Folk, Blues, Funk and Jazz. Phil Kings got style. A very impressive album which leaves no style unturned. Music to lift you up, move you around, but not straying from the roots. From the laid back lazy blues of "Smiling Eyes" to the mournful cry of "Laughter" Phil King seems to know the recipe for success.

Born in 1978, Phil has been singing his whole life. At 12yrs old, his parents took him to see Eric Clapton at the Albert Hall. The next day, he picked up a guitar, and formed his first band with some school friends. He also began collecting records, buying old Robert Johnson, John Lee Hooker, B.B. King and Muddy Waters Albums.

For more information visit Phil Kings Official website here: http://www.phil-king.net/index.php

A long-awaited album from Rollercoaster, and a classic performance from the 60s by Davey Graham. This previously unreleased live performance was recorded by Geoff Harden while he was a student at St Andrews University in 1966.

Geoff regularly carried his tape-recorder to the St Andrews Folk Club and on this occasion, after recording the evening's events, he was asked to erase the tape by someone purporting to be Davey's manager. Luckily, the reel survived and we negotiated with Davey and Geoff to release it in its entirety.

The surprisingly hi-fidelity recording features Davey in great form vocally and instrumentally. This CD will bring back happy memories for those who remember Davey's folk club appearances in the 60s, and it will delight Davey's many new fans eager to hear Davey at his very best..

TRACKS:
Jubilation
Travelling Man
Sally Free and Easy
I'm Ready; Work Song
Rock Me; No Preacher Blues
The Preacher
Sweet Home Chicago
The Cat Came Back
Better Git It In Your Soul
Neighbour, Neighbour
Panic Room Blues
Sklillet Good and Greasy
Buhaina Chant
Money, Honey
Maajun
Miserlou
She Moved Through The Fair
Bulgarian Dance

**Note that this CD has been prepared in jewel case format for sale during Davey's current UK tour (see www.daveygraham.com for details). A Rolapak design will be available from Rollercoaster later this year.

Stormcock has been re-mastered and is to be reissued in October with new artwork. It will be packaged in a 20 page case bound booklet with new pictures, prose and poetry.

Roy's comments: "Certain lines and certain words will not chop your ears off at high volume any more.. Bottom end is taken care of properly.. and there are one or two secrets. You may eventually spot them. It won't matter much to the general public that much, but it sure does matter to me."

Seminal guitarist and musician Davy Graham releases a new long player entitled "Broken Biscuits".
 
Recorded over the past two years the record offers 16 tracks, and features 9 new Graham compositions alongside arrangements of traditional music from all over the world.

It represents Graham's first substantial recorded work since 1979's "Dance For Two People."

The record was partly financed by 336 of Graham's long-term fans, many of whom paid for the record before work had begun on it and whose names feature in the cd booklet.

Martin Guitars, Fylde Guitars, Charter Oak Acoustic equipment and Buzz Audio pre-amps assisted the project greatly in providing endorsee support which has now helped allow Graham to record to the highest standard whenever and wherever the mood takes him.

Graham's back catalogue has also been restored from the original master tapes and is released once more with fabulous new artwork, original sleeve notes and improved sound fidelity. For those who have listened to Graham over the years as they drive, play poker, or settle in for an evening, this is a wonderful opportunity to hear his earlier work at a higher level of quality than ever before.

We believe that Davy's records are what ipods and cd players need and that a cd containing the music is the most secure and pleasing format to own it on.

Track Listing of Broken Biscuits

1. Panic Room
2. Flower Mountain
3. Rooty
4. Afrika
5. Samokovsakas
6. The Gold Ring
7. Sa Ma
8. Sita Ram
9. Blood Red Roses
10. Bonny At Morn
11. Kiba Jaya Jaya Gorachandra
12. Precious Memories
13. Ignunt Oil
14. Delerium Tremens
15. Kadinesca
16. Brisk Young Widow

England-based singer/songwriter/guitarist James Hollingsworth has a unique, complex guitar style, reminiscent of Andalusian guitar as well as modern rock.

As well as being known as an inspired solo singer/songwriter/guitarist, James is also lead singer and frontman with the rock band JEBO.

There are hooks, harmonicas, harmonies, hush and heaviness aplenty, delivered with James' characteristic passion and aplomb. More unusual tracks include the palindromic 'Bounty of Id', (also a 'Mini-Saga', meaning it has exactly 50 words) of just under 2 minutes to the epic 12-minute 'Long Way Out'.

Track dates are included in all of James' releases as part of the biographical record of his catalogue. “This has always been a plan,” James says, “songs often shed light on the meaning of other songs written at that time.

Recently quoted from a gig:

“.... and then there was James Hollingsworth... well by the time he'd finished I had 2 pages of notes and adrenalin coming out of my pores. I was itching to get his album once he'd finished - and i'm listening to it as I write this. It's bloody brilliant.

“live he started quite subdued....did a couple of mellow songs , in a mellow stance, and a mellow tone to his voice... then he sang possible the sweetest version of "Happy Birthday" i've ever heard - for Rach.

“Then he hit the stratosphere. I'll throw some names out that I thought of while I listened - Cat Stevens, Ian Anderson, Roy Harper, Geddy Lee...there was loads going on....and he was just passing through. "You're not the only one" was the first song he did when he really went for it - and it was beautiful - fantastic song.

“Then he did a song which he introduced by saying "this is a song about living on the same planet..we've got a long way to go" - perfect introduction. The song starts with the line "if you look around the world its hard to imagine how things are gonna get better" - the song is "Sooner or Later" and the CD version is just as good as it was live. Powerful stuff.

“Then he completely blew me away. Not sure what the song is called....(if you're reading this James, i'd love to know) It was incredible - he got himself into it by playing this strident riff, staring at the audience and swaying to the song's rhythm - the song was being built up to this huge rock beast right from the start....then he started singing - in a way he hadn't up to this point - and it was amazing - huge delivery - fast, staccato,
biting lines punctuated with this fast, big, riffing guitar. It had a kind of "Ritchie Havens 'Freedom'" rhythm, if you know Woodstock - but it had a powerful sense of urgency. It was breathtaking. The last line (sang really quick) "thank you please just to leave me aloooooooone" - it was HUGE! lol - brilliant. “then he had to follow it!

“A beautiful song called "Walk the Earth" which had me singing along in my chair (I was disappointed it wasn't on the album... but it's a good excuse to buy his others) - a great song that reminded me of Steve Knightley. Nice percussive slapping on the
guitar on this one.

“He was a really nice bloke too - afterward me and Andy Brown were chatting to him - and Andy asked him to write something ridiculous on his inlay booklet (I won't say what it was but it's not something you'd expect someone to write) - and he did - great stuff.

“Still listening to the album - i'm on track 11 now - it's brilliant. Powerful performances, distinctive songwriting, a prog rock sensibility paired down to the acoustic as Roy Harper would have it, and the perfect production. Brilliant. So pleased I have the CD.

- Gareth Howells - re. Gig in Portsmouth 15/03/07.

John Neil Munro is going to have a biography published October 2007. The title is: Some People Are Crazy, and the publisher is Birlinn Ltd from Edinburgh (208 pages, £ 14,99).

John writes: "My book on John is coming out in October - see attached cover. I've been working on it for three years and interviewed John a few times. I've also spoken to people like his pre-Bev sweetheart Linda Dunning, Danny Thompson, Dr Kirk McGeachy, Spencer Cozens, Ralph McTell, Bridget St. John, Andy Sheppard, Claire Hamill, Dave Pegg, Michael Chapman, Steve Tilston, Wizz Jones, Dave Mattacks, Eddi Reader, Simon Climie, John Glover, Sandy Roberton, Martin Levan, Paul Wheeler, Robin Frederick, Tim Denley, Phill Brown, Brian Young, and James MacPherson...

It's also got a quite lengthy gig listing for the Cousins era which came about after spending days in the British Library sifting through old Melody Maker's. John has read it and said he liked it."
So this looks like something definitely worth looking forward to.

Harper's label Science Friction Records has re-packaged the BBC tapes volumes 1 to 6. Without a doubt, the pain stacking re-mastering was personally over seen by Roy himself. Previously out of stock and unavailable this 6 volume archive is a must for anyone looking for classic live Roy Harper.

The volumes include concerts from:

1973 Bob Harris sessions, The Hippodrome Golders green 1974 concert, John Peel sessions and much more.

Release Date: 25th September 2007
José González - In Our Nature
(Peacefrog/Mute)

Track list:
   1. How Low
   2. Down The Line
   3. Killing For Love
   4. In Our Nature
   5. Teardrop
   6. Abram
   7. Time To Send Someone Away
   8. The Nest
   9. Fold
  10. Cycling Trivialities

'In Our Nature' gets busy with universal themes of the human condition, our place in the world and bypassing songs about love, opening by addressing the body-politik on 'How Low' - "...feeding a monster...invasion after invasion..." to a lilting guitar, gathering pace for the hypnotic 'Down the Line' with a riffing number about owning your problems, making mistakes and moving on - "...I see problems down the line/ I know that they're mine..." while the guitar shimmers. Our warring natures are addressed somewhat simplistically but with melody on 'Killing For Love' - "..you've got a heart filled with passion/ will you let it burn for hate or compassion..." to dexterous finger pickin' guitar work, whilst title track 'In Our Nature' has a world-weary tone with a Nick Drake-lean and minimalism, a touch of 60's idealism in the lyrics - "...put down your sword/ send home your dogs/ open up your doors...".

Although this is a new release, the material on this album was recorded some years ago at The Folk Studio, a now-defunct basement club in Rome. Renbourn didn't know he was being recorded and can't remember the date, though the evidence suggests it was during the late 80's. So if you want a taste of his long and restless career up to that point - both as a solo artist and as a headline member of various groups - there's plenty here to whet the appetite.

The eight tracks lean towards instrumentals rather than songs, but perfectly balance self-penned originals and cover versions with arrangements of traditional pieces, together demonstrating his folk-baroque, country blues, classical and jazz influences. There's even a nod towards church music. Each piece is an easily-digestible live favourite in its own right, and the sum of the parts is a sweet cohesive whole. Renbourn uses five different tunings, but his banter with the audience has been edited out, leaving an intense 47-minute lesson in sheer guitar artistry. It's a testament to his awesome skill as a composer, arranger and performer that he can nurse such a consistently rich and smooth sound from one apparently simple instrument.

-Offical John Renbourn Site