Welcome, one and all, to November – a very fine place to be if you’re interested in one of the highlights of the folk music year: the fRoots Critics Poll.

So let’s get straight into that shall we?

Parish News

We’ve sent out our voting forms, so if you think you’re on our panel and haven’t yet received one, search your inbox, check your junk mail or get in touch. Voting deadline is November 9th. Get on with it!

Elsewhere in fRoots land…

…and if you simply can’t get enough of that man Sam Sweeney, you’ll want to be looking at this, too:

There have been a few interesting tours announced (you’ll read about one of the biggest in the next section), some of which are notable as much for bringing their yuletide game as anything else. First up, however, here’s one you’ll want to grab tickets for immediately.

Meanwhile, top marks for presentation here. We can almost hear the sleigh bells ringing!

And even topper marks for this. Superb work by Grace Petrie. Tickets here, by the way. Let this be a challenge to all the other folkies out there. Put your humbugs to one side and crack open your Christmas wardrobes. We’ll be watching!

Who’s releasin’? 

Who’s releasin’? WHO’S RELEASIN’? Where on earth have you been? Only the UK’s finest folk super-four-piece, that’s who. The Furrow Collective will have a new album on the shelves come November 9th. You can pre-order yours by clickety-clicking here.

Those Young’uns recently announced that they’ll be recording The Ballad of Johnny Longstaff, which they’ve been playing to audiences throughout 2018. A full-on Longstaff tour for 2019 has also been announced in the last week or so, with full dates listed here.

Barney Morse-Brown, AKA Duotone, is in the studio working on new material. Sounds like it’s less a session than an existential crisis, but worry ye not, Barney – many of us have been there and we’re all right here with you. Having seen him wow audiences on the Wayward Band’s Christmas tour last year, we’re certainly looking forward to hearing what emerges.

Looks like Rosie Hood is gearing up for another busy year. She was recently spotted on Twitter recording a new album with the Dovetail Trio, and now seems to be prepping a selection of music videos with a bunch of likeminded comrades. Watch this space, indeed!

And then there’s this – an earnest, two-note solo from Gent’s very own Trio Dhoore brothers. If it’s just two notes, does that make it more duo-tone than Duotone? That’ll keep us up at night, that will. Not sure we can wait patiently enough for the full album.

Don’t forget the Transglobals! We certainly haven’t. They’ve reworked an older track about walls. What with the US mid-terms this week… well, you can see what they’ve done and why they’ve done it. Applause!

A week on the road

The always-wonderful Lisa Knapp is at The Albany in Deptford on Thursday night. They’d have you believe she’s playing “modern, quirky folk music”. It’s her attraction to the dark and ancient stuff that really tweaks our aural parts. If you’ve never seen her before… just go. You’ll be so pleased with yourself for doing so.

Those Furrowists will be kicking off a UK tour this week, collecting first in Caernarfon on Friday, before hitting Leeds (Saturday) and Lincoln (Sunday).

Stick in the Wheel are in Cambridge on Saturday and Southampton on Sunday. Their tour continues until December 1st, so have a look at their website for more dates if you can’t make those.

MMR are out on the road on their autumn tour already, this week hitting London on Tuesday, Shoreham-by-Sea on Thursday, Whitchurch (Hants) on Friday, Malvern on Saturday and Mansfield on Sunday. Cripes, they’re busy! See them before they collapse through exhaustion.

Obits 

Lastly, we’d like to impart our condolences to the friends and family of Johnny Taylor, organiser of the Saltburn Folk Festival. He’ll be sorely missed.

Remember, if you like what we’re doing and you want to support our ongoing dedication to all of this fine music, please consider taking out an fRoots subscription, or perhaps even making a donation. You can also click whenever it says “pre-order here” and we’ll get a little kickback from Amazon. It really does make a difference. We thank you.