2016)

December 21, 2016 David Cowling 0

Tim Houlihan has a voice made for country music and a grasp of a broad range of Americana styles. If he wasn’t a veteran of the scene this would sound like a perfect calling card for […]

AmericanA to Z: The Accident That Led Me To The World

December 20, 2016 David Cowling 0

TATLMTTW are exactly the kind of band that gave rise to the idea for this column , they made a couple of really good records and then disappeared. Firstly the self-titled release from 2005 that we […]

AmericanA to Z: A.A. Bondy

December 8, 2016 David Cowling 0

Welcome to the first in an ongoing series of explorations of Americana UK’s digital library. We’re going to explore our digital music collection to try to unearth some hidden gems and to remind everyone of artists that […]

Natural Child “Okey Dokey” (Independent, 2016)

November 21, 2016 David Cowling 0

NC aren’t one of those bands that can be easily pigeon-holed. By turns here they resemble Ween, Can, a boogie-band or an experimental jazz rock combo. They can be perplexing, joyful or frustrating – you can’t […]

RE: What are you listening to at the moment?
Jerry Jeff Walker - Cowboy Boots and Bathin’ Suits
By Joe Nathan , 47 minutes ago
RE: What are you listening to at the moment?
Jimmy Buffett - A1A
By Joe Nathan , 4 hours ago
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

Dead Goat to release self titled debut amid talk of an Irish supergroup

March 23, 2026 0

Dead Goat has announced the release of their first album, which is self-titled and comes out this Friday (26th March) via AV8 Records. Who are they, you ask? Well, individually, they are each accomplished artists in […]

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 […]

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 […]

Columns

Sounds from beyond the Shed – Week 84

February 7, 2023 1

Stay focused and keep on keeping on. Following last week’s heady announcement of a change in circumstances in July things have returned to normal with a bump as the first set of reports and parent’s evenings […]

Tracks

Belle of the Fall “Scarborough Fair” – Listen

December 18, 2018 0

Belle of the Fall have had a good year, with their album ‘Rise‘ having been nominated for the 2018 New England Music Awards Album of The Year. Their version of ‘Scarborough Fair‘ (not from ‘Rise‘ by the […]

News

Richard Thompson announces UK autumn dates

May 16, 2018 0

Richard Thompson has announced an extensive UK tour for October and November 2018 in advance of a new studio album which will be released later this year on Proper Records, kicking off in lovely Liverpool’s Philharmonic on 11th […]

Articles by David Cowling

Arborist “Home Burial” (Kirkinrola Records, 2016)

Tim Houlihan “Another Orion’ (Independent, 2016)

AmericanA to Z: The Accident That Led Me To The World

AmericanA to Z: A.A. Bondy

Natural Child “Okey Dokey” (Independent, 2016)

Dead Goat to release self titled debut amid talk of an Irish supergroup

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”