Time To Save The World

This Cheshire-based Americana ensemble probably first came to most people's attention as finalists in 2008's BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Awards, when they were a duo comprising Jay Bradberry on fiddle and lead vocals with Mike Giverin on mandolin. Shortly afterwards they expanded to a trio with the addition of Lucille Williams on double bass, a line-up that has since released three increasingly confident albums.

Kicking off with Bradberry's sprightly instrumental ‘Homage To The Fromage’ and drawing to a close with a Johnny Cash cover, ‘Big River’, apparently recorded ‘live around a single microphone (and a bottle of wine)’, their accomplished fourth album is otherwise penned entirely by Giverin. Unlike 2015's Weave, a collection of songs inspired by the industrial heritage of his native Lancashire, the lyrical subjects touch on the personal toll of life on the road – ‘(Please) Rescue Me’ laments almost getting stuck up a mountain in Colorado – but also the parlous state of the planet on ‘This Time’/‘End of The World Waltz’. Timely contributions from Stu Williams on banjo and Scott Poley on pedal steel contribute to the sound of a band convincingly hitting their stride.