Hold your breath, there’s a new Folk Award on the horizon and it could be seen as a successor to the much missed BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards.
Earlier this year, Sound Roots – the splendid north west organsiation responisble for such wonders as Manchester Folk, English Folk Expo, The Official Folk Album Chart and so much more – launched the Folk Album Of The Year Award to celebrate the most artistically acclaimed folk, roots and acoustic albums in Britain and Ireland. They are now delighted to announce the outstanding nominees for 2025:
- All Smiles Tonight– Poor Creature
- Auchies Spikkin’ Auchie– Grace Stewart Skinner
- Curlew’s Cry– Barry Kerr
- Shimli– Cynefin
- Teeth of Time– Joshua Burnside
- Teleology– Peggy Seeger
- Tomorrow Held– Spafford Campbell
- Turnstone– Gigspanner Big Band
- Varipasi– Edith WeUtonga
“We’re thrilled to announce the nine albums selected by our brilliant jury. The standard of entries was incredible, reflecting a thriving moment for folk music across Britain and Ireland. Congratulations to the artists on their nominated records, which span diverse styles and regions but are all treasures to explore and cherish. We cannot wait to celebrate a fantastic year of folk releases at Rochdale Town Hall this March.” – David Agnew, Chief Executive and Artistic Director of Sound Roots.
The overall winner will be unveiled at an inaugural ceremony featuring live performances from nominated artists. The event will take place at Rochdale Town Hall on Tuesday 17 March 2026 and will be available to live stream. And of course Spiral Earth will bring you the news and all the hubbub as soon as we can. Meanwhile now we’ve whetted your appetite discover more about the nominated albums, the jury and the other fantastic album submissions at www.soundroots.uk
