Making her third appearance at Roots is an artist described by Bob Harris (Radio 2) as “One of Britain’s greatest singer-songwriters” – ANGIE PALMER.  This superb artist will return on Thursday 25th February for what is sure to be another triumphant appearance.

Angie has been compared by many with Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell thanks to lyrics described by reviewers as “intelligent” and “literate”, (HMV Choice said when choosing her debut album “Road” as one of their Top Ten that “Not since Bob Dylan’s mid-60’s output has a singer jammed songs with so many high-culture reference points”.) For others her potent mix of country, blues, and folk served up with equal measures of aggression and tenderness has led her to be called the “British Lucinda Williams” and led to her inclusion on the long short list for the Mercury Prize in 2004. Bob Harris who recently chose her as one of only two female singer-songwriters on his recent “Best of British” show and invited her to play at one of his “Bob Harris Presents...”. This she did back in January 2007, and her live performance earned this artist even more fans.

Angie left England for Europe at the age of seventeen, deciding to travel before going to art college, but ended up in Paris for seven years busking and playing bars, cinema queues and the Metro. Mixing with “strange and interesting people; writers, artists, premonitionists, and old ’68 revolutionaries”, Angie experienced during that time a variety of life emotions and experiences, and a fortuitous chance encounter with Paul Mason, a lecturer in European philosophy from Manchester Metropolitan University, led to a song writing partnership, a return to England, and the CD “Road”.

“Road” was recorded with Alan Gregson at West Orange and feature songs that have strong European-influenced narratives (philosophy, literature, cinema) but grounded in an ‘Americana’ that finds Angie drawing on her love of storytellers like Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell, and later songwriters like Townes Van Zandt and Gillian Welch.

From Mojo to Maverick the music press has received Road with 4 and 5 star reviews.

Her 2006 CD “Tales of Light and Darkness” (which also made the long cut for the Mercury Music Prize 2006) again draws heavily on literature: John Steinbeck’s dispossessed (Rose of Sharon), Edgar Allen Poe’s dark visions (Ravens), and the enigmatic landscapes of Mikhail Bulgakov (Fool’s Gold which also has the confidence to quote a line from Dylan’s Tangled up in Blue) as well as the confessional: the death of a close friend (Columbus for a Day) and living alone (Letters from Home). These new songs, she says, continue where “Road” left off, mixing strong narrative songs with the personal but ‘a personal’ that connects with ‘the universal’ and which all reflect the idea of the age-old metaphysical struggle of good and evil, life and death, light and dark.

A new album, “Meanwhile, as night falls….” is released this summer. The album was written while living in France on the edge of a forest, and the influence of European folk tales, songs and stories are reflected in the writing and haunting darkness of the music. The new CD shows the maturing of one of the most literate and compelling singer-songwriters , one never afraid to take on big themes and stretch out across musical genres and marks her out as a unique British talent.

To be sure to get your seat for this unmissable concert, book your tickets for Thursday 25th February by telephoning The Queens Head on 01669 620470. Ticket price is £8.

For more information on Rothbury Roots and to see the full programme for 2010, have a look at www.rothburyroots.net