Elles Bailey – Better Days

This rousing slice of modern Americana is taken from Elles latest album ‘Can’t Take My Story Away,’ an album that oozes a sense of catharsis and healing. It was written by her late friend, Matt Long, the singer, guitarist and songwriter for the award-winning band Catfish. Matt tragically passed away in October last year, 18 months after being diagnosed with bowel cancer. He and Bailey emerged onto the UK blues scene around the same time, crossing paths at festivals and on tour. “It felt like we were climbing this wild musical ladder together,” she said, “and then he got diagnosed with cancer.” During that time the whole community came together to help raise funds for his treatment. When he died, his parents showed her a song he’d written, ‘Better Days,’ which Elles gives the full on conviction the song deserves. As well as finding the tune on our latest ‘Fresh Juice’ Mixcloud show https://www.mixcloud.com/dannyneill714/fruit-tree-records-fresh-juice-2026-vol-2/ you can also grab yourself a physical copy of the album here: https://amzn.to/4brtznX

Howling Bells – Sweet Relief

When this band originally appeared on the scene with their self-titled debut in 2006, they had plenty of stiff competition for attention within the guitar pop world. This was, lest we forget, the time of ‘Landfill Indie,’ as wave upon wave of edgy, arch, angsty and sardonic four or five piece groups with second hand attitude filled the declining CD store racks with miles and miles of mostly uninspired, generic yelping produce. But Howling Bells always had a little something that pushed them above the general pack, a music that their singer Juanita calls a “kind of narcotic, bluesy, dreampop.” The band had a good initial run of nearly a decade before life and other projects took them quietly, although not permanently, out of view. Now they return with new music in 2026 and are clearly still as tight a unit as before, especially on ‘Sweet Relief’ which, in its own way, passionately resurrects all the energy and fire they first broke out with twenty years ago. This too features on the latest ‘Fresh Juice’ Mixcloud show https://www.mixcloud.com/dannyneill714/fruit-tree-records-fresh-juice-2026-vol-2/ and you can get a physical copy of the album here: https://amzn.to/4rx7FWo

Pokey LaFarge – Arkansas

I hope Pokey LaFarge enjoys the kind of national treasure status he deserves in the US because he certainly can make you long for a country that, in other ways these days, can come across like a place to avoid. He remains a prolific and dependably authentic purveyor of Americana roots music played with a style and swagger that has been time vortexed from around 100 years ago. His latest release is a six track EP on Boxer Boy Records entitled ‘Travelin’ With Poley LaFarge: Voice And Guitar Vol.1.’ As well as ‘Arkansas’ it also features intimate performances with his wife Addie Hamilton adding to the overall shift towards some more personally reflective sounds after 2024 album ‘Rhumba Country.’ You can get yourself a copy of the EP via this link: https://amzn.to/4bbjOeK

Josienne Clarke – Katie Cruel

Josienne is back on the road right now reviving her successful Sandy Denny show from 2025. It is that same Denny-like pure yearning in her voice that she brings to this bold re-interpretation of a traditional arrangement possibly best known, to me at least, via Karen Dalton’s recording. Playing to her strengths, Josienne takes an already heavy‑hearted song and drags it into even darker, more turbulent waters, drawing out every last drop of the lyrics’ harsh, irreconcilable truths. Not only that but she also honours the folk tradition of re-interpretation by writing some new verses of her own. Of the accompanying film, director Alec Bowman-Clarke says he “explores how time distorts our sense of self. We see the ‘young’ and ‘old’ Katie existing in the same physical spaces, separated by a veil of memory. This symmetry suggests that the song is not just a linear journey of decline, but a circular trap where the ghost of who she was constantly haunts the reality of who she has become.” You can get yourself a copy of the new ‘Katie Cruel’ single here: https://josienneclarke.bandcamp.com/

Melissa Aldana – La Sentencia

This easy and sumptuous, soulful jazz is the lead track from Melissa’s latest release on Blue Note Records entitled ‘Filin.’ The whole record is a study in the style of the records title; a romantic, harmonically rich Cuban song form that bridges bolero, trova, and jazz. Playing alongside pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba, she shines with a simmering, minimalist intensity that pushes melody and subtle textures into the foreground. Aldana is a Chilean-born, Grammy-nominated tenor saxophonist known for her deep tone, introspective improvisation, and lineage‑driven approach to jazz. She grew up in a family of saxophonists, studied at Berklee, moved to New York, and has since become one of the most respected modern voices on the instrument. The album is available to buy here: https://amzn.to/40uwKpU

ESYA – Heaven

I am concluding this weeks ‘Fresh Juice’ feature with another stylistic jump, this time into some dense electronic shades built on percussive momentum that conjure bleak industrial landscapes of the mind. ESYA is a brand new musical direction for Savages bass player Ayse Hassan who has a debut album on the way in April called ‘Chasing Desire,’ out on AOK Records. It features appearances from Sharon Van Etten, Laura-Mary Carter, Jessy Lanza, Algiers’ Lee Tesche and more. This track is a rousing, uplifting and propulsive piece of dance-floor ready music but lyrically is rooted in anxiety and retreating from a difficult situation. Ahead of the albums release the title track is available here: https://amzn.to/3P9UMEe