Discover 10 contemporary singer-songwriters inspired by American roots music traditions on Putumayo’s new Folk Café collection.

Emily Portman returns with Dominion of Spells, her fourth studio album of original songs and her first solo release in a decade, reclaiming her voice after the shock release of two fake AI-generated albums issued in her name. The album is a powerful reaffirmation of human creativity.

Recorded entirely on acoustic instruments, and predominantly performed by Paul, Seven Psalms showcases Simon’s craft at its finest and most captivating, simply with his voice and guitar. Intended to be listened to as one continuous piece, the 33-minute, seven-movement composition transcends the concept of the “album".

Angelo De Augustine returns with Angel in Plainclothes, his fifth album and most inspired work yet—a deeply felt rendering of his multi-year journey of healing and renewal. The record showcases De Augustine's powerful melodies and poignant lyrics across tracks like the haunting elegy "Empty Shell," the hopeful "Spirit of the Unknown," and standout psychedelic country piece "Mirror Mirror." Themes explore life's fragility, second chances, and picking up the pieces after an undiagnosed illness forced him to re-learn basic abilities: "I'm trying to figure out who I am now," De Augustine says. "I feel like I may have been given a second chance at life, and I'd like to live it."

Murals is a studio album by Sun Kil Moon (the moniker of singer-songwriter Mark Kozelek), released on April 21, 2026. The album consists of four tracks with a total runtime of approximately 37 minutes. It follows a string of prolific releases from Kozelek, including 2025's All the Artists and the collaborative volume Sun Kil Moon and Amoeba, Vol. II.

England's one and only John Smith has been at the pioneering forefront of British folk guitar music for twenty years. He has amassed over 125 million Spotify streams and played his songs all over the world. He cut his teeth opening for the late, great John Martyn, and has since worked with a host of artists including Sarah Jarosz, the Milk Carton Kids, Patty Griffin and Jackson Browne.

Following the release of Eric Chenaux’s last album Say Laura (2022), The Guardian wrote “the Canadian songwriter has one of the all-time great singing voices in popular music, an intensely romantic Chet Baker-ish instrument that seems to float with piercing direction, like a paper aeroplane thrown hard through mist.” With Uncut describing his songcraft “as delicate and lovely as a rare orchid” and Record Collector praising the album’s “sublime alien balladry” such are the accolades that have accrued to Chenaux’s unique and consummately uncompromising solo music for well over a decade now.

This album was a pleasant surprise. When I decided to give up my long tours across Europe, I thought that the album *The Road Well Travelled* would be the last in my discography. However, Günter Pauler from Stockfisch Records had other plans: he reminded me of the two concerts I’d given in Northeim in 2023, and that he’d recorded both evenings – the songs and the stories.

In 1976, Rolling Stone declared David Forman a songwriter on the same level as Bruce Springsteen, Warren Zevon, and Tom Waits, comparing his vocals to Curtis Mayfield and Smokey Robinson. His self-titled debut album for Arista Records, produced by Joel Dorn, was hailed as “an artistic success” before Forman seemingly vanished from the music world.

Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter. Described as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture over his 69-year career. With an estimated 125 million records sold worldwide, he is one of the best-selling musicians. Dylan added increasingly sophisticated lyrical techniques to the folk music of the early 1960s, infusing it "with the intellectualism of classic literature and poetry". His lyrics incorporated political, social, and philosophical influences, defying pop music conventions and appealing to the burgeoning counterculture

Produced with Drew Vandenberg (Toro Y Moi, Faye Webster, S.G. Goodman) and including a co-write with Courtney Marie Andrews, Clyde’s fourth full-length and first release with Concord arrives in a sonic overlap: the rockabilly grit of contemporaries like Sierra Ferrell, The Deslondes, or Nick Shoulders, meets the vulnerable, folk rock volatility of Big Thief or Angel Olsen. It’s a trudge through the swamp and into vast, cleansing waters that finds Clyde at a critical point of personal evolution—equal parts despair, invocation, discovery, and celebration.

Those that follow Chesky Records closely will recognize the voice of Noah Wall from our previous recording, From The Mountaintop. Now back with her own band, Noah Wall lets her voice shine through on this stunning example of classic Folk sensibilities with a modern twist. Down Home Blues mixes traditional Folk songs with new original material showcasing Wall’s songwriting as well as vocals.

The album is full of skillfully crafted pop songs and classics with a jazzy twist. Taylor includes several cover songs along with his own, self-penned, material. His cover of Bill Withers' "Grandma's Hands" takes the original's simple arrangement (just a bluesy electric guitar, bass and drums behind Wither's voice) and recreates the song into a gospel-choir backed a cappella performance.

Centering around the Icarus myth, William Fitzsimmons' seventh album sees him debark on a slightly different sound aesthetic, yet still his distinctive voice holds it all together. For fans of Bon Iver, The National, Sufjan Stevens and Jose' Gonzalez.

Wednesdays is the seventeenth studio album by American singer-songwriter Ryan Adams. Originally slated for release in 2019, it was delayed following abuse allegations against Adams. It was eventually surprise-released on December 11, 2020 through Adams's label PAX AM.