Subtitled ‘the alternative folk label’, Village Thing Records released two dozen albums and a few singles between 1970 and 1974. With strong national press and radio support, the label prospered with a unique and hard-to-pin-down mix of established names and newcomers, original singer/ songwriter/ guitarists, a few visiting Americans, and folk entertainers. Over the years, many of Village Thing’s releases have gained cult status amongst collectors of ’70s ‘psych folk’, often changing hands for high prices and now enjoying a big revival of interest. This 20-track compilation to mark the label’s 40th anniversary is superbly remastered and comes in an environmentally friendly pack full of lots of old photos and detailed notes. It concentrates on the ‘contemporary folk’ core of Village Thing’s output and includes many items on CD in the UK for the first time or never previously released. Featured are Wizz Jones, Derroll Adams, Al Jones, Dave Evans, The Sun Also Rises, Ian A. Anderson, Chris Thompson, Steve Tilston, Lackey & Sweeney, Tucker Zimmerman, Hunt & Turner, Dave Mudge and Dave Peabody

Rare psych folk from the Village Thing years, 1970-73. Following the release of his debut LP in 1969, country blues singer/guitarist Ian A. Anderson took a sudden left swerve into what now gets called psych folk or acid folk. Between 1970 and 1972 he released three albums on the now cult ‘alternative folk’ label Village Thing – the acoustic Royal York Crescent which showcased his interplay with guitarist Ian Hunt with whom he appeared at the first Glastonbury Festival; the folk/rock oriented A Vulture Is Not A Bird You Can Trust, recorded with a band including drummer Pick Withers, soon to be in at the start of Dire Straits; and Singer Sleeps On As Blaze Rages with steel guitarist Mike Cooper’s Machine Gun Company and some meaty forays onto 12-string guitar. With 2010 marking the 40th anniversary of Village Thing, a new generation seeking out the alt.folk music of the ‘60s and ‘70s, a spate of books on the music and the era, and old vinyl copies of Village Thing albums being highly valued by collectors, here at last is the pick of those years, remastered from the original tapes, plus three previously unreleased tracks. It comes in an environmentally friendly pack full of lots of old photos, the original album covers and new anecdotal notes.

Beyond the bands from which she emerged, singer, guitarist, banjo and bass player Maggie Holland's solo career has spanned from the National Theatre's Mysteries in the '80s to BBC4TV/The Barbican's Folk Britannia in 2006. Some of her supremely crafted original songs like A Place Called England, Perfumes Of Arabia and A Proper Sort Of Gardener have been recorded by folk luminaries like June Tabor and Martin Carthy but she's equally adept at hand-picking and re-interpreting works by others, from the well-known to the obscure. Bones – attractively Digi-packed with extensive notes by journalist/author Colin Irwin and Maggie herself – includes eight of her best-known original songs and two traditionals plus others by Billy Bragg, Bruce Cockburn, Tymon Dogg, Bob Dylan, Dave Evans, Robb Johnson, Peter Rowan, Chris Smither, John Tams, Richard Thompson and many more. It’s a maxi-length 'best of' selection from her albums made between 1983 and 1991, plus a few previously unreleased tracks and a new recording of her BBC Radio 2 Folk Award-winning song A Place Called England. The majority are on CD for the first time.

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In the 1980s, all-star roots dance band Tiger Moth - Rod Stradling, Jon Moore, Maggie Holland, Chris Coe, Ian Anderson, John Maxwell, Ian Carter - took playing for English country dancing on a rowdy expedition to places it had never been before. Venerable English hornpipes went on a world cruise, Italian tunes got played as Tex-Mex polkas with a Zairean lilt and schottisches filled up with Greek riffs. In the studio as Orchestre Super Moth they teamed up with world music stars of the day like Dembo Konte, Kausu Kuyateh, Flaco Jimenez, Hijaz Mustapha and Abdul Tee-Jay. Completely remastered, this expanded compilation (a previous version came out in the USA in the '90s) includes the best of their two albums, singles, 12"s and rare tracks, plus a special 2004 remix by Simon Emmerson & Mass.

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The late '60s and early '70s were a golden age for British folk guitar. It wasn't enough to be just a singer/songwriter; you were expected to be a really good guitar picker too. Dave Evans was not simply good, he was a real original. With tunings and chord sounds that nobody had produced before, an agile and bouncy picking style, a self-made guitar that rang like a bell, a nicely creaky and lived-in vocal style, and songs that told down-to-earth stories - well-observed little vignettes about real people - his 1971 debut The Words In Between was head and shoulders above many other now-cult artefacts from that era. This long overdue re-issue adds 5 tracks from his 1972 album Elephantasia.

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Since 1987, Gambia's Dembo Konte and Senegal's Kausu Kuyateh have toured worldwide as the best international ambassadors of the kora, West Africa's multi-stringed harp-lute. Their duo albums have been acclaimed as the most accessible from this fabulous tradition: here's a 76+ minute selection of the best, including lots on CD for the first time.

"Nothing is ever quite the same after the first time you hear a kora played live in a West African setting. Dembo Konte was the musician who opened my ears, and he made these recordings with Kausu Kuyateh soon afterwards. They still sound powerful and raw, evocative and timeless." Charlie Gillett, 1998.

Throughout most of the 1970s, Hot Vultures - Ian Anderson & Maggie Holland - were one of the hardest working duos on the UK and European folk circuits with their uniquely English 'speed folk' approach to blues, old-time country and a few choice modern songs. For their three albums and whenever possible live, they also recruited many other excellent musicians of the day, including on these tracks Martin Simpson, Dave Peabody, Simon Mayor, Hilary James, Mike Cooper, Pete Coe, Chris Coe, Al Jones and more. Here's the very best of their recorded history: 23 tracks with all the original notes, a historical overview by Colin Irwin, and lots of old photos featuring decidedly dodgy haircuts and trousers...

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In late 1989, kora kings Dembo Konte & Kausu Kuyayeh got together with members of the nigh-legendary 3 Mustaphas 3, English folk/rock accordeon maestro John Kirkpatrick and others to produce the hardkorabilly classic Jali Roll. The album was not only a big hit on the African/ World Music scene at the time, its ripples have had significant and long-lasting effects on roots music making in West Africa. Now it's back on CD with an extra track from the only live gig by the band.

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Three decades ago - was it really that long? -and well ahead of their time, the ECBB brought together well-known musicians from opposite corners of the English folk scene in an innovative, barrier-demolishing blend, naturally anglicising blues and old-time country and finding new ways of looking at British traditional songs and tunes. These tracks from their two albums and one single feature the core trio of Maggie Holland, Rod Stradling & Ian Anderson, regular members Chris Coe, Sue Harris and John Maxwell, and guests including Nic Jones, John Kirkpatrick, Dave Peabody and Danny Stradling. Much improved from the only previous re-issue, this is all completely remastered from original tapes, extensively repackaged, and has replaced tracks plus an extra brand new recording featuring veteran English folk giant Bob Copper, to close the circle opened two decades ago.

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The final recording by Madagascar's top band of the '90s was a special project exploring the ancestral Malayo/Polynesian roots of the Malagasy, with top Indonesian musicians guesting.

The previous from Tarika is a bright, upbeat, sizzling celebration of Madagascar's myriad dance styles where the Malayo-Polynesian roots mix up with influences from their big neighbour Africa.

We also sell a small selection of other CDs with a family, friends, production or compilation connection to fRoots or Rogue Productions.

Some wonky string band twanging and banging on old time nomadicised English country blues and death folk. Blue Blokes 3 are Ian Anderson (English Country Blues Band, Hot Vultures, Tiger Moth and more) on vocals, guitar and slide guitar, Lu Edmonds (Mekons, Billy Bragg's Blokes, 3 Mustaphas 3, Shriekback, PiL, The Damned and more) on vocals, cumbus, saz and guitar, and Ben Mandelson (Billy B's Blokes, 3 Mustaphas 3, Tiger Moth and more) on vocals, mandolin, baritone bouzouki, banjo, tenor guitar and electric guitar.

At the height of the British blues boom in the late 1960s, a handful of musicians emerged who re-interpreted the acoustic country blues of the 1920s and '30s. Championed by Radio 1 DJs John Peel, Mike Raven and Alexis Korner, and the music press of the day like Melody Maker, the most successful names were soon snapped up by major labels. So in the winter of 1968/'69, Ian Anderson assembled a lively country blues band for his debut album Stereo Death Breakdown, gigging exhaustively alongside household name electric bands and visiting blues legends like Mississippi Fred McDowell. Lost in later transit, the master tapes of Stereo Death Breakdown were long thought to be gone forever, but detective work by Fledg'ling Records unearthed them in the vault where they'd been carefully stored. So here, re-mastered from the original tapes and with two extra tracks from a contemporary session, is a long-lost British blues collectors' item, re-issued just in time for its 40th anniversary.