Heidi Talbot, John McCusker and Boo Hewerdine

The Crane, Galway Sun 6.30pm 12.50 091-567419; An Cruibin, Galway Sun 9.30pm 10 021-4310071; Colfer’s Pub, Carrick-on- Bannow, Wexford Wed 9.30pm 10 051-561159; Seamus Ennis Cultural Centre, The Naul, Dublin Thurs 8.30pm 13 01-8020898

With a voice that has echoes of Lucinda Williams and Kate Rusby, and having cut her teeth as lead singer with Irish American all-female outfit Cherish the Ladies, Heidi Talbot is right at home in the twin worlds of Irish traditional and roots music.

Talbot's 2008 CD, In Love + Light,propelled her into the spotlight as a singer with a hunger for lyrically challenging and melodically inventive songs. Produced by Eddi Reader regular Boo Hewerdine, In Love + Lightset Talbot on an indie path that celebrated her traditional influences while giving her distinctive voice its own

space. She is no box-ticking singer in search of a cosy lounging space, but an artist invigorated by the search for alternative ways of inhabiting a song.

Talbot’s short Irish tour will also feature Hewerdine on guitar and Scottish fiddler, composer, arranger and producer John McCusker.

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James McMurtry& the Heartless BastardsTuesday, Belfast; Wed, Kilkenny, Thurs, Dublin