Ward Knútur Townes: Unanswered review – a captivating English-Canadian-Icelandic union

Born out of lockdown, the affinity between singer-songwriters Lucy Ward, Adyn Townes and Svavar Knútur bears fruit on an album of alluring melancholy

Sally Anne Morgan: Carrying review – resonant songs about nature and motherhood

The North Carolinian’s poetic lyrics, blissful vocals and thrumming banjo and fiddle combine on an album full of warmth and feeling

The Gentle Good: Galargan review – mesmerising Welsh folk songs for summer’s end

Gareth Bonello’s latest album sees him excavating his homeland’s folk classics, interpreting each with drowsy, melancholic voice, guitar, cello and piano

Boygenius review – Phoebe Bridgers, Julien Baker and Lucy Dacus meet hysteria with humour

The US supergroup have legions of fans swooning – literally – as they crown a summer of female cultural-dominance with an epic outdoor show

Lankum review – eerie, overwhelming radical Irish folk already feels centuries old

The Mercury-nominated four-piece play every song as if they’re fighting with it, gasping for air before verses

Playing for the Man at the Door review – vital snapshot of mid-century African American music

Subtitled Field Recordings from the Collection of Mack McCormick 1958-1971, this 66-song set is full of gripping storytelling and arresting instrumentals from the American south

Julie Byrne review – elegiac ache and nuanced feelings

Two years on from the death of her friend and musical collaborator Eric Littmann, Byrne tours the album they were working on together, in a performance of mesmerising beauty

Joni Mitchell: At Newport review – years melt away in surprise folk festival recording

Her poignant return to live performance in 2022 gets a full release, and it’s a hit-filled show displaying Mitchell’s enduring warmth and wisdom

Julie Byrne: The Greater Wings review – a stunning study of love and loss

Recorded both before and after the death of a friend and collaborator, the US singer-songwriter’s new album feels as though it sits outside time and space

Various artists: A Collection of Songs in the Traditional & Sean-Nós Style review – Gaelic sadness and longing

Recorded in pubs, kitchens and community halls, these old Irish songs are a thrilling reminder that the voice needs no technology to move us deeply

Joni Mitchell review – first headline show in two decades is three hours of total joy

Many thought she might never play live again after an aneurysm, but Mitchell is in lively, fun-filled form at this all-star return in rural Washington state

Damir Imamović: The World and All That It Holds review – lightning bolts of emotion

The Bosnian musician combines Slavic sevdah, Sephardic Jewish and original songs to tell the story of two soldiers who fall in love during the first world war

Rufus Wainwright: Folkocracy review – an illustrious feelgood duet party

The songwriting polymath (and some surprising guests) goes back to his roots on this mellifluous set of folk classics

Jon Wilks: Before I Knew What Had Begun I Had Already Lost review – tender and thoughtful

The hard-working West Midlands folk devotee finds inspiration from beyond Birmingham on a lively, inventive fourth LP

Bongeziwe Mabandla: amaXesha review – South African singer in his own lane

The singer-songwriter elevates his reimagining of Xhosa folk music with synth-pop hooks and his melismatic voice