BBC Radio 2 Folk Award Nominee Jack Cookson’s approach to songwriting had always been quite dry, visceral and very cynical.  After a couple of years of unquiet reflection away from music training to be an electrician during the pandemic, he is miraculously writing with more optimism. After all, the world isn’t crying out for another man with an acoustic guitar singing about his very relative crisis. Cookson’s songs cover the clear and present issues of male mental health stigma, disconnection from the natural world and subsequent obsession with tech. While these are trying topics, there’s a sense of hope under-pinning his music. Accompanied with near-virtuosic fingerstyle guitar, a unique voice that is easy-on-the-ears plus the odd bit of harmonica, a set from Jack is one you’ll never forget.