In the quiet green stretches of Ballymagorry, a small village in Northern Ireland, the landscape holds echoes of history, hardship, and healing. It is here that guitarist and composer Joe Hodgson was shaped — by the storms of his youth and the musical obsessions that would carry him far beyond the borderlands of genre. With the release of his second solo album Fields of Redemption on June 20, 2025, Hodgson returns to those very roots, offering a deeply personal and sonically expansive collection of instrumental compositions that trace a journey of reconciliation, identity, and artistic freedom.
Following the critical success of his 2020 debut Apparitions, which Guitar World described as the work of an “elite” guitarist, Hodgson’s new album moves even further into the introspective terrain of the soul. But this time, there is a noticeable shift in the weather: where Apparitions brooded and burned, Fields of Redemption opens up — to light, to melody, to joy.
“This album is about the quest to right wrongs, the search for inner peace, and the reconnection with the land of my birth,” Hodgson says. Written during an extended journey across Ireland with his wife and his Gibson Les Paul, the music was captured in sessions that stretched across Ireland, England, Germany, Canada, the United States, and the Czech Republic. Despite its global reach, the album remains anchored in a distinct emotional landscape: that of homecoming.
Co-produced with Chris James Ryan (Keith Urban, Go West), the album features a remarkable ensemble of collaborators, including Philipp Groyssboeck (drums), Vinzenz Benjamin (bass), Otger Garcia (Hammond organ), Kelly O’Donohue (horns), João Paulo Drumond (percussion), and All-Ireland champion Paul McClure on bodhrán. One of the album’s most moving moments comes with the track You I Think Of, featuring the Czech Philharmonic, recorded in Prague — a session Hodgson describes as “spine-tingling.” Another highlight is the emotionally charged Since You Had A Hold On Me, featuring guest vocals from Irish singer Glen Harkin.
Despite its sweeping scope, the album is never overproduced. Hodgson walks a careful line between technical precision and emotional resonance. The result is a work that bends and blends styles — from blues and rock to jazz, country, classical, and Irish traditional — without ever feeling disjointed. “You’ll find all my influences in there,” he says. “I also recorded two acoustic tracks, which was a first for me.”
Across its running time, Fields of Redemption never loses sight of its emotional center. From the intricate storytelling of The Grass Is Greener to the dynamic fretwork of Shapeshifting and the reflective tones of Stick or Twist, the album plays like a series of vivid postcards sent from the corners of one man’s inner world. Each track is built around Hodgson’s guitar — an instrument that, in his hands, becomes not just a tool but a voice, fluent in the language of longing, memory, and hope.
“When we speak, we don’t talk in monotone,” Hodgson explains. “We speak with colour, nuance, light and shade. That’s how I see my guitar playing. Variety, spice, daring, sidestepping, merging — that’s what I do. I’ll never settle for the mundane or the second best.”
The praise has been unanimous. Recent press has called Hodgson “one of the most compelling guitarists in the contemporary instrumental scene,” lauding his ability to express the unspeakable through his playing. His music has been described as “therapeutic,” “cinematic,” and “deeply emotive,” with melodies that linger long after the final note.
But perhaps the most compelling quality of Fields of Redemption is its sense of generosity. This is not an album made for the sake of technical display — it is made to connect. It is music as an offering, crafted in solitude but meant to be shared.
For Joe Hodgson, this record is both a return and a step forward. It is a sonic landscape of reckoning and renewal. And in a world that often rushes past the quiet truths, Fields of Redemption invites us to slow down — and listen.
At SONGLENS Music Magazine, we believe in the artists who speak without words. Joe Hodgson’s guitar says what many cannot — and in doing so, it gives voice to something enduring, honest, and utterly human.
