Jenn Butterworth
Her By Design
(Self-Released)
★★★★

JENN BUTTERWORTH is an award-winning Scottish musician and this debut album blends both traditional and contemporary folk songs to focus on women’s narratives. Unlike many traditional songs with women at the centre, however, this collection aims to give a feminist interpretation putting women’s strengths and struggles at the forefront. 

Starting with Sandy Danny’s All Our Days, a reflection on the changing of the seasons, there is then a rearrangement of the traditional Little Sparrow warning women about the pitfalls of some relationships. Other reinterpretations of traditional songs include The Housewife’s Lament, dealing with the realities of women’s unpaid labour, and Jeannie looking at forced marriage from the woman’s perspective. 

Butterworth’s own compositions include A Toast dealing with jealousy and its consequences and One in Ten shines a light on the struggles of women suffering from the condition endometriosis. Each song basically tells a unique story.

Liz Overs
Nightjar
(Self-Released)
★★★★

NIGHTJAR is the debut album from Liz Overs made alongside the Sussex coast with help from Neill MacColl, Ben Nicholls and David Tomlins. The album is inspired by the folklore and history of Sussex and invokes tales of nature, ghosts, fairies and the flowing tide.  

The single and opening track Prayer To The Year sets the scene with its homage to the natural world. This is followed by Patterns, talking of the beauty around us. However, as well as her own compositions Overs gives us the darker side of the folk tradition with songs like The Cruel Sister where a woman is lured and pushed into the water and Bramble Briar where a rich daughter’s love for a low-born man cause her brothers to murder him.

Ending with the poetic title track this is a deeply evocative collection of new and traditional songs.  

Gigspanner Big Band
Turnstone
(Self-Released)
★★★★★

THE original Gigspanner Trio was established by Steeleye Span’s Peter Knight alongside Roger Flack and Sacha Trochet. In 2016 they were joined by Philip Henry and Hannah Martin and later John Spiers of Bellowhead to form what has to be described as a folk super group. 

Turnstone is their third album and consists of 11 songs with themes of love and romance but never quite running smoothly. Starting with the sombre “Child ballad,” The Suffolk Miracle, we then get a stunning version of Sovay, a traditional song about a young woman who disguises herself as a highwayman in order to test her suitor.

There are two songs from the Romani and traveller traditions, Basket of Eggs and Betsy Williams, and another stand-out track has to be the Knight-led version of Hard Times Come Again No More. They are touring the album from April 2025, and this is a joyous listening experience.