I like singer-songwriters. It’s my thing, I suppose. Not wishing to name-drop, but in temps perdu I numbered amongst my friends Cat Stevens, Al Stewart and Van Morrison. I even knew Paul Simon and collaborated on an album with the legendary Tom Paxton. So for me, to discover an exciting new talent virtually on my own doorstep is something special. I must confess to not having heard of Hattie Briggs until a few weeks ago when one of her songs was played on a radio show I was on. I dashed home and dived into YouTube.

Hattie Briggs was playing first-up in Corin Hayes’s annual Buzz, Buzz, Buzz celebration of the art of song-writing and acoustic music. She plays nice, simple, unpretentious guitar or piano and was, last night, accompanied by a cello, as often as not played pizzicato to provide a bass line. But what is outstanding about Hattie is her voice. It has a rare, pure quality that moves and excites. She is also no mean song-writer.

Her set last night was mainly based on tracks from her new album, Red and Gold, but there were also several covers. I like singer-songwriters who do cover versions; it shows a humility and respect. All great art makes a linear progress, each step linked to the one before. I knew one singer-songwriter who refused to listen to other musicians for fear, he said, of picking up their influences. If I mentioned his name, you won’t have heard of him.

Although her own songs are beautiful and finely crafted it was Hattie’s versions of Sting’s Fields of Gold, Elton John’s Your Song, the French classic Autumn Leaves and, of course, Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah that, for me, were the high-spots of the evening. From her own songs, it is hard to pick out one that was any more outstanding than the others. I particularly liked Pull Me Down, maybe because it was the first one of hers I heard.

Ms Briggs named one of her main influences as Eva Cassidy and that certainly is not a bad act to follow. However, I would link her much more closely to Judy Collins with whom she certainly shares a beautiful, pure voice but also an integrity, poise and taste that are hard to resist. I hope she wrote in her diary when she got home last night that she had made a dedicated new fan. I liked Hatti Briggs, I liked her a lot. ★★★★★   Michael Hasted   26/03/15