Deeper into folk - Espers, Meg Baird, Devendra Banhart

I found myself in London again last week, with just enough time to spare to go CD shopping again. I'm still on a folk quest and this time picked up some more recent folk offerings. I had read mixed reviews about Devendra Banhart but the 3 albums I tracked down are all excellent. My favourite after the first listen is probably What Will We Be, closely followed by Rejoicing in the Hands. I also found some Espers, both as a band and in their various solo guises. The favourite of this bunch would have to be Meg Baird - Dear Companion, which is a truly beautiful album and if you've never heard it I urge you to track it down.

Another great find of the week was an album which has been on my wants list for a while now, Jackson C.Frank from way back in 1965. However I'm almost afraid to say that Rendezvous by Sandy Denny was quite a disappointment compared to her other albums. So, apologies to any die-hard Sandy Denny fans out there. I'll give it another listen but for now remain to be convinced.

    

All the links in this post are to amazon.co.uk, but all these CDs are also available on amazon.com

My top 10 musical (re)discoveries - 6 months into 2011

For me, 2011 has already been a great year for discovering/rediscovering music. Thought I'd share a list of my favourite musical (re)discoveries ... and as the more observant of you will notice there are in fact 12, and not 10. To be honest I could probably have listed more but decided to restrict myself to a single album by each artist. The UK and US links after each album take you to amazon.co.uk or amazon.com respectively where these fantastic albums are available, usually at bargain prices and also many with bonus tracks.

Incredible String Band - The 5000 Spirits  UK / US

Pentangle - Basket of Light  UK / US

Bridget St. John - Songs For the Gentle Man  UK / US

Bert Jansch - It Don't Bother Me  UK / US

Donovan - Hurdy Gurdy Man  UK / US

Captain Beefheart - Safe As Milk  UK / US

Trees - The Garden of Jane Delawney  UK / US

John Renbourn - Another Monday  UK / US

Mr Fox - Join Us In Our Game  UK / US

The Holy Modal Rounders - 1 and 2  UK / US

Tom Rapp - Sunforest  UK / US

Fairport Convention - Unhalfbrickling  UK / US

No question about it ... there's a definite folk/acid folk theme going on here and the majority of these great albums were brought to my attention by 2 excellent books, Electric Eden by Rob Young, and Seasons They Change by Jeanette Leech.