HIGHLY-rated singer songwriter Martyn Joseph - hailed as the "Welsh Springsteen" - is set to perform in Stourbridge next month.

Stourbridge Folk Club's own blues and folk performer Sunjay Brayne will host Martyn at Katie Fitzgeralds, in Enville Street, on August 27.

It is a coup for the town's folk club, with plaudits for the Welsh-born celtic and folk artist coming from no less than BBC Radio 2's Bob Harris, who is quoted as saying: “He is one of our most intelligent writers. He gets better and better like the finest of wines”

He is billed as "a performer like no other: shades of Springsteen, John Mayer, Bruce Cockburn and Dave Matthews there may be - but he stands in his own right, built on a reputation for giving what thousands have described as the best live music experience of their lives, delivering his 'songs of lyrical intelligence' according to BBC Radio 2's Bob Harris."

Martyn was awarded best male artist at the 2004 BBC Welsh Music Awards and his song ‘There's Always Maybe’ won the best folk song category in the World Independent Music Awards.

He has also won various humanitarian awards thanks to the theme of social justice, which runs through many of his songs.

"Really what I do is to try and write songs that might step up and make some sense of a moment in time," he said.

"A good song makes you feel like you're not alone in the world."

His most recent, self-penned studio album is ‘Songs for the Coming Home’ and in 2013 he released a CD of Bruce Springsteen songs.

Martyn has wowed audiences in the USA, Canada and Europe and he has toured with the likes of Art Garfunkel, Jools Holland, Ani DiFranco, Suzanne Vega, Mike and the Mechanics, Joan Armatrading, Celine Dion and Shirley Bassey.

The doors will open at 8pm for his Stourbridge gig and tickets, costing £15 in advance, are available from the box office on 01384 485238 or at www.wegottickets.com/event/312269