Emily Barker & The Red Clay Halo : Dear River review

Her first three albums were self-financed – but now the Aussie songbird who calls Britain home returns on a big label, her folk roots showing through newly- polished pop production.

The title track – her love letter to the Blackwood River by which she grew up – rolls along like a Creedence steamboat, while the folky Tuesday is an edgy shuffle about the plight of refugees.

At the close she returns to Blackwood with an unexpected country acapella vocal. This is, quite simply, a delightful album.

Better than KT Tunstall and Amy MacDonald. Guaranteed.