Gretchen Peters is on the crest of a wave, and after two decades perfecting her songwriting craft, critics and peers alike seem to be finally sitting up and taking notice. The 57-year-old’s last LP, Hello Cruel World, was hailed as her ‘career best’ back home in America, but it seems to me her new album has even bettered that.

Last week Gretchen was on promo business in London before her mid-March return to these shores, including two North-West dates. And that visit coincided nicely with a wealth of praise on both sides of the pond for her wonderfully-earthy new 10-track opus Blackbirds. From the dark matter of the title track and single When All You Got Is A Hammer to the beguiling Pretty Things and Everything Falls Away, there’s plenty of depth…

to read this interview in its entirety, view it at the Lancashire Evening Post website.