Diccon Johnston

Laura Marling “Song For Our Daughter” (Chrysalis/Partisan Records, 2020)

May 19, 2020 Diccon Johnston 0

The seventh solo album by English singer-songwriter Laura Marling was released earlier than planned to provide “something that, at the very least, might entertain, and at its best, provide some sense of union” in these uncertain […]

Pharis and Jason Romero “Bet On Love” (Lula Records, 2020)

April 28, 2020 Diccon Johnston 0

‘Bet on Love’ is the fifth album from the husband and wife Canadian folk music duo that reside in Horsefly, British Columbia. They have converted the banjo workshop into a studio to record their music with […]

Mark Erelli “Blindsided” (Soundly Music, 2020)

April 9, 2020 Diccon Johnston 0

This is the seventeenth studio album by Marl Erelli who has an impressive back-catalogue across a range of genres. He is most recognised as a Massachusetts based singer/songwriter of folk Americana, but he has recorded this […]

Noble Jacks “Stay Awake” (Noble Ground Records, 2020)

April 9, 2020 Diccon Johnston 0

Noble Jacks are clear about their aim. They consciously create uplifting social music specifically intended to generate a feel-good factor in a live audience. This is the deluxe release of their second album ‘Stay Awake’ with […]

Classic Album Review: Cowboy Junkies “The Trinity Session” (RCA, 1988)

February 27, 2020 Diccon Johnston 0

This is arguably the slowest album ever recorded. It is surely ironic, therefore, that it was recorded in (almost) a single session on 27th November 1987 with no mixing, overdubs or edits. The recording was made […]

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 , 5 days ago
RE: What are you listening to at the moment?
Rolling Stones - Some Girls
By Joe Nathan , 5 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 […]

Videos

Something for the weekend: Truman Sinclair “Dustland”

November 7, 2025 3

Well that’s it from us for another week dear reader, a week of good news for once with Mamdani winning in New York (actually we had Catherine Connolly in Ireland last week – what is going […]

Album Reviews

Gary Owens “I Have Some Thoughts”

July 12, 2023 0

Delightful album combines retro country sounds with modern sensibilities. ‘I Have Some Thoughts’ is the latest album from Greg Olin. Olin usually records under the name ‘Graves’ but for this record he has chosen a new […]

Small Venue Heroes

Small Venue Heroes: Nathan Bell

November 1, 2022 0

Nathan Bell’s first stab at fame ran foul of the increasing assembly line approach required by the Nashville music industry in the 1980s. Unwilling to play their game he quit and had a regular job for […]

Articles by Diccon Johnston

Laura Marling “Song For Our Daughter” (Chrysalis/Partisan Records, 2020)

Pharis and Jason Romero “Bet On Love” (Lula Records, 2020)

Mark Erelli “Blindsided” (Soundly Music, 2020)

Noble Jacks “Stay Awake” (Noble Ground Records, 2020)

Classic Album Review: Cowboy Junkies “The Trinity Session” (RCA, 1988)

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”