The Folk and Acoustic Music Show playlist 30th December

The final show of the year will be going out on Acoustic Spectrum radio on Monday the 30th December at 9pm. If the player on the AS web site still isn't working then go to http://www.fatea-magazine.co.uk/ as their homepage is linked to Acoustic Spectrum and it should start playing as soon as you load the page.

No new stuff on this show with at least a few tracks which you should recognise...

Indigo Girls - Closer To Fine
The Proclaimers - I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)
Show of Hands - Stop Copying Me
Natalie Merchant - Space Oddity
Hot Club of Cowtown - Stay A Little Longer
Cadbury Sisters - Barefoot
Al Bowlly - Over The Rainbow
Richard Thompson & Danny Thompson - Al Bowlly's In Heaven
Ruth Moody - Dancing In The Dark
Billy Bragg - Waiting For The Great Leap Forward
The Be Good Tanyas - House of the Rising Sun
Runrig - Dance Called America
Fairport Convention - Meet On The Ledge

Wishing you all a Happy Hogmanay and all the best for 2014.

The Folk & Acoustic Music Show
Mondays at 9pm / Tuesdays at 2am
Listen online at acoustic-spectrum.co.uk
Listen again at mixcloud.com/cmbertram

The Folk and Acoustic Music Xmas Special

Apologies if you were unable to hear this Monday's show on Acoustic Spectrum. They were one of a number of internet radio stations that were affected by a Denial-of-service attack. While they thought things were back to normal by Monday evening I, and presumably others, was unable to hear the show using the default media player on the AS web site. Seemingly other media players were unaffected. So if you were unable to listen to that show it is available on Mixcloud as is this coming Monday's Xmas Special.

http://www.mixcloud.com/cmbertram/the-folk-and-acoustic-music-xmas-show-2013/

Fleet Foxes - White Winter Hymnal
The Carrivick Sisters - Santa Claus is Coming To Town
The High Bar Gang - Angel Band
Simon & Garfunkel - Seven O'Clock News \ Silent Night
Tom Mitchell - Fairytale of New York
Jack Johnson - Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer
John Otway - Middle of Winter
John Shuttleworth - The Christmas Orphan
The Low Countries - Carry On Christmas
Heather Bristow - Passport of Heaven
Hank Snow - The Reindeer Boogie
James J Turner - Come With Me
Long Lost Band - Twelfth Knight (King Of December)
Heidi Talbot - When They Ring The Golden Bells
Oysterband - Shouting About Jerusalem
Mud - Lonely This Christmas

Wishing you all a very Happy Winter Solstice, a Merry Christmas, a Jolly Hogmanay and a Music-filled New Year!

Colin Bertram

Recommended Albums of 2013

It's that time of the year again when I look back through all the new releases I've been sent and I can honestly say that 2013 has been a good year with some excellent releases from both sides of the Atlantic. I could rename my show to the Scottish Folk and Americana Music Show as that more accurately reflects the balance of music I've been playing over the last 12 months and special thanks go to promoters Bob Buchan, Martin Hadden and Geraint Jones who have sent me the bulk of what I have featured on the show this year. Thanks also to all the other promoters and artists who have also posted albums to me or emailed me mp3s and to Neil King and everyone at Acoustic Spectrum.

These two lists are in purely alphabetical order but if you were to push me I'd probably say 'Lay Your Dark Low' by Salt House and 'Little Boat' by Rita Hosking are my two favourite albums of the year. Or possibly The Chair and Birds of Chicago!

UK\Europe Top 15

Paul Anderson - Land of the Standing Stones
Barrule - Music from the Isle of Man
Battlefield Band - Room Enough For All
The Chair - The Road to Hammer Junkie
Djonne & Borsheim - Toras Dans
Judy Dyble - Flow and Change
Tom Houston - Open The Skylights
The Low Countries - The Invisible Ray
Salt House - Lay Your Dark Low
Phil McLellan Smillie - Sound of Taransay
Calum Stewart & Heikki Bourgault - Hunter's Moon
Miranda Sykes & Rex Preston - Sing A Full Song
Richard Thompson - Electric
VAMM - VAMM
Matt Woosey Band - On The Waggon


USA\Canadian Top 15

The Abramson Singers - Late Riser
Sam Baker - Say Grace
Birds of Chicago - Birds of Chicago
Slaid Cleaves - Still Fighting the War
Stephen Fearing - Between Hurricanes
Ashleigh Flynn - A Million Stars
Melissa Greener - Transistor Corazon
The High Bar Gang - Lost and Undone: A Gospel Bluegrass Companion
Rita Hosking - Little Boat
Phil Lee - The Mighty King of Love
Rebecca Pronsky - Only Daughter
Rose's Pawn Shop - Dancing on the Gallows
J Shogren + Shanghai'd - God Bless These Crooked Little Songs
The Tillers - Hand on the Plow
Woody Pines - Rabbit's Motel

The Folk & Acoustic Music Show
Mondays at 9pm / Tuesdays at 2am
Listen online at acoustic-spectrum.co.uk
Listen again at mixcloud.com/cmbertram

The Folk and Acoustic Music Show playlist 16th December

Tune in tonight at 9pm to hear the following. This week's featured album is Hunter's Moon by Calum Stewart & Heikke Bourgault.

Barrule - Europop Vona
Calum Stewart & Heikke Bourgault - L'Heure Avant L'Aube
Bella Hardy - The Derbyshire Miller
Birds of Chicago - Trampoline
Coreen Scott - Songbird
Seth Lakeman - The Bold Knight
Kim Lowings & the Greenwood - Annie Laurie
Rose's Pawn Shop - Dancing on the Gallows
Melisser Greener - If I Fell
The Low Countries - The Invisible Ray
Judy Dyble - Head Full of Stars
Michael Chapman - Which Will
Calum Stewart & Heikke Bourgault - Another Winter
Kathryn Tickell - The Lads

The Folk & Acoustic Music Show
Mondays at 9pm / Tuesdays at 2am
Listen online at acoustic-spectrum.co.uk
Listen again at mixcloud.com/cmbertram

The Folk and Acoustic Music Show playlist 9th December

There isn't a featured album on the show tonight but as it's my wife Sam's birthday today I've included some of her favourite singers. Tune in at 9pm on Acoustic Spectrum radio to hear the following...

Steve Knightley - Raining Again
Roger Wilson - Sick of the Working Life
Joni Mitchell - I Don't Know Where I Stand
June Tabor - The Oggie Man
Iain MacDonald - John O'Groats
Kelly Oliver - Far From Home
Kris Drever - Steel and Stone (Black Water)
Natalie Merchant - After The Gold Rush
Neil Young - Through My Sails
Pauline Alexander - Fields of Gold
Phil Lee - I Like Everything
Martin Stephenson - You Really Had A Heart
Kate Bush - Hello Earth
The Existence of Harvey Lord - C U at 7

The Folk & Acoustic Music Show
Mondays at 9pm / Tuesdays at 2am
Listen online at acoustic-spectrum.co.uk
Listen again at mixcloud.com/cmbertram

The Folk and Acoustic Music Show 2nd Dec \ Mikie Jacobs

On Thursday morning I sat looking at a folder named '2 December' and it had just one song in it - Rita Hosking's "Nothing Left Of Me". Normally I have my playlist just about finalised by that time but not last week. I had been otherwise occupied, filling in a job application form among other things, so I sat and wondered what I was going to include in this Monday's show.

Then I remembered some news I'd seen on Facebook - the singer of Edinburgh punk band Gin Goblins, Mikie Jacobs, had been found dead in the city's Holyrood Park. He had taken his own life and was the same age as me, 49. I never knew the guy, never saw the Goblins play live but I have been in occasional contact with the band's guitarist, Dave, for a number of years. So I started looking for songs that reflected how I felt about Mikie's death.

Song titles seemed to jump out at me as I moved from folder to folder on my PC and soon I had about a dozen tracks. I don't suppose Mikie listened to much folk music* but maybe he would have liked the Bad Shepherd's cover of The Clash's "London Calling" and the Dick Gaughan cover of Brian McNeill's "No Gods" might have brought a smile to his face. I recorded the show on Thursday, checked it over on Friday and uploaded it to Acoustic Spectrum that same day.

Then on Saturday morning I awoke to the terrible news from Glasgow that a police helicopter had crashed in to a busy pub the night before. Eight people died and many were injured. So this show goes out to all of them and to Mikie.

CB

* In a message from Dave he tells me that Mikie did like folk music and suggested I check out his other band, The Pink Dogs...


Tonight's playlist...

Drever McCusker Woomble - Into The Blue
The High Bar Gang - All My Tears
Miranda Sykes & Rex Preston - Do Not Surrender
Daimh - Stormy Hill
Rita Hosking - Nothing Left Of Me
Karan Casey - Black Is The Colour
Dick Gaughan - No Gods and Precious Few Heroes
Lisa Richards - Painful Game
Paul Anderson - Farewell to St Kilda
Hayseed Dixie - Back in Black
The Bad Shepherds - London Calling
The High Bar Gang - Mother's Only Sleeping
Nancy Kerr & James Fagin - Sweet Peace
Duncan Wood - Close of the Day \ Nancy Gwendoline

The featured album is 'Lost and Undone: A Gospel Bluegrass Companion' by The High Bar Gang released 2nd December.

The Folk & Acoustic Music Show
Mondays at 9pm / Tuesdays at 2am
Listen online at acoustic-spectrum.co.uk
Listen again at mixcloud.com/cmbertram