John Benjamins 2019

John Hartford - Backroads, Rivers & Memories-The Rare & Unreleased - If all John Hartford had done was to write "Gentle on My Mind", his legend would be sealed as a songwriting giant. But his talent as a singer and instrumentalist catapulted him to fame not only as the banjo-playing sidekick on the Glen Campbell Good Time Hour TV show of the late sixties, but also as an in-demand studio sideman (the Byrds' fabled Sweetheart of the Rodeo, James Taylor's Mud Slide Slim, and countless others). In the midst of this, he formed the band that made Aereo Plain, the 1971 record that defined newgrass before the progressive new style had a name. Or any other practitioners.

Elton John is the second studio album by English singer-songwriter Elton John, released on 10 April 1970 by DJM Records. It was released by Uni Records as John's debut album in the United States; many people there assumed it was his first album, as Empty Sky was not released in that country until 1975. Elton John includes his breakthrough single "Your Song", and helped to establish his career during what was considered the "singer-songwriter" era of popular music. In the US, it was certified gold in February 1971. In the same year, it was nominated for the Grammy Award for Album of the Year. In 2003, the album was ranked number 468 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. On 27 November 2012, it was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame as an album cited as exhibiting "qualitative or historical significance".

Elton John opens up about his childhood, stardom and battles with addiction in an exclusive interview with Graham Norton.

Duncan Honeybourne performs the complete piano music of John Joubert, the eminent composer who sadly passed away in January 2019. Joubert had written to the pianist Duncan Honeybourne to congratulate him on this new, comprehensive recording only days before his passing. The album therefore serves as a fitting tribute to his musical life.

Released to coincide with the 50th anniversary of his songwriting partnership with Bernie Taupin, the 3CD limited edition box set version of ‘Diamonds’ is the ultimate greatest hits collection from Elton John. Kicking off with the still-stunning ‘Your Song’, the first 2 CDs bring together all the landmark hits including ‘Tiny Dancer’, ‘Rocket Man’, ‘Candle In The Wind’, ‘Don’t Go Breaking My Heart’, ‘Sacrifice’, ‘Can You Feel The Love Tonight?’ and many more. Making an appearance for the first time on an Elton hits collection it also features Elton’s duet with George Michael on the classic ‘Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me’. Meanwhile, the 3rd disc, unavailable elsewhere, includes 16 bonus tracks of personal favourites compiled by Elton himself. Housed in an attractive lidded box, this version of ‘Diamonds’ also contains a 72-page hardback book containing annotations for the stories behind each track plus a set of five postcards of illustrations of iconic Elton looks by contemporary artist Richard Kilroy.

A gorgeous new recording from the PaTRAM Institute! They are rising choral stars whose debut album (Chesnokov: Teach Me Thy Statutes (FR-727SACD) recently garnered a Grammy® nomination for Best Choral Performance. The music performed on this new recording of Russian Orthodox choral music in the English language was written by Dr. Kurt Sander. Conductor Peter Jermihov writes: 'The Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom by Kurt Sander is unique in several respects. Within the body of repertoire contained in the Russian-based jurisdictions of North America (Moscow Patriarchate, Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, and the Orthodox Church in America), it is the first and only complete setting of the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom in English.

Brilliant performances by THE DALLAS WINDS have been captured in superb audiophile sound by Reference Recordings’ award-winning engineering team: Keith O. Johnson and Sean Martin. ASPHALT COCKTAIL was crowd-funded by fans of Mackey and of the Dallas Winds. Their support made this unique, all-John- Mackey release possible. The recording was made in Dallas Texas, in the Morton H. Meyerson Concert Center, one of the world’s greatest concert halls.

“He was an outsider, a purveyor of truth”, Sarah Jane Morris has said of John Martyn, whose rackety life came to a tragically premature conclusion in 2009, when he was just 60. He was a key figure on the British folk scene, and his distinctive fusion of folk and blues quickly led him into the realms of jazz. A brilliant finger-picking guitarist in a style often referred to as folk baroque, Martyn was also an early experimenter with the fuzzbox and other gizmos, and while his own hero was Davey Graham, Martyn’s admirers came from across the musical spectrum and included Mike Harding and David Gilmour.