The latest album from A Different Thread is built around themes of longing and wanderlust, two things most of us felt over the last few years.

The band is fronted by the duo of Alicia Best from North Carolina and Robert Jackson from the Midlands of England. The transatlantic nature of their act proved difficult throughout the pandemic and brought a host of challenges. With artist visas on hold, the band were forced to separate for a while. Before parting ways in 2021, they went into the studio in Bristol, UK, to lay down these tracks, not knowing when they’d be able to reunite again.

The result is powerful and potent record that pulls on the band’s respective roots, weaving together elements of British and Appalachian folk into a timeless, minimalist sound.

The Devil You Don't

Ode To The Leaving Of Liverpool

Get Close

The Chase

Change

Call Of The Road

Cradle To The Grave

Didn't Wanna Go

Come On Home Molly [preview]

Big Crane

A Wayward Sun

The second EP from our recording session at Alma Vale studio in Bristol 2016. Featuring Robert Jackson, Isaac Collier and Alicia Best.
Produced by Luke Cawthra

High Time

Banjo Tune

Cherry Tree

The Prickly Bush

Rosa Rosa

Potters Field

Hold Me Down

On A Whim

Pretty Polly is an age-old murder ballad, originally from England, that tells a tragic tale of betrayal and revenge.  This version, rearranged by A Different Thread, is the first single from their new folk Ep "Some Distant Shore".

Pretty Polly

Red Is The Rose

“One road is ending, another road begins, come on let’s do it over again” - A Different Thread

Some things are just meant to be. Alicia Best (US) and Robert Jackson (UK) met while busking on the cobbled streets of Ireland and discovered both a musical and personal harmony that was serendipitous. In the decade since forming A Different Thread, Best and Jackson have taken their act on the road, touring over a dozen countries, supporting artists such as The Milk Carton Kids and Jody Stephens (Big Star), and garnering critical praise from the likes of Folk Radio UK, which hailed the duo as “warm, deep songwriters that have drank from the well of 20th century tradition.”

Their new album, Over Again (out Sep 2nd 25’), was written during a period of transition, marked by their arrival stateside and a solar eclipse. Recording began in their tiny home studio, continued in Sylvan Esso's Betty's (The Mountain Goats, Watchhouse), and finished at Alma Vale Studio (Phantom Limb/Yola, Elles Bailey) in the UK. 

Their sound is transcontinental, blending Jackson's British folk rock background with Best's North Carolina-bred alt-country melodies. Informed by their life experiences (navigating visas, vanlife, love across oceans) and liberal commentary on both environmental and social justice topics, the album mixes electric guitars with Appalachian dulcimer, gospel-tinged vocals with honky-tonk fiddle. While inspired by artists like Gillian Welch, The Avett Brothers, and John Prine, A Different Thread maintain a distinct sound that is all their own. 

Alicia and Robert see the creation of Over Again as a testament to the power that music has to heal and transform: “For us, this album marks a new beginning—like a rebirth—as we shed negative cycles to work towards a brighter future.”

A Different Thread

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