Americana in The UK: Jason McNiff leads the Way, Friday, August 14, 2020

"Americana" is alive and well thanks to Jason McNiff, who hails from the coast of Southern England. Jason also introduced us to Sarah Gillispie, and we ended the interview playing one of her songs.

British troubadour Jason McNiff has made five albums which people call folk, or Americana, or alt country. There is an Englishness in his guitar playing, however, and you might think of Bert Jansch or Wizz Jones meeting John Prine & Townes Van Zandt. “McNiff’s quiet, intimate, fragile-sounding vocals draw you into his world," wrote Time Out in London, "an almost timeless place through which he drifts, a romantic loner, a dreamer, at home with the blues.” He is often touted as one of the UK’s most overlooked musical treasures, as a songwriter and fingerpicker.

His album April Cruel (Fledg’ling) was nominated for best album in the alt country category at the Independent Music Awards in 2011. A double CD anthology, Rain Dries Your Eyes, was issued in 2017. A new record made during lockdown will be coming soon.

• One of the UK’s best-kept secrets – Mojo ****
• A triumph of English-Americana – Time Out ****
• The nearest thing out there to Bob Dylan and the Band – Sean Rowley, BBC Radio London
• A troubadour and one of the best singer/songwriters we have in this country – Morning Star *****

From Pieter: If you enjoyed this program, please hit the like button on the Listening Lyrics Facebook page. If you're interested in appearing on the show, hit me up at promotions@kdrt.org. This episode was recorded in my home studio, using a MacBook Air, Bose QuietComfort 15 headphones, Airpods Pro, Yedi BLUE microphone, Zoom (for the interview), Garageband, and iMovie (to process the MP4 Zoom file to an audio MP3 file).