Here’s our summer selection of ‘Something new’ — the new and recent music that the Salut! editorial team what they had been listening to so far this year. If you want to read about the more classic music we’ve been listening to as well, head over to the ‘Something Old’ piece we published earlier this month.
Andrew Curry writes: The Haar is an Anglo-Irish band that has just released their third record, The Lost Day. They are made up of Adam Summerhayes and Murray Grainger, the English musicians who also perform as Ciderhouse Rebellion, with Cormac Byrne on bodhran and Molly Donnery on vocals. I was lucky enough to see them perform at the Irish Cultural Centre last year.
One of the things they bring to the repertoire is a genuine spirit of improvisation. There are a lot of standards from the repertoire on The Lost Day, both Irish and English, but these are genuinely interesting versions, even exciting ones. And Molly Donnery has a fabulous voice, which can turn on a sixpence from quiet to loud, and is as comfortable singing both ballads and the more boisterous songs in the repertoire. The band even sells a badge called “Everybody loves Molly.” I bought one, of course.
The young Welsh guitarist Gwenifer Raymond is more of a blues player than a folk artist, but what technique and talent she brings to her craft. She creates rich layers of sound. And what’s not to like, from her third album, Last Night I Heard The Dog Star Bark, more than a song called Bonfire of the Billionaires. Not the fans’ favourite on Spotify, but difficult to look beyond the immediacy of the title. Sadly, there’s not a video of that track online, but her recent NPR Tiny Desk concert is an excellent introduction to her music.
A chance remark by Kris Drever while I was in the merch queue led me to the work of the Dundee singer-songwriter Michael Marra, and what a pleasurable discovery this was. I’m coming late to his music — Marra died in 2012 — but these are memorable and amusing songs about life in Scotland, and mostly in Dundee. One of the themes in Marra’s work is a series of songs in which, for some reason or other, a famous person visits Dundee for improbable reasons. And since a big exhibition of Frieda Kahlo’s work is running in London, let me share here a live version of Michael Marra’s song, Frieda Kahlo’s Visit to the Taybridge Bar. The song is, by turns, wistful and sympathetic, and his introduction gives a flavour of the man.
Steve Peck writes: There’s so much outstanding new music being released these days that it’s hard for me to pick just a few songs. The younger, contemporary artists are really killing it.
I’ve written about Natalie Wildgoose here before, and she has a new EP out entitled Rural Hours. Like its predecessor Come into the Garden, it’s a very quiet, lo-fi affair that has an unusual streak of wildness. While she crafts memorable melodies and possesses a lovely voice, her deliberate piano and instrumental choices can be subtly eccentric. Combined with lyrics that express feelings and everyday happenings in slightly odd ways, the effect is uniquely her own.
A perfect example is River Days, which chronicles a full day down by a local river. “We had a river day today, still smell the smoke on your face.” Through Wildgoose’s spell, I can smell the smoke, too.
Sam Grassie,seen in this post’s featured image, seems to be everywhere these days. After a few years and several EPs, his first full-length album arrived in April. It’s a rewarding set of vocal tracks and guitar instrumentals, showcasing his breathtaking six- and twelve-string work. He has a knack for picking inspired cover songs, as demonstrated by his outstanding rendition of Dave Goulder’s Sandwood Down to Kyle.
Grassie has justifiably been compared to Bert Jansch, but it’s John Renbourn’s arrangement that he adopts for this classic song. Personally, I can hear echoes of both men in this sparkling live version.
Voyaging to Jamaica, Vermont, we find Chris Clark, an American artist who’s just released his debut single, I Suppose. I’ve avoided most Americana music in recent years because I felt overexposed to its well-worn roots and sound. That doesn’t mean I don’t still love it! This track punched me right in the gut. I think it’s the resigned lonesomeness of Clark’s voice that makes me want to grab my guitar.
Great production and harmony singing come courtesy of the splendid folks in Hungrytown, Ken Anderson and Rebecca Hall. The full album is due out any day now.
Colin Randall writes: If Salut! Folk has been devoting a fair bit of space to Katharine Priddy (for example in a Song of the Day slot last month), there’s a reason. She’s been a breath of fresh air on the British folk scene for five years. Her first album, its Bronte-inspired title The Eternal Rocks Beneath reflecting her passion for literature, was described by Richard Thompson as the best thing he’d heard all year (2021). Then as now, Priddy’s songs have maturity, depth and gripping melodies that grow as they progress.
And she sings them with real beauty. I might have chosen from so many of her songs, given the procession of absolute stunners she has recorded: Icarus, Frightening Machines, Indigo and of course Matches come to mind instantly as terrific examples but there are many more.
The Long Way Home is her salute to an extraordinary young woman, Hannah, who came back from serious injury in a cycling accident to achieve her ambition to qualify as a firefighter. Heaven knows we have needed them this summer.
It takes a few listens to anchor itself in the head, and now I find it streams into the mind quite easily. It’s a lovely song with impeccable sentiments. I wouldn’t recommend it as an introduction to Priddy – go first for Matches – but feel you’ll come to share my feelings.
Damien O’Kane and Ron Block’s song Rusby is new enough, from the back end of 2025 and giving me plenty of pleasure this year, too. Two masters of the banjo, one Irish and the other American, did wonders for the reputation of an undervalued instrument with their album Banjovial. I wrote about the pair of them on Salut! Folk last year.
There are delightful, invigorating pieces throughout the album. I choose the one dedicated to O’Kane’s wife, the folk superstar Kate Rusby, mother of their two daughters. For me, it seemed to evoke Rusby’s own description of herself, her Yorkshire “natteriness”. Even if it has no words.
O’Kane earned domestic brownie points with his more eloquent explanation of the tune, saying it represented the “warmth, kindness and the genuine love she radiates every day to everyone around her”. Either way, it’s a winner. As is the album.
More than half a century after his first album, Acoustic Confusion, Steve Tilston declared that Last Call would be his last. No pipe and slippers; he still tours busily and attracts warm praise wherever he plays. His valedictory album contains a lot of excellent material, none better than As Night Follows Day, a charming love song as appealing as such standout items from his earlier repertoire as The Road When I Was Young and Slip Jigs and Reels.
Tilston himself talks of it being a “worm of an idea born of insomnia and homesickness in a distant hotel room”. If that sounds the antithesis of romantic imagery, worry not. It’s a beautiful song, sung and played with superior artistry by a singer-songwriter with a warm voice, a great turn of phrase and complete mastery of the guitar.
And see our interview with Steve from 2024.
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More of our 2026 listening here:
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