Review Policy

Please read carefully before sending material for review.

Owing to the large number of CDs sent for review we are temorarily unable to accept more until the backlog has been cleared

With the ever expanding availability of low cost CD reproduction, magazines are increasingly being inundated with speculative material for review, in some cases the material is not appropriate to a Folk Music magazine, in some cases it is not available for sale to the general public, in others it is not manufactured to a professional standard or is unidentifiable. It has been necessary therefor to produce the following guidelines which it is hoped will save both us and you time and expense. If in doubt AFTER reading the following please email

Geographical Limitations - Recordings etc. must be generally available within the United Kingdom. This might for example be through a distribution company, retailer or direct from the artist. Performers or distributers resident outside the U.K. please supply a U.K. address from which the product may be purchased or dates of forthcoming tours if the artist is selling direct.

Content - It must be folk music. To attempt a definition would be a fruitless exercise, there would always be something missed out. The simplest test is to ask "do you honestly expect to get bookings at UK folk clubs or folk festivals performing the material on the CD". Although many clubs now consider themselves Acoustic clubs rather than folk clubs this is a folk magazine and does not necessarily include all the genre which an Acoustic club might present. Yes we do include traditional blues and singer songwriters in the folk idiom but not Jazz and R&B. nor singer songwriters in the mainstream / pop idiom.

Availability - The recording must be commercially available to the general public in the UK. Please do not send demo discs or a small number of selected tracks copied to CDR from the original recording.

Boxed sets - Where the original recording is retailed as a boxed set or "double album" a single disc is acceptable but please ensure that a list of those tracks not supplied is also included.

Quality - Manufacture - The recording must be maufactured to a professional standard. Some performers are now producing their own recordings from their own PC and in many cases to a high standard. Please note that some of the cheaper CDR discs will not always play on the cheapest / most expensive / older CD players. Use the highest quality discs, If we can't play it we can't review it.

Quality - Performance - With so much good material about our policy is simple we do not waste space on rubbish when it could be used to encourage the good material. Thankfully the rubbish is rare.

Additional Information - Please include a C.V. or any background information which will help in writing the review. Don't bother telling us how wonderful you are let the reviewer decide that.

Include a UK address to which a printed copy of the review might be sent and an email address for further information.

Publication - All reviews are written by unpaid volunteers and it is not always possible to deal with them immediately. By all means email to check on safe delivery but please do not waste your time and ours chasing promises for publication dates, it will not happen any faster.

Because of the increasing quantities of material for review it is not possible to guarantee that your CD will be covered reagardless of quality. We are a regional web site and priority will go to performers from the region, national performers with an established profile in the region or those who have tours planned in the area in the near future.

Return of material - Review material cannot be returned

Disposal - Review copies become the property of the reviewer. They would not normally be sold by Folktalk for profit but may be disposed of for charitable purposes, e.g. given to charity shops or as raffle prizes at charity events.