JOAN ARMATRADING has come a long way since her birth in the West Indies and her upbringing in Birmingham.

With 18 stunning albums to her credit and a new blues-based CD scheduled for release in Spring 2007, Joan’s subtle and sublime music has touched millions of people all over the world.

Known as a true craftsman, her distinctive vocals and consummate musicianship – she has arranged as well as played every instrument, with the exception of drums on her forthcoming album – have led to unanimous, widespread and, perhaps most importantly, consistent critical acclaim. Effortlessly eclectic, her sound has ranged from true soul to sophisticated pop driven by her passionate guitar.

2007 sees another massive tour for Joan with the UK leg kicking off in February.

The live dates are accompanied by a brand new CD titled “IntoThe Blues” which Joan cites as her best work yet.

“I’ve wanted to make an album that truly reflected me and I think this does. I love the blues and while each song is very different there’s a cohesive thread that runs throughout”.

There certainly is and, as you’d expect, it’s great – this is one album well worth waiting for.

Elvis Perkins' debut album, Ash Wednesday, feels both lived in and lived through. He combines emotional intimacy with a warm-hearted studio sound that recalls Nick Drake and Astral Weeks-era Van Morrison. Perkins deliberately circumvented the digital route, making demos at home before gathering a small group of fellow players and friends to cut these tracks to analog tape in a Burbank studio and at a Victorian house in L.A.They helped Perkins flesh out material in which he transforms the at-times extraordinary circumstances of his personal life into compelling, dream-like songs with lyrics that teeter between the specific and the surreal.