SHEFFIELD retro singer, guitarist and songwriter Richard Hawley will play York for the first time in eight years on the second leg of his Hollow Meadows travels.

His only Yorkshire outing on the nine-date tour will be at York Barbican on Friday, February 19 in his first gig in the city since the Grand Opera House on his Lady's Bridge tour in 2008.

Courtesy of York Barbican, The Press has three pairs of tickets to be won for Hawley's gig, for which tickets are on sale at £28 on 0844 854 2757, at yorkbarbican.co.uk and in person from the Barbican box office.

Hawley played most recently in The Press area at Scarborough Spa Grand Hall on October 28 last autumn, when promoting Hollow Meadows, his eighth studio album, released through Parlophone Records last September. Recorded at Sheffield’s Yellow Arch Studio in Spring 2015, it meditates on such themes as ageing, fallibility and relationships in brooding, yet wistful and romantic songs in the manner of past Hawley albums Late Night Final and Lowedges.

For the first time, Hawley demoed the songs in his shed studio, Disgracelands, with his long-time guitarist and confidant, Shez Sheridan, who also co-produced the album with Hawley and Colin Elliot, who runs Yellow Arch. This allowed him to enter the studio with fully realised songs, and many of those original demos were so strong, they form part of the finished record.

Competition question: In which year did Richard Hawley last play York?

Send your answer, with your name, address and daytime phone number, either on a postcard to Charles Hutchinson, Hawley Competition, The Press, 76-86 Walmgate, York, YO1 9YN, or by emailing charles.hutchinson@nqyne.co.uk, by February 12. Usual competition rules apply.