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Our latest posts
  • [ May 7, 2026 ] Alela Diane “Who’s Keeping Time?” Album Reviews
  • [ 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
HomeAuthorsSteven Rafferty

Articles by Steven Rafferty

About Steven Rafferty
Writer, Musician, Political Junkie, Oilfield Hand in Recovery . . .
Album Reviews

Dan Friese “Jane Songs” (Independent, 2020)

October 20, 2020 Steven Rafferty 0
No matter what you’re into, chances are good that you’ll find something to like on the debut album from Dan Friese—a singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist from Eugene, OR. The songs on the album range from boot-stompers with […]
Album Reviews

Stephie James “These Days EP” (Independent, 2020)

September 30, 2020 Steven Rafferty 0
It’s normally a safe assumption that you can tell most of what you need to know about a person by the company that they keep. So, when a young singer-songwriter can boast of work done for […]
Tracks

Scott Hildebrand “Fill Your Cup” – Listen

September 11, 2020 Steven Rafferty 0
It’s always interesting to hear a new artist for the first time and it’s especially so when you get to hear them with a minimum of outside influence and professional polish layered on. The new EP […]
Classic Americana Albums

Classic America Albums: Cracker “Kerosene Hat” (Virgin, 1993)

August 26, 2020 Steven Rafferty 1
The early nineties was a weird time in America. It was weird socially. It was weird culturally. A lot of that weirdness was voiced in music and a lot of that music found an audience. Of […]
Features

AUK’s Chain Gang: Benjamin Tod “The Mountain”

August 24, 2020 Steven Rafferty 0
In last week’s instalment of the Chain Gang, Tim Newby described the connections between Ola Belle Reed’s ‘High on a Mountain’ and Roy Acuff’s ‘Wreck on the Highway’ as “tenuous”. In contrast, the connections between Reed’s […]

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our latest posts

Album cover artwork for Alela Diane "Who's Keeping Time?"

Alela Diane “Who’s Keeping Time?”

Album Reviews
May 7, 2026 0
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
Album cover artwork for Alela Diane "Who's Keeping Time?"
Album Reviews

Alela Diane “Who’s Keeping Time?”

May 7, 2026 0
Collaboration brings a beautiful folk album with words of love. This is Alela Diane’s seventh album, and the story behind it starts with the death at the age of eighty-three of her great friend Michael Hurley. […]
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 […]

  • Alela Diane “Who’s Keeping Time?”
  • 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
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  • 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

Dave Helgi Johan “Unholy Hours”

November 18, 2025 0
Catchy lo-fi latest for Canadian with fun at its core. Dave Helgi Johan has spent over a decade performing with numerous bands. He was originally from Winnipeg, Canada, growing up in an Icelandic settler-origin village. However, […]
Tracks

Track Premiere: Sara Rachele “I Can’t Relate to You”

August 1, 2025 0
It’s been a few years since we last featured Sara Rachele. We hear she’s spent some time teaching but is now getting back into recording some new music. Both things are good news in their own […]
Tracks

Two Bird Stone “When Somebody Can See Your Soul” – Listen

July 15, 2020 0
Two Bird Stone are a band of seasoned musicians, who’ve been sidemen and studio players for a diverse line-up of big names – from Carly Simon to Bo Diddly and many in-between.  Led by songwriter and […]

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