As a folk novice it seems I am somewhat lagging behind on my musical hipness, what with folk and acoustic acts springing up left, right and centre around Leeds, adding to an already burgeoning scene. So to dust up on my patchy knowledge of the genre, who better to ease me in than Fran Rodgers.

Fran is a self-taught, adopted Leeds native whose single "I Fell To You Under Winter Sun" is being launched tonight at the wonderful Brudenell, which coincidentally is a venue tailor-made for what unfolds as a night of intimate, harmonious blissfulness. Preceded by her side project The Folk Theatre Partisans, Fran takes to the stage and instantly fills it with her opening, songbird-like (with absolutely no reference to the insipid Eva Cassidy there) melodies. With the earnestness of folk stalwarts such as Carole King and Joni Mitchell (to be more than a little obvious with the latter comparison), Fran held the audience captivated with an intelligent and considered set. Her voice is truly mighty, and her dextrous references to Wordsworth and assured confidence in interacting with the gratified Brudenell crowd suggest that Fran is most certainly here for the duration. A million miles away from the middle-of-the-road dullard folk music tends to be represented by (well, in my utterly snobbish head anyway), Fran proved tonight that this genre is on the up-rise with memorable and sincere acts as enjoyable as herself. I might even have been converted a little.

Natalie Hardwick

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