It starts with a young man from Hertford working his way through the Bob Dylan back catalogue and trying to dig back into American roots music. He listens to blues and folk records by Lead Belly and Woody Guthrie and starts to feel like he’s onto something. Then a moment of revelation comes when he hears the earthquake rumble of Howlin’ Wolf—a deep and chesty wail worlds away from the sensitive whispers of most modern singer-songwriters—and wonders if he could manage something similar. It turns out he can, so he does.
Then it’s just a matter of writing some smart retro tunes to match the voice, and before too much longer, he’s being played on ±«Óãtv Introducing, then appearing on the ±«Óãtv Introducing stage at Glastonbury. As his songs start to appear more regularly on Radio 1, he arrives at fifth place in the ±«Óãtv Sound of 2014 poll. All of which took place before the arrival of the all-conquering modern classic Budapest, or his debut album Wanted On Voyage, the third best-selling album of last year. Which just goes to prove that sometimes the best way to move forward is to look back.
It starts with a young man from Hertford working his way through the Bob Dylan back catalogue and trying to dig back into American roots music. He listens to blues and folk records by Lead Belly and Woody Guthrie and starts to feel like he’s onto something. Then a moment of revelation comes when he hears the earthquake rumble of Howlin’ Wolf—a deep and chesty wail worlds away from the sensitive whispers of most modern singer-songwriters—and wonders if he could manage something similar. It turns out he can, so he does.
Then it’s just a matter of writing some smart retro tunes to match the voice, and before too much longer, he’s being played on ±«Óãtv Introducing, then appearing on the ±«Óãtv Introducing stage at Glastonbury. As his songs start to appear more regularly on Radio 1, he arrives at fifth place in the ±«Óãtv Sound of 2014 poll. All of which took place before the arrival of the all-conquering modern classic Budapest, or his debut album Wanted On Voyage, the third best-selling album of last year. Which just goes to prove that sometimes the best way to move forward is to look back.
