Peter Bruntnell

Rolling Stone once declared Peter Bruntnell to be, “one of England's best kept musical secrets”. England has successfully managed to keep Peter Bruntnell a secret for all this time, even from itself. “Maybe this will be the album to finally give him the worldwide superstar recognition he deserves!”, enthused every other Peter Bruntnell album review from the last 20+ years, with an admirably unwavering optimism. “If we lived in a just world, Peter Bruntnell would by now be in the middle of his third or fourth global arena tour, his biggest worry working out how to courier his latest armful of Grammy awards back to the UK so his butler could have them installed in the west wing of mansion by the time he got home,” said a feature in The Guardian in 2016, intent on letting the cat out of the bag, but failing miserably. Needless to say, we don’t live in a just world and Peter Bruntnell is still having to get by without a butler. Although perhaps the curriculum is to blame for this failure to ignite mass awareness, with not one teacher in the past two decades known to have heeded the call from NME to teach Peter’s songs in schools.

New album 'Houdini And The Sucker Punch' has garnered all the predictably pleasing praise of previous albums, with a handful of writers suggesting that it’s on a par with Peter’s 1999 alt-country classic Normal For Bridgwater and has also found itself featuring in a number of End of Year lists, including Mojo Magazine’s Top 5 Americana Albums of 2024.

Singer/songwriter Kirsten Adamson (daughter of rock legend Stuart Adamson (Big Country, Skids) summons the same heart-stopping purity as Sandy Denny, by way of Emmylou Harris and Kate Bush. Since spending summers soaking up the atmosphere in Nashville with her dad, and singing on Big Country’s Driving To Damascus album, Kirsten has been steadily developing her own voice and songwriting, with indie folkers Aberfeldy, country rockers The Gillyflowers and Americana duo The Marriage.

Montreal based Sarah Jane is a songwriter faithful to the bluegrass and old time folk tradition but not afraid to tackle hard modern themes such as homelessness, alongside tongue-in-cheek heartache songs and doses of unabashed Canadiana.

Sarah Jane pairs sturdy, infectious melodies with lyrics that are candid, poignant and flirtatious, and “a flair for tying emotions to arresting images.” (Penguin Eggs) She now travels all over North America to festivals and workshops, gaining insight and inspiration from contemporary and traditional folk musicians, as well as an ever-expanding collection of stringed instruments.