Virtuoso is an overused word, glibly littered around as a description of ability. But when attributed to Lancashire-born, Devon-based musician Phillip Henry it’s spot on. Henry has made his name as a spellbinding exponent of the slide guitar augmented with show-stopping beatbox harmonica. His celebrated partnership with singer-songwriter, fiddle and banjo player Hannah Martin, (duo now renamed EDGELARKS) has been rich and fruitful, through five acclaimed studio and live albums and an unparalleled innovation that saw them clinch the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards’ Best Duo’ title in 2014. But now it is Henry’s turn to stand centre-stage with a long–awaited solo album which marks a decade of travels to all points of the compass - with a guitar (or two!) in tow and a rare chance to hear him sing. True North is an eclectic collection highlighting the stand-out skills of this refreshingly modest musician – 11 tracks bridging blues, folk, country, Indian classical music and Americana – all edged with wafts of wanderlust borne out of global gigging. It’s a potent combination -from music written while kangaroo spotting in Australia, to tunes learned from a Canadian folk maestro on a First Nations reservation, songs of the road and pieces written by musician friends from Kent to Kolkata. Something akin to a heavily stamped musical passport. This is beguiling, hypnotic music with the ability to draws the listener into another world – a masterclass in virtuosity that is unhurried and almost spiritual. Henry said he set out to demonstrate the slide guitar’s ‘infinite ability to sing to the soul’ – and with this beautifully measured and versatile album he has surely succeeded..

• Folk
• Roots