Jonathan Aird

Jim Kweskin “Four Or Five Times” – skiffling along

March 28, 2025 Jonathan Aird 0

Jim Kweskin – now that’s a legendary name, leader of the Jim Kweskin Jug Band through the Sixties and beyond, playing with people like Geoff Muldaur and appearing at the original Newport Folk Festival five years […]

Live Review: Mercury Rev + Nicolai Dunger, Islington Assembly Hall, London – 19th March 2025

March 27, 2025 Jonathan Aird 2

This was the second of two nights in London (they’d played Earth previously) for Mercury Rev, who seem to have decided that Europe is the place to be, as they were here at the end of […]

Track Premiere: Kung Fu Hippies “Days Gone By”

March 27, 2025 Jonathan Aird 0

Minnesota rock in it’s purest form is what Kung Fu Hippies are aiming at – and on today’s song ‘Days Gone By‘ they certainly achieve it. An infectious number, likely to spark thoughts of bands like […]

The SteelDrivers “Outrun” – got to getaway…

March 26, 2025 Jonathan Aird 0

On ‘Outrun‘ The SteelDrivers create a modern take on the murder ballad, with the outlaw escape moving from a fast horse to a fast car. No matter the steed though you can’t outrun yourself. The song […]

Ollella “Mothers & Colors” – painting a mood portrait

March 25, 2025 Jonathan Aird 0

Ellie Barber is Ollella, she grew up in Seattle and started to study the cello from the age of 9. She previously worked as a creative director for a climate research institute aiming to further public […]

Anniversary Cheers: JD Crowe & The New South and Boone Creek celebrate 50 years

August 18, 2026 0

Craft Recordings re-release two remastered ground-breaking bluegrass albums, one long out of print, and both on CD for the first time In the mid-1970s, bluegrass music was evolving from the traditional ensemble acoustic playing of artists […]

Dan Pye “Room 7, on the 7th”

August 18, 2026 0

An impressive modern folk debut where creativity shines through. London-based Dan Pye is a creative individual. Alongside Room 7, on the 7th, his debut album, he has produced films, zines, handmade copper etchings, a diptych and […]

Cover art for Eric Hgen album "Make Country Sad Again"

More People Really Should Know About: Eric Hagen

August 18, 2026 2

In his excellent review of the album Revival, published in these hallowed pages upon its release in 2023, my esteemed colleague Michael Macy compared the songs of Eric Hagen to those of the great American realist […]

Articles by Jonathan Aird