Bella Hardy - Hey Sammy (2017)

'Hey Sammy' is the long awaited ninth solo album by Edale-born singer songwriter Bella Hardy, a record that bears the stamps of extensive musical expeditions far from home.

In the time since 2015’s 5-star reviewed 'With The Dawn', Bella temporarily relocated to Nashville where she became immersed in Music City’s culture of collaborative songwriting and also worked happily in the company of horses as a ranch hand. Two music-finding trips to Yunnan Province in Southwest China also saw this BBC Radio 2 Folk Singer of the Year Award winner return with a suitcase overflowing with new lyrical and musical notions. These radical changes of life and perspective flow through every word and note of the 11 new songs on 'Hey Sammy' – a glorious, accomplished, grown up record.

Produced by Paul Savage (The Delgados, Mogwai, Arab Strap) at Glasgow’s Chem19 studio, 'Hey Sammy' combines innovative, artful arrangements that at times bring to mind Bon Iver, Midlake and Joni Mitchell’s Hejira, with an unabashed embrace of gleeful, melodic choruses delivered in Bella’s unmistakeable soaring and swooping voice.