Mr Saucecraft has spent the last week compiling an excellent Afterword-Friendly elpee which maps out the artists that we are all largely in agreement on. Hats off to him for all his efforts!

But now, perverse bastard that I am, I want to hear about the opposite: those artists who you hold very dear but have a diminutive following here.

When we have the poll of the year, I enjoy rummaging through those artists who have only had one or two enthusiastic mentions. DuCool’s’s annual list is invariably a cracker. Magnificently obscure!

I am also very keen to read when one of our contributors returns full of enthusiasm from Celtic Connections, Coachella, Ronny Scott’s Club, Jazzclub Fasching, a bar on the beach in Bahia, the Festival Interceltique in Lorent, Britanny, an Early Music Festival in Paris, a tiny folk club in the Faroe Islands, Cropreddy, the Mardi Gras celebrations in New Orleans etc etc. There is always news of some wonderful artists who are not on the Afterword radar.

I’m not asking for obscurity for the sake of it. But I won’t turn my back on niche artists either!

Just to get us started, here are a few of my » Continue Reading.