ENGLISH singer, songwriter and guitarist Steve Tilston plays the Black Swan Folk Club next Thursday in support of his new album, Happenstance.

Tilston is best known for writing The Slipjigs And Reels, The Naked Highwayman and Here’s To Tom Paine, a song covered by Bruce Springsteen, no less, in his live shows.

Tilston’s last record, 2011’s The Reckoning, brought him appearances on BBC2’s Later... With Jools Holland and the BBC Four Songwriters’ Circle and a 2012 BBC Radio 2 Folk Award for best original song for the title track.

Born in Liverpool and raised in the Midlands, Tilston released his debut album, An Acoustic Confusion, in 1971, since when he has issued such albums as Life By Misadventure, And So It Goes and Solo Rubato; the instrumental Whilst Swans At Coole, the anthology The Greening Wind; the concert recording Live Hemistry; and his first all-traditional set, 2005’s Of Many Hands.

In 2006, he was featured in the Guitar Maestro DVD series and the following year he was given the box-set treatment by Free Reed Records on Reaching Back: The Life And Music Of Steve Tilston. Over the years, his songs have been covered by Fairport Convention, Dolores Keane, The House Band, Peter Bellamy, North Cregg and Bob Fox.

Tickets for July 24 cost £10, concessions £9 at wegottickets.com