Best of the Year Archives | Folk Roots Radio

Folk Roots Radio Episode 648: Our Favourite Albums of 2022

Jan 13 2023

Join us on Episode 648 as we check out Our Favourite Albums Of 2022! One of the best things about doing a radio show is getting loads of great music to listen to each week. One of the hardest things to do though is to take all that fabulous music and narrow it down to your ten favourite albums of the year. ‘Best of the year’ lists are notoriously subjective and can only reflect the albums that you’ve actually received, but they are a fun way to reflect on a year gone by, and hopefully get people to check out music they may not have realized they actually like. Join us on this episode as we countdown The Top 10, and check out the rest of our long list in the playlist below. Remember, If you like the artists you hear on this show and want to support them, don’t just stream their music – BUY their music, and then you’ll really make a difference to their income at a time when it is becoming much more difficult to make a living as a musician. Check out the full playlist below.

Folk Roots Radio Episode 615: Our Favourite Albums of 2021

Jan 09 2022

They are finally here – Our Favourite Albums of 2021! One of the best things about doing a radio show is getting loads of great music to listen to each week. One of the hardest things to do though is to take all that fabulous music and narrow it down to your ten favourite albums of the year. ‘Best of the year’ lists are very subjective and can only reflect the albums that you’ve actually received, but they are a fun way to reflect on a year gone by, and hopefully get people to check out music they may not have realized they actually like. Join us on this episode as we countdown The Top 10, and check out the rest of our long list in the playlist below. We’ll be dipping into The Next 40 on future episodes of Folk Roots Radio. Remember, if you like what you hear on Folk Roots Radio… and want to support the artists… don’t just stream their music, BUY their music and then you’ll really make a difference to their income during this difficult time when it’s really hard to find live show opportunities.

Folk Roots Radio Episode 560: Our Favourite Albums of 2020

Dec 27 2020

We’re getting close to the end of 2020, which means it’s time to announce our favourite albums of the year. After the challenging year we’ve all had, it’s tempting to just want to put 2020 behind us and move on to 2021 to what will, hopefully, be a much better year for everyone. And yet, despite everything, 2020 has actually been a great year for recorded music – especially for those us who tend to focus on music that artists release independently, or via small and boutique record labels. Many artists have actually been making excellent use of the lockdown time forced on them by the coronavirus pandemic to record some wonderful ‘Covid Tune’ singles, EPs and in some case, even full albums. We’ve had great fun sharing them with you this year. We’ve also been doing our best to keep up with regularly scheduled releases. It gives us great pleasure each year, once we have put holiday radio episodes to bed, to consider our favourite albums of the year. One of the best things about doing a radio show is getting loads of great music to listen to each week. One of the hardest things to do is to take all that fabulous music and narrow it down to your ten favourite recordings of the year. You can check out The Top 10 on Episode 560 of Folk Roots Radio. We’ll be playing more of our favourite albums on upcoming episodes of Folk Roots Radio. If you don’t see an album you really loved, that’s likely because it didn’t make it up on our radar because we didn’t receive a copy. Please consider sharing your favourite albums in the comments – we might even spin them on a future episode of the show. Listen to The Top 10 on this episode, and check out the full playlist and the rest of our long list below. Enjoy!

Folk Roots Radio Episode 487: feat. Sharon Goldman & More Favourites of 2019

Jan 03 2020

New Jersey based singer-songwriter Sharon Goldman joins us on Episode 487 of Folk Roots Radio to chat about her fine new album “Every Trip Around The Sun”, the follow up to the very well-received “KOL ISHA – A Woman’s Voice” from 2016 which focused on Sharon’s experience growing up in an orthodox Jewish family on Long Island. The new recording has garnered more praise, with a great selection of songs – some topical, some romantic, some nostalgic and some inspirational – and all of them well-crafted and engaging. In fact, we’ve included “Every Trip Around The Sun” on our long list of Our Favourite Albums of 2019. We’re going back to that list today as we also include music from Gillian Nicola, The Small Glories, Tomato Tomato, Frank Birtwistle, Irish Mythen, Sofia Talvik and Tim Grimm. Check out the full playlist below.

Folk Roots Radio Episode 486: Our Favourite Albums of 2019

Dec 31 2019

It’s that time of year… we’re holding back the interviews on Episode 486 of Folk Roots Radio as we check out our ten favourite albums of 2019. One of the best things about doing a radio show is getting loads of great music to listen to each week. One of the hardest things to do is to take all that fabulous music and narrow it down to your ten favourite recordings of the year. You can check out The Top 10 on this episode. We’ll be playing more of our favourite albums on upcoming episodes of Folk Roots Radio. If you don’t see an album you really loved, maybe it didn’t make it up on to our radar, or perhaps we never received a copy. Please consider sharing your favourite albums in the comments – we might even spin them on a future episode of the show. Listen to The Top 10 and check out the full playlist below. Enjoy!

Folk Roots Radio Episode 420: feat. Jesse Matas & More New Releases

Jan 03 2019

Jesse Matas joins us on Episode 420 of Folk Roots Radio to chat about his great new solo album “Tamarock”, our favourite album of 2018. Jesse Matas has a great vocal style, and the album features some fine playing, with a lovely sonic palate and a production that really gives all the instruments space to breath. But, above all, it’s full of really interesting songs with great lyrical imagery – and that’s what makes this album a recording that you really need to check out. You can listen to the rest of our Top Ten favourite albums of the year on Episode 417, and The Next 15 on Episode 418. We also take a look at more of the new music we’ve received, and this time around we check out albums from Johnsmith, Paul & Trevor Mills, Youngtree and The Blooms, Rich Krueger, The Slocan Ramblers and Wes Collins. Check out the full playlist below.

Folk Roots Radio Episode 418: The Best of 2018 - The Next 15

Dec 28 2018

There are no interviews on Episode 418 of Folk Roots Radio as we check out more of our favourite albums of the year. We’ve already released The Top 10 on Episode 417 of Folk Roots Radio. This time around we check out The Next 15, featuring some of our favourite tracks from those albums. It’s a great privilege to bring lots of great music and interviews to you each week on Folk Roots Radio, something we’re looking forward to continuing throughout the next year. Listen to tracks from The Next 15 and check out the full playlist below.

Martin Harley - Folk Roots Radio at Hillside 2018

Jul 17 2018

British acoustic roots and blues guitarist Martin Harley, who plays a 100 year old Weissenborn Hawaiian acoustic lap guitar, released one of our favourite albums of 2017, “Static In The Wires”. Static in the Wires was his second album recorded with Nashville based stand-up bassist Daniel Kimbro who also joined Martin on the fabulous “Live From Southern Ground” (from 2015). Martin Harley sat down with Jan Hall from Folk Roots Radio at the 2018 Hillside Festival to chat about his music. Check out Martin Harley online at martinharley.com. Music: Martin Harley “Gold” from “Static In The Wires” (2017, Del Mundo Records).

Folk Roots Radio Episode 358: Rob Lutes & More New Releases

Folk Root Radio Episode 358 - Rob Lutes & New Releases

Jan 11 2018

Montreal singer-songwriter Rob Lutes joins us on Episode 358 of Folk Roots Radio for a wonderful conversation about his latest album, “Walk In The Dark”, a blues roots delight and our favourite album of 2017. As always, we also check out more of the great new folk and roots releases we’ve received. Check out the full playlist below.

Folk Roots Radio Best of 2017 - The Next 15

Jan 04 2018

We’ve already released our Top Ten albums of 2017 – you can find those on Episode 356 of Folk Roots Radio. This time around we tackle ‘The Next Fifteen’ with an episode featuring some of our favourite tracks from those albums. It’s a great privilege to bring lots of great music and interviews to you each week on Folk Roots Radio, something we’re looking forward to continuing to do throughout 2018. As always, this list only includes those albums that were received from October 1st, 2016 – September 30th, 2017. Listen to tracks from the Next 15 and check out the full playlist below.

Folk Roots Radio Best of 2017 - The Top 10

Dec 28 2017

Well, it’s that time of year – time to run down our favourite albums of 2017. One of the best things about doing a radio show is that you get loads of great music to audition each week. One of the hardest things to do, though, is to take all that great music and narrow it down to your ten favourite recordings of the year. As someone who loves to make best of lists, it’s a fun thing to do, and, if, by doing that, I can expose people to new music they may not have heard, so much the better. As always, this Best of 2017 list only includes those albums that were received from October 1st, 2016 – September 30th, 2017. Listen to tracks from the Top 10 and check out the full playlist below.

Episode 300 of Folk Roots Radio featuring Corin Raymond

Feb 08 2017

On this edition of Folk Roots Radio, we talk to singer/songwriter Corin Raymond who has just received a Juno Award nomination for Contemporary Roots Album of the Year for his wonderful album “Hobo Jungle Fever Dreams”, which just happened to be our favourite recording of 2016. Corin joined us in the mobile studio at the Folk Music Ontario conference this past October for a wide-ranging conversation that covered his songwriting, the joys of collaboration, his 100 Book Blog, and, of course, the making of “Hobo Jungle Fever Dreams”. We also get to play some tracks from the album we haven’t yet played on the show. And, as always, we fill up the rest of the hour with a look at more of the latest new releases.

Jan 31 2017

Corin Raymond is having a great start to 2017, with a Juno Award nomination for Contemporary Roots Album of the Year for “Hobo Jungle Fever Dreams”. The album was also named our favourite recording of 2016. Hobo Jungle Fever Dreams is quintessential Corin Raymond, featuring some fabulous word craft on ten songs, eight co-written with other top drawer songwriters Jonathan Byrd, Sean Cotton, Rob Vaarmeyer, Rakhu Lokanathan and Jaxon Haldane alongside one Corin Raymond original, the glorious “Morning Glories” and a cover of Doug Norquay‘s “Best Demented Cowgirl Face” (one of the best and most intriguing song titles out there). The album also earned two nominations at the 2016 Canadian Folk Music Awards, with David Gillis taking home the gong for Producer of the Year. Corin joined us in the mobile studio at the Folk Music Ontario conference this past October to chat about the making of “Hobo Jungle Fever Dreams”. For more information about Corin’s music, visit corinraymond.com. Music: Corin Raymond “Rain Bed”, “Two Miles Of Train”, “Best Demented Cowgirl Face” and “Under The Belly Of The Night” from “Hobo Jungle Fever Dreams” (2016, Local Rascal Records).

Folk Roots Radio Episode 297: Erin Costelo Interview & More New Releases

Jan 27 2017

Folk Roots Radio episode 297 features a great interview with Halifax NS singer/songwriter Erin Costelo about her fabulous slice of genre-bending soulful pop, “Down Below, The Status Quo”, one of our Favourite Albums of 2016. And, as always, we take a look at some great new releases.

Jan 21 2017

Erin Costelo from Halifax NS released “Down Below, The Status Quo”, a fabulous slice of genre-bending soulful pop that skips from R&B/Soul to bluesy jazz in March 2016, and one of our Favourite Albums of 2016. The follow up to 2012’s very well-received “We Can Get Over”, Down Below, The Status Quo features ten tracks written, arranged, and produced by Erin Costelo at Joel Plaskett’s Dartmouth NS studio, New Scotland Yard, with support from engineer Thomas Stajcer. Joining Erin on the album are longtime guitarist Clive MacNutt, bassist Ian Bennett, drummers Dave Marsh and Matt Gallant, alongside the Blue Engine String Quartet and horns from Matt Myer, Andrew Jackson and Andrew MacKelvie. Gifted with a fabulous expressive voice that harkens back to some of the great female vocalists of the golden age of soulful blues and jazz, Down Below, The Status Quo is a joy from beginning to end and another of those albums that reminds me that great music needs to be shared – and that show’s like Folk Roots Radio shouldn’t be constrained by a rigid focus on genre. We caught up with Erin Costelo at home in Halifax to chat about her music. To learn more about Erin Costelo, visit erincostelo.ca. Music: Erin Costelo, “Move”, “Quiet The Bombs”, “Titanic” and “Fighter” from “Down Below, The Status Quo” (2016, Venue Records).

Folk Roots Radio Episode 293: More Favourite Albums of 2016

Jan 06 2017

On this episode we take a look at more of our favourite albums of 2016. One of the best things about doing a radio show is getting loads of fabulous music to audition each week. Narrowing all that great music down to our favourite twenty-five albums of the year was quite the challenge. It’s never an easy thing to do, but we managed it. You can check out our “Top Ten” albums of 2016 on Episode 291 HERE. This time around we tackle ‘The Next Fifteen’, bringing you some of our favourite tracks from those albums. It’s a great privilege to bring lots of great music and interviews to you each week on Folk Roots Radio, something we’re looking forward to continuing to do throughout 2017.

Folk Roots Radio Favourite Albums of 2015

Dec 14 2015

Well, It’s that time of year… Time to pick our favourite albums of 2015. And you know what, it doesn’t get any easier. There’s just so much great music out there, and it’s been our great privilege to bring lots of it to you each week on Folk Roots Radio. Like last year, most of the albums on this list aren’t a surprise as I raved about them during the year. This time around though I selected a twenty-five album long list, then narrowed it down to the Top 10 you can read about below.

Dec 11 2014

So here they are… my ten favourite albums of 2014. As you can imagine, it wasn’t easy to narrow this list down to the Top 10 which is why I’ve included the next five as honourable mentions. And to be honest, any of the albums in that group could easily have made it into my Best of 2014 on a different day. Indeed, I could easily have included another five after that… and another five after that, but I needed to draw a line somewhere which I duly did.