CHESTERFIELD singer-songwriter and guitarist Blair Dunlop opens his House Of Jacks tour at The Basement, City Screen, York, on Wednesday night at 8pm.

Dunlop, Repton School-educated frontman of the regenerated Albion Band, is the son of Ashley Hutchings, of Fairport Convention, Albion Band and Steeleye Span fame. He released his debut solo album, Blight & Blossom, in Autumn 20012 and went on to win the Horizon Award for the most promising newcomer at the 2013 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards.

His subsequent live session for Mark Radcliffe's folk show on the same station was released to coincide with his appearance at last summer's Cambridge Folk Festival and radio play has ensued on BBC 6Music, as well as a guest live performance on Simon Mayo’s Drivetime show on Radio 2.

Now 22, he is touring in support of his imminent new album, House Of Jacks, playing York on Wednesday, Fruit in Hull next Saturday and The Greystones in Sheffield on May 28 either side of its release on May 26 on the Rooksmere Records label.

Dunlop has teamed up for a second time with producer Mark Hutchinson on a record that opens with first single Something’s Gonna Give Way, whose lightness of instrumentation belies the grimness of a tale of schoolboy prejudices and the damaging consequences.

The conceptual song 45s (c.’69) and its companion piece 45s (c.’14) describe a Soho club in its Sixties' heyday and in 2014, while his love of football, as a supporter of both Tottenham Hotspur and ACF Fiorentina, inspired two numbers.

The guitar instrumental Viola’s Reverie is followed by the Ennio Morricone-inspired The Ballad Of Enzo Laviano, a fictional tale of a young Italian footballer on the eve of his proposed move to Naples from his Sardinian hometown.

Elsewhere Blair explores denial in 50 Shades Of Blue, determinism in Chain By Design, miscommunication in Different Schools and deliberation in The Station, inspired by a Robert J Hastings poem.

Title track House Of Jacks is a poetic tale of a profound love before Song Of Two Bridges, a tender portrait of life as an observer penned by Ashley Hutchings and Ken Nicol, brings the album to a poignant close on the only song not written by Dunlop.

Tickets for Wednesday cost £10 on 0871 902 5726 or at thebasementyork.co.uk; Hull tickets, 01482 221113 or fruitspace.co.uk/music; Sheffield, 0114 266 5599 or mygreystones.co.uk