I spent a lot of 2014/2015 working on an album for Sera. She's a folk/country/americana artist, and came to me with a bunch of songs written on piano or guitar, plus vocals/lyrics, and we worked together to make an album. She's a really brilliant songwriter.

The album's called 'Little Girl' and was released on Folkstock Records - it's had play on BBC Radio London, BBC Wales & Cymru, Absolute Radio, and I'm sure a bunch more that I'm not aware of.

It was a LOT of work - as well as recording/mixing/mastering the album, I played guitar, synth/keys, bass, drums, percussion and even did some backing vocals (!), so it was quite a labour of love. We wrote the final track 'Through The Night' together, and I'm really proud of the whole album.

It also features songwriting collaborations with Sion Russell Jones and Gordon Mills Jr (The Bluetones, Ed Sheeran, Lissie, Newton Faulkner and Lillian Todd-Jones), as well as violin by Jenn Williams and cello by Sion Lewis.

Sera/Folkstock also released an EP called 'Rocks' which features a subset of the rockier songs from the album.

Thankfully, both the album and the EP have had some great reviews - I generally am not a huge fan of posting quotes as it makes me feel a bit queezy, so I'll leave you to check out the Huffington Post or Americana UK if you really feel like it. Still, here's one last one from From the Margins, just to flatter one's ego a little (hey, if I don't no one will etc?):

Her last EP, Straeon, saw a first musical collaboration with the producer of this album, Eddie Al-Shakarchi, who contributed by playing on Mond am Eiliad and Agor dy Galon. If anything has changed to make this new album something a whole stratospheric level above what, however excellent, she has recorded before, it must be this new working relationship. Al-Shakarchi is also a multi-instrumentalist - and his contribution of often spare but dynamic percussion is particularly important here in breathing life into the music.

Isn't that nice? You can stream Rocks below, and if you like it, please check out the whole album on BandCamp or iTunes / Apple Music. Thank you and have a lovely day.

These guys are friends. Zervas & Pepper have a beautiful Californian, folk/country sound. To get it out of the way, yes, she (Kathryn Pepper) looks like a young Joni Mitchell and he (Paul Zervas) looks like a young James Taylor (read: with hair).

I'd seen them around for a while but met them properly when they were also nominated for a Welsh Music Prize back in 2013. If were being lazy, I could say they sound like The Eagles, Joni Mitchell, Crosby, Stills & Nash, Fleetwood Mac, and... yes, James Taylor. If... I were being lazy. Lots of beautiful harmonies and great musicianship.

I haven't worked with them, so this isn't some kind of advert; I might be wrong, but I believe they've worked with Ed Lewis (producer/engineer/studio owner from Giant Wafer Studios in mid-Wales), as well as Llion Robertson and Cotton Wolf. From the results, they clearly have some great partnerships.

To be honest, I'm confused as to why they aren't much bigger than they are. Sure, they've been played on Radio 2 (Mark Radcliffe), Radio 6Music (Lauren Lavern loves them) and are always writing, recording or touring (supporting Deacon Blue etc). Nevertheless, I think they deserve even more love and success.

Anyway, don't take my word for it, check out the music below. I hope you like it*.

You can grab their latest album 'Abstract Heart' on iTunes or buy the CD/vinyl from their store: http://zervaspepper.bigcartel.com/

You can follow them on the social media, too:

* Hoping aside, I don't think I've ever actually told them I like their music. Because, I mean, that might make them feel good, and artists don't need that kind of aggravation in their lives.

http://zervasandpepper.com/