Today, in partnership with the Official Charts Company we reveal the Top 40 best-selling and most streamed folk albums released in the NOVEMBER period, 23 October – 19 November 2020.
13 new releases have entered the chart with 12 being brand new recordings.
See the chart here.
Straight in at No. 1, is Off Off On from Kate Stables’ This Is The Kit. Recorded just before the pandemic hit, the album is a beautifully clear distillation of Stables’ immense song-writing talent. Meticulously crafted with strong melodies and with words, lyrical but always lucid, that eerily chime with a world tilted on its axis. Richly illuminating and acutely sensitive to the pulses and currents of life, Off Off On shows This Is The Kit overflowing with ideas.
Martin Simpson’s new album of songs recorded at home during this year’s first lockdown enters the chart at No. 5. Home Recordings finds Simpson, one of the world’s finest acoustic, fingerstyle and slide guitar players, recording sublime takes on songs by Bob Dylan, John Prine, Lyle Lovett and Robin Williamson amongst his beloved guitar and banjo collection and on his Peak District-facing porch.
Entering the chart at No.9 is English Folktronica band Tunng’s extraordinary new project that journeys through life, death and grief. Tunng Presents…. Dead Club is a contemplative album that explores the great taboos of end of life from angles both familiar and unexpected. The album features voices from Max Porter (author of Grief Is The Thing With Feathers), Tinariwen’s Ibrahim Ag Alhabib and Derren Brown (amongst others), all of whom appear on the accompanying podcast series. Focused around the piano with the addition of sweeping strings , tender songs, wry observations and unexpected humour balance an otherwise sombre, yet powerful recording.
We are also excited to present Tunng’s live show in Manchester at The Stoller Hall on Sunday 19th September 2021. Tickets cost £19.50 plus booking fee and are available here.
Also in the chart, fiddle-singers and multi-instrumentalists, The Rheingans Sisters cement their reputation as true innovators with their album, Receiver, in at No. 30. Recorded in Wales and rich with European and Scandinavian musical traditions, the album’s theme is about waiting and listening to the world; of accepting things beyond our control. Songs mirror the gorgeously illustrated album artwork, born of a patient and deliberate listening to the world.
Don’t miss tonight’s OFFICIAL FOLK ALBUMS CHART SHOW presented by the award-winning podcast Folk on Foot. Tonight’s show features recorded tracks by Martin Simpson, Gwenifer Raymond and The Rheingans Sisters. Host Matthew Bannister countdowns the entire top 40 and introduces a chat between Frank Turner and Jon Snodgrass, music videos from Sam Brookes, Tuung, Stef Conner and This Is The Kit alongside a live track from Show of Hands.
You can watch below from 7pm.
