Joe Hodgson’s Fields of Redemption: A Wide-Open Guitar Album

Joe Hodgson’s new album, Fields of Redemption, is a clear step forward from his 2020 debut Apparitions. While Apparitions was shaped by emotional weight and turbulent history, this record is more open in tone and richer in color. It still carries his signature blend of rock, blues, jazz, country and Irish traditional influences, but nothing about it feels boxed in by genre. Hodgson is pulling from a wide palette, but it always sounds like him.

The album was born from a long trip around Ireland with his wife and his Gibson Les Paul. That sense of movement and reflection is embedded throughout the record. There are nods to personal memories and national identity, but the tracks aren’t stuck in nostalgia. Hodgson said the album is about “reconnecting with my roots, reconciling with and embracing the past, while steadfastly looking to the future.” The result is a body of work that covers a lot of musical ground, but never feels scattered.

Highlights include the soaring “You I Think Of,” which features the Czech Philharmonic and delivers a layered, emotional peak without drifting into sentimentality. Hodgson called the Prague session a “spine-tingling moment,” and that sense of scale and energy comes through clearly in the final recording. “Since You Had A Hold On Me,” which features Glen Harkin, adds another dimension to the record and breaks up the instrumental focus in just the right place.

Throughout, Hodgson is backed by a sharp rhythm section and a cast of players that includes horn arrangements, Hammond organ, percussion, and even bodhrán. The mix is big and expressive, but not overblown. There’s a rough edge to parts of the record that works in its favor.

Fields of Redemption plays like a musician opening up more of himself with each track. Hodgson isn’t hiding behind technique, even though his guitar work is front and center. The playing is expressive and sharp, without becoming showy. The acoustic numbers, a first for him, show a different side of his musical voice without leaning on novelty.

The album is ambitious but steady, emotional but tightly arranged. For fans of expressive guitar-driven music with serious range, it’s a record worth spending time with.