- Tickets available now at the shop, or by calling the shop on 01483 566007 (£12 each) –

Sam, whose last couple of albums were on the Bedroom Community label has recently signed to Nonesuch Records, possibly the hottest record label in the world, the home to the Black Keys, Wilco, Iron & Wine, etc. Recognition that, in contemporary folk/Americana, Sam is one of the most talented up and coming artists around.

For me, I’d have to say he’s probably my favourite artist of the last five years, his best selling albums All Is Well and I See The Sign not only have some of the most beautiful and touching tunes and words you’ll find anywhere, but also have the most inventive mix of folk and jazz you won’t find short of John Martyn at his very best.

His new record Bright Sunny South is released on 13th May and aside from his album launch show in London we have the only gig he will be doing as he travels across Europe, the US and all points across the world promoting the album.

Not to do things by half, following the success of the recent Anais Mitchell & Jefferson Hamer show, we’ve a series of intimate acoustic gigs coming up next across April, which we are putting on upstairs at The Keep (pub, not the castle) in Castle Street. Each of the shows are solo / acoustic by some really fine artists. The venue is quite small so space is limited – if you fancy coming to one or more please let me know sooner to avoid disappointment! Start time for each is 8pm, so plenty of time to enjoy the show and be back home in time for Newsnight! Tickets are available by dropping into the shop (or by calling 01483 566007) and are priced at £5.

Hope you can make one or more of these, I think each of the artists are going places so catch them on the way up!

Tiny Ruins – Tuesday 9th April
Tiny Ruins aka Hollie Fullbrook was born in Bristol but grew up in New Zealand. She began her career making music for theatre productions but got her first break supporting Alistair Roberts quite by chance. She has subsequently toured with Fleet Foxes, Beach House and others. Her most recent album Some Were Meant For Sea is a wonderful record of intimate and personal reflections. It was nominated for the New Zealand version of the Mercury Prize. About a year ago someone came to the shop and said they’d seen her live and was really worth checking out, something really special. Well, this will be the first chance I’ll have to see her live, but have been enjoying the record for many months now.

This Is The Kit – Wednesday 10th April

Kate Stables, aka This is the Kit, has made 2 exceptional albums of what I guess you could call alternate or contemporary English folk. She plays guitar and banjo and has a lovely pure voice. She supported Anais Mitchell and Jefferson Hamer at Holy Trinity in February and many people were knocked out by her performance so we just had to get her back. I really urge you to check out her records because if you don’t know her work you will surely love it and want to catch her live.

Rachel Ries – Monday 15th April

You may have seen Rachel before in Guildford as she was the keyboard player and co-singer in Anais Mitchell’s Young Man Band when they came to St Mary’s in May 2012. Who could forget the stunning a capela she and Anais performed in their set – possibly the highlight of all the shows we have put on. She’s made some records with Anais too and is an old friend. But she also had her own solo career and is working on her new record which will be out later this year. This will be a chance to have a first listen to some of these songs. Here’s a nice clip of her talking about her music (with some playing in the background to give you an idea).

Rachael Dadd – Monday 22nd April

Rachael hails from Bristol and has been on the folk scene for about 10 years or so. She has supported Laura Marling on tour and collaborated with Kate from This is the Kit. Her most recent album Bite the Mountain is a lovely record, reminiscent in places of Sufjan Stevens or even Donovan, with a real beauty and whimsy.

We Hope there’s at least something there that takes your fancy!

(With many thanks to Steve Rodgers for the poster design – you can find him at www.sjrodgers.com)

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A lovely way to start this years series of concerts in Guildford at St. Mary’s Church. Anais, who played here on her last tour, is back promoting her new album with Jefferson Hamer entitled Child Ballads. The concert last May sold out so this is sure to be another full house.

Anais is very much the rising star of what is loosely called the alt. folk/country movement. Her album Hadestown in 2009 was a must-have, earning plaudits far and wide. An incredibly charming presence live, she emits wonderful warm vibes and we are so lucky to have her coming back here so soon.

The new album Child Ballads is released on 11 February and will available here, of course!

Tickets available £12 from the shop, or you can call 01483 566007.

I only know what I know about Bill Fay from a few recent magazine articles, having never heard of him previously though he began making records some 40 years ago. The story with this record as I understand it, is that after some years of little success he packed up the music “industry” kept writing songs and keeping a low profile. He found a fan by accident in Jay Farrar of Wilco who took to playing a song of his as part of their live set. When in London they invited BF along to hear their cover, and got along very well. They then persuaded him, after several attempts, to get back into the studio and with a bunch of great musicians and signed to hip label in Dead Oceans, the record was born.

As for the record itself, I find it very moving. As is my usual way, I make no attempt to analyse the lyrics but just get caught in the mood. There are clearly Christian themes, you get that message from the song titles, but the combination of Bill’s fractured voice and the seductive combination of instruments, guitar, piano, strings. All in all you’d have to say the record is quite mainstream with nothing to frighten the children. But it does for me have a great emotional pull with I’m enjoying greatly.

Have a listen if you get the chance it may do the same for you.

Anyway – it’s happening and it should be a hell of an evening!

Tickets available here as usual £10 – no booking fee, no extras.

St Mary’s church in Quarry Street. Surely this is becoming one of the great venues in the South East of England now?

It seems that if an album is on vinyl then that helps its figures – or maybe artist that are minded to put out an album on vinyl are the sorts that do here anyway – who knows!

I’ve excluded albums that were released last year but are selling well. If I hadn’t then the Black Keys El Camino would be right up there too.

Here they are:

1. Jack White – Blunderbuss
2. Bruce Springsteen – Wrecking Ball
3. Anais Mitchell – Young Man In America
4. Mark Lanegan – Funeral Blues
5. Alabama Shakes – Boys & Girls
6. Lana Del Rey – Born To Die
7. Richard Hawley – Standing on the Sky’s Edge
8. Dr John – Locked Down
9. Leonard Cohen – Old Ideas
10. Maccabees – Given To The Wild

I don’t know if this offers any surprises. Must say it’s a pretty impressive list of records – and I’d recommend you check out any you haven’t already.

We’ve placed all our stock orders, and stuff is arriving daily. I’ll try to post news on our twitter account, so if you want to follow, try @recordshopbloke.

The rules are the same as last year.

+ Nothing can be reserved in advance. Though I’m happy to tell what we’ve ordered and what we’ve got on quantity.

+ The shop will be open at 9am. We will try to ticket the queue so you won’t lose your space if you have to nip off to the loo or grab a tea.

+ There will be a limit of 3 items per person in the morning. This is simply to try to make it fair as possible to as many people as possible.

Hopefully that is it. You can call or email me if you have a specific query.

HOPE TO SEE YOU ON THE DAY AND PLEASE COME ALONG AND GRAB SOME GREAT STUFF!

This should be an amazing gig, while she is touring in support of her new album ‘Young Man In America (CD of the week last week in the Sunday Times). No doubt she will be playing some tunes from her Hadestown album and who knows, maybe a few older and new songs too!

This should be an fantastic evening, and with the larger church venue one of the highlights of the musical year in Guildford.

Tickets will be £12, available from the People Records shop in Chapel Street.