Self-released

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This is a rather wonderful, and wholly heartfelt recording for lovers of traditional Appalachian music. One of the most beautifully made albums of 2026. Is it folk? Is it country? Is it bluegrass? Is it Americana? Is it brilliant? Yes to everything. And well worth going back to again and again and again.  HOME-BREWED is an apt title, as it was recorded in a home studio in the middle of a particularly harsh winter in West Virginia. An award-winning songwriter and fiddler, Kate’s deceptively sophisticated production prefers subtlety over grandstanding. The result is a sound spawned from the combined talent of Mind The Gap’s individual members—Paul Hammerton (vocals; guitar), John Bryant (bass), and multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Matthew Metz—each an accomplished musician in their own right. You can hear all aspects of Kate’s musical background, delivered in her rich folksy voice. The album is full of old-time-flavoured songs, mainly Kate’s creations, that you might expect to hear on a rural porch. Though the record comes in a little light at only eight tracks, with one foot firmly planted in Appalachia imagery and the other traversing folk traditions, bluegrass, early country music and even Celtic influences, Kate and the band pack in lots of varied melodies and sounds that are never predictable and always creative.

There’s just one cover song, Utah Phillips’ The Green Rolling Hills of West Virginia. Previously recorded by Emmylou Harris, Mary Black, Hazel Dickens, Alice Gerrard and many others, it tells a familiar story of the migration of Appalachian people to northern cities, where they could find work as employment dried up in the coal towns of Kentucky, Tennessee, and West Virginia during and after the Great Depression. This straightforward, timeless song about the lonesome feelings one can have being away from home and family, is sung with great sincerity and pathos by Paul Hammerton. With simple but effective acoustic accompaniment, Kate’s voice is synched in harmony to give the full effect of the yearning and desire embossed in the bitter-sweet lonesome melody. Without sounding in the least affected or dated, Good Old Virginia has the feeling of first-generation, post-World War II country music. Demonstrating a unique modern mastery of the pre-honky-tonk country music sound, this is sparse, all acoustic, but really smooth and quite lovely

Kate’s ability to share evocative imagery is all the more striking in Never Looked So Good To Me Before. Her lyrics are imaginative, yet remarkably in an entirely American idiom and vernacular—no Gaelic transposed to fit the hills and hollers. A simple love song, her vocal suggests that she’s singing to birds and butterflies fluttering around her in a Spring meadow. Special guests Meya Collings and guitarist Dylan Schorer add extra colour and vocal depth to Sometimes A Sound. This is another lovely melody, coming across like an old English folk tune courtesy of a finely picked guitar, plucks of fiddle and mandolin and delicate harmonies in this portrait of the uncertainty of where exactly relationships are headed. The inspired picking relayed in tandem with Kate’s emotive and expressive vocals, allow each song to make an indelible impression, and even the three instrumentals manage to convey that expressed emotion. With The Moon and Mount Rainier both Kate and her bandmates have a way of playing off one another that can make their cinematic/romantic/Celtic audio playing curiously transcendent. Cross-Eyed Fiddler/Denver Belle is more a showcase for Kate’s intricate fiddle work, reflecting her obvious verve and versatility. Yet there’s no doubting the quartet’s prowess. The jaunty instrumental, The Old Charles Town Pike, makes that evident from the outset, showcasing each member’s individual talents amid its harmonic twists and turns.

Kate MacLeod’s Mind the Gap dons the vibrant tapestry of music and art sewn by the intersection of the many diverse cultures of the United States’ Appalachia region. The result is a fine album of quality string band performances that survey a larger palette than some might expect. That’s what distinguishes them and makes return listens somehow seem obligatory.

https://www.katemacleod.com/mind-the-gap 

August 2026