Having dropped in an extra post for St George’s Day I was in two minds about whether to go for another midweek one, but was prompted to do so by some tunes that have appeared in my YouTube recommendations in the past few days. I’m playing you six of them, four of which are by artists I have previously featured and two that are completely new for me. They are a bit of a mixed bunch, and two of my usual suspects are among them.

Let’s start with one of the new ones:

That was, as the video said, Sam Fender performing his song Arm’s Length at the recent Coachella Festival. I’ve heard his name, of course, but hadn’t really paid much attention to him until now. On the evidence of this I’ll be watching more in future: I now have all of his records in my Apple Music library, and they are very good. Sam is an English singer-songwriter from North Shields, way up in the far north east of the country: he now has three albums in his catalogue, all of which went to #1 in the UK. Arm’s Length is from the most recent, People Watching, which was released in February of this year. It has also been a single, released in January, making #14 here. The first two albums went Platinum in the UK and the new one is already Gold: given time, I think it will catch the others up. He hasn’t yet enjoyed any chart success in the US, which presumably explains why he was performing on one of the smaller Coachella stages, to a sparse audience. Judging by the reaction, though, he was well received so I’m hoping they’ll have him back on the main stage next time and sales may pick up there.

One of the most welcome tunes that I’ve seen recently was from one of my favourites. I’m on her email list, so I knew this had been released and went to seek it out. It didn’t take long – it was top of my recommendations! This is the first track from a new album coming soon from the wonderful Mary Chapin Carpenter:

Bitter Ender will be on that new album, Personal History, which is due out on 6 June: coincidentally D-Day and my older granddaughter’s birthday. An audio-only clip was released for this on Tuesday, but was then replaced by this lyric video on Wednesday. Regular readers will  know that I am a huge fan of MCC and have enjoyed seeing her in concert. This new song sounds great and is a really good start for the new album. I can’t wait!

To ring the changes a little I’m now going to something from a band I didn’t previously know. YouTube’s algorithms can chalk up another successful recommendation:

That was Watchhouse with a ‘live in studio’ performance of Rituals, the title track from their upcoming album. They are husband and wife duo Andrew Marlin and Emily Frantz, who – as here – play with their band of Josh Oliver, Clint Mullican, and Kyle Keegan, though I have seen videos with a fourth additional band member too. They formed back in 2009 as Mandolin Orange, but changed their name in April 2021. Andrew said at the time that “Mandolin Orange was born out of my 21-year-old mind. The name isn’t what I strive for when I write” and that Watchhouse is a name that reflects their “true intentions” as a band. So now you know. They released six albums under the old name and Rituals, out on 30 May, will be the second under the new one (the first was called Watchhouse, just to make their point!). Their laid back style is very soothing to the ear, and they harmonise well. Again, they are a band for whom I’ll be keeping an eye open.

Now that I’ve lulled you into a relaxed state, how about livening things up a little? These are return visitors – my favourite Russian folk band with a new video released just three days ago. I’ve turned on the English subtitles so hopefully you can see them to make sense of it, but the music is fun anyway:

Otava Yo with He’s Coming, My Sweetheart, which is apparently a traditional Russian folk song – I’ll take their word for that! The song was a track on their most recent album, Loud And Clear, which was released in February 2024. As I said, the video is very new, though: I guess it takes a while to round up all eight band members and get in their favourite actress – Anna Somkina has appeared in several of their previous videos, and is always fun to watch. Finding sales figures for their records is a little difficult, but their YouTube stats are impressive: a total of more than 200m views of their videos, and this one already has well over 30k in just three days.

A complete change of approach, now. I have played music by a fellow blogger before, and his new song was released on Monday:

Paul Ariss is, variously, a blogger, scriptwriter and singer-songwriter, who is always good value. Ask Me Again takes on the topic of an abusive relationship and I think does it very well. As I said to him when I first listened to the song, I think this is probably his best yet: it is superb. If you were quick enough at the beginning you might have spotted that Paul’s songs are produced by John Kettle, who just happens to be one of the main songwriters for one of my favourite bands, Merry Hell, who just happened to feature in that recent post to which I linked earlier. It’s almost as if I planned this, isn’t it! Paul has a collection of great songs and videos on YouTube, which in my opinion are seriously under viewed, so if you like this I can recommend watching a few more. And if you’re interested in seeing his blog, you can find it here.

I thought I’d close today with a fun song by an artist I played recently for the first time – getting down with the kids, at last! She was Chappell Roan, whose song Pink Pony Club was in my recent offering A Chart View. I’ve since followed her YouTube channel and added her records to my Apple Music library, and am really enjoying them. This is her latest, which to date has only been released as a single. On past form, there will no doubt be many videos of this, but so far there are just a couple. I’m passing on the official audio and instead giving you her recent appearance on Saturday Night Live, as she throws herself into live shows and is great to watch:

Kayleigh Rose Amstutz, to give Chappell Roan her full name, released The Giver last month, her first song to date with a country vibe, and it has peaked at #5 in the US and #2 in the UK. The song is great and she is a load of fun to watch.

That’s what I’ve been watching and hearing for the past few days. Have you found anything good recently? If so, do tell, as I’m always looking for recommendations. See you again for Song Lyric Sunday 😊