Brown Wimpenny: Long Live Brown Wimpenny review – Manchester folk collective get bawdy and shambolic
Named after a 19th-century relative, this sprawling group foreground folk’s rough edges, but are best in the emotional, less showy moments
Marisa Anderson: The Anthology of UnAmerican Folk Music review – Harry Smith’s archives light up again
The US guitarist excavates the outer reaches of the famed collector’s work, pointedly – and beautifully – reinterpreting songs from nations touched by major US conflicts
Various artists: Asili ya Mama review – Tanzanian field recordings tell women’s stories with an energetic trill
These stories of family bonds capture traditional music that’s equal parts rhythmic, melodic and harmonic, and rarely heard outside Indigenous communities
Huw Marc Bennett: Heol Las review – exhilarating Welsh folk injected with synths, sitars and surf rock
The multi-instrumentalist puts his magical spin on traditional Glamorgan tunes, fusing the past, present and future in a momentous third album
Hedera: Hedera review – Cornwall, Georgia and Bali combine on joyful debut
The Bristol-based folk ensemble travel widely on their first album, exploring global influences with sparkling, springlike warmth
Hen Ogledd: Discombobulated review – a manifesto for collective action from Richard Dawson’s folk-rockers
Featuring taunts in Welsh, ‘bard rap’ and spirited jigs, the British quartet’s ragged, rich music underpins their vision for change
Rhiannon Giddens and Francesco Turrisi review – big, generous, provocative music-making on a small stage
Grammy-winning Giddens fused folk, opera, jazz, pop and classical elements in a recital ‘honouring composers who don’t often get called composers’
Earth and Other Planets review – reimagined Holst with harmonica and a hoedown
Left-field duo Stevens & Pound threaded funky folk stylings with poetry by Robert Macfarlane and virtuoso playing by Britten Sinfonia to create The Silent Planet, a rethinking of Holst’s Planets Suite, with the addition of the newly composed Earth
Tessa Rose Jackson: The Lighthouse review – grief, grace and memory in a luminous folk rebirth
Moving from dream pop to acoustic clarity, the Dutch-British songwriter delivers her most personal record yet where loss is transformed into something quietly powerful
Robert Plant’s Saving Grace review – self-effacing superstar still sounds astonishing
Playing a mix of traditional folk and radically rearranged acoustic Led Zeppelin classics, the former Zep frontman is in fine voice – but also happy to step out of the spotlight
Laura Cannell: Brightly Shone the Moon review – bleakness and beauty in a haunting carol collection
The violinist sets out on her darkest exploration of yuletide yet, giving a murky and melancholy twist on familiar Christmas standards
Sara Ajnnak and the Ciderhouse Rebellion: Landscapes of the Spirit, Parts 1-4 review – elemental power, eerie beauty
The Ume Sámi vocalist and British folk duo complete their four-part cycle with a dark, dazzling finale that blends ancient song with fearless improvisation
Paul Kelly: Seventy review – reflections on ageing from a musician bigger than ever
After five decades, the songs are still memorable, warm and a little sex-mad. It’s classic Kelly – and Joe’s back, too
Širom: In the Wind of Night, Hard-Fallen Incantations Whisper review – a cacophonous folk kaleidoscope
The Slovenian trio conjure strange beauty from a vast arsenal of global instruments on an album that hums, drones and dances with intense power
Hannah Frances: Nested in Tangles review – ramshackle arrangements power restless revelations
Wayward tempos and snapping drums break fresh ground in this unruly release from the Vermont musician