Inaugural Folk Album Of The Year Award Shortlist Revealed

28 November 2025 - Press release

 

• 146 album submissions received 
• Nine albums selected by jury of performers, music and media professionals
• Winner revealed and nominees to perform at live finale hosted in Rochdale, Greater Manchester on 17 March 2026

 

The Folk Album of the Year Award has revealed its first-ever shortlist: nine outstanding albums released in Britain and Ireland in 2025. 

The artists behind each project range in age, geography, background and style — a vital snapshot of folk’s eclectic community, where traditional storytelling, contemporary composition and cross-genre experimentation sit side by side. While the Award originally intended to nominate eight albums, the shortlist has been extended to nine in response to the remarkable depth in quality of the submissions.

The shortlist includes All Smiles Tonight from Dublin’s Poor Creature, which exists in a world shared with Lankum and Landless. Released on Rough Trade’s pioneering folk imprint, River Lea, the three-piece's debut blends spectral textures and subtle electronics, continuing to tread new paths for Irish trad music. 

At 90 years old, folk legend Peggy Seeger’s philosophical, spirited and characteristically bold album Teleology also makes the shortlist. She remains a monumental folk icon on both sides of the Atlantic, with countless international awards to her name. Touted to be her final solo album, it’s not only a fitting tribute to an illustrious seven-decade career but also an exceptional record in its own right.

On the other end of the age spectrum, 25-year-old Highland clàrsach player Grace Stewart-Skinner offers an extraordinary debut in Auchies Spikkin' Auchie. By weaving fisher-folk conversations from her home village of Avoch with new compositions, the album forms an intimate ethnomusicological portrait of place, language and community. 

Barry Kerr’s seventh album, Curlew’s Cry, gets a nod for its powerful blend of original and traditional material, grounded in Irish folklore, memory, and the natural world. A multi-instrumentalist and award-winning composer, Kerr continues to broaden the expressive possibilities of Irish trad music. 

East Belfast’s Joshua Burnside delves into themes of family, trauma and existence on Teeth of Time, nominated for its boundary-pushing folk sound that fuses electronica with found-sound collage. 

Cynefin, the pseudonym of Welsh musician Owen Shiers, is recognised for breathing new life into farmer traditions of Ceredigion on his second album, Shimli. Named after the post-harvest gatherings of rural Wales, the music draws from deeply researched Welsh language songs, poems and stories that have hummed through the valleys for centuries.  

Violinist Owen Spafford and guitarist Louis Campbell are nominated for Tomorrow Held, the London instrumental duo’s debut album as Spafford Campbell. Released on Peter Gabriel’s Real World Records, the album brings a new generational take to English folk music that combines jazz, chamber and folk influences with remarkable fluency. 

Bringing together some of the most respected musicians in the British folk-roots scene, six-piece ensemble Gigspanner Big Band gets a nod for their accomplished third album, Turnstone. An inventive and richly textured record which blends a deep knowledge of roots traditions with technical brilliance and fearless reinterpretation.

Finally, Zimbabwean-born and UK-based vocalist, bassist and composer, Edith WeUtonga is shortlisted for her forthcoming album Varipasi, which is out on 9th December. A major figure in Southern African music, her blend of Afro-jazz and traditional Zimbabwean roots enriches the shortlist with a bold and dynamic international perspective.

The album submission process received 146 entries. The shortlist was selected by a jury of distinguished performers, music and media professionals (full list below), chaired by English folk singer-songwriter and Executive Producer of BBC Radio 2’s ‘The Folk Show’, Kellie While. The Award has been created by music charity Sound Roots and the award-winning podcast Folk on Foot, hosted by broadcaster Matthew Bannister. 

Each nominated album will be showcased in a nine-part Folk on Foot series, published daily from 3rd–11th December 2025.

David Agnew, Chief Executive and Artistic Director of Sound Roots, said: "In our inaugural year, we’ve been bowled over by the incredible breadth of submissions from across Britain and Ireland. As we look ahead, we're already planning how to celebrate even more exceptional folk releases. For now, we're excited to present these outstanding works to the world and to gather in Rochdale Town Hall this March to celebrate the vibrant folk community."

Matthew Bannister, founder and host of Folk on Foot, commented: “This amazing shortlist of albums by incredible musicians from such a wide range of backgrounds and ages shows just how vibrant the contemporary folk scene in Britain and Ireland is. It’s impossible not to be hugely excited, inspired and uplifted by this constellation of talent.”

Kellie While, Chair of the Sound Roots Board and Jury Chair, added: “We are so grateful to our jury who have worked tirelessly and with passion over the last two weeks. It was an incredibly difficult job as there were a huge number of albums considered that very much deserve recognition. The nine albums show how vibrant and exciting this year has been for folk music in Britain and Ireland and we cannot wait for new audiences to discover these brilliant releases.”

The eventual Award winner will be unveiled at a ceremony at Rochdale Town Hall on Tuesday 17 March 2026. The live-streamed event will feature performances from nominees who will play to an invited audience of 200 musicians and industry professionals, as well as viewers around the world. Fans can sign up to the Sound Roots newsletter to keep updated on Folk Album Of The Year Award news. Instructions on how to livestream next year’s Award ceremony will be announced soon.

The Folk Album Of The Year Award is supported by Rochdale Development Agency and forms a key part of Rochdale’s 2026 Town of Culture celebrations.

 

 

Folk Album Of The Year Award 2025 shortlist:

All Smiles Tonight – Poor Creature

Teleology – Peggy Seeger

Auchies Spikkin' Auchie – Grace Stewart Skinner

Curlew's Cry – Barry Kerr

Teeth of Time – Joshua Burnside

Shimli – Cynefin

Tomorrow Held – Spafford Campbell

Turnstone -  Gigspanner Big Band

Varipasi – Edith WeUtonga 

 

Folk Album Of The Year Award 2025 jury panel:

Mark Radcliffe (BBC Radio 2) 

Jude Rogers (The Guardian) 

Rob Cowen (Author of The North Road, Common Ground and The Heeding)

Anna Massie (BBC Scotland / Musician) 

Lynette Fay (Broadcaster / Producer) 

Becky Marshall-Potter (FolkEast Festival) 

John McCusker (Musician) 

Jo Frost (Journalist) 

Georgia Ruth (BBC Cymru / Musician) 

Sam Hindley (Thank Goodness It’s Folk) 

Philip King (Other Voices)

Alexandria Carr (Southbank Centre)