Album Title:  Gallants

Release Date:  24 April 2026

It’s 25 years since acclaimed folk artist and producer Jim Moray released his first EP; I Am Jim Moray. Intended purely as a demo to get gigs (which it did) it kick-started a maverick career that would see Moray go on to produce eight critically acclaimed albums, win five BBC Folk Awards and regularly top end-of-year critics’ polls.  At the start of his career, he was regarded by some as unorthodox, introducing electronics, drum’n’bass and rap to radically reshape traditional song through a distinctive, often cinematic approach. 25 years on, Moray shows no sign of resting on his laurels, and his work continues to shape a younger generation of folk artists. His new album, Gallants, released on 24 April, more than ever showcases his distinctive approach to folk music: rooted in tradition while sounding unmistakably contemporary. Where once he might have been considered experimental, he is now fully the master of his craft, blending expert musicianship, thoughtful production, and a deep respect for the source material.

Recorded and produced by Moray in his own studio, he once again displays his capacity for multi-tasking by playing everything from any one of his many guitars (some rare) to the ondes Martenot (an early electronic musical instrument), harmonium, banjo, hammer dulcimer, mellotron, drums and vibraphone. There are also contributions from several celebrated collaborators, including diatonic accordionist Archie Churchill-Moss, drummer Matt Stockham Brown, violinist and violist David Le Page (Orchestra Of The Swan), cellist Clare O’Connell (London Contemporary Orchestra, Radiohead), Northumbrian piper Andy May, and singer Maddie Morris. The closing track features rich choral harmonies from members of Trans Voices, bringing the album to a powerful and moving conclusion.

Gallants features nine tracks, comprising eight traditional songs alongside one newly written ballad, Three Gallants. One of the best-known songs in the Copper Family repertoire, Spencer the Rover is a song Moray says he’s grown into. After abandoning it for several years, feeling he was too young, he revisits it with renewed confidence (and age) accompanied by Steve Pretty and Barnaby Phillpot on horns. Horns are also prevalent on standout track When I Was A Little Boy, originally collected from John Stickle of Unst, Shetland. It comes from a long lineage of boasting songs and receives new verses from Moray. Both Bob Dylan and Joan Baez have recorded versions of Flora (Lily of the West) and Moray’s version is an amalgam of different parts he’s picked up by osmosis over the years. The album’s seven-minute centrepiece, Omie Wise, is based on the real murder of Naomi Wise by Jonathan Lewis in North Carolina. He uses strings to heighten the melancholy and has written a new concluding verse reminding us that the events portrayed are not confined to the past. Fortune Turns the Wheel ends the album – a signature song of the north-east shanty singer Louisa Killen. Moray sings it unchanged from her version with Maddie Morris and members of Trans Voices choir joining him.

Gallants is the clearest expression yet of Moray’s creative ethos and marks a bold new chapter in his ongoing exploration of traditional song, blending expert musicianship, thoughtful production, and a deep respect for the source material. Here’s to the next 25 years.