John Newman and his soulful new material head into the woods at Dalby Forest on Saturday

The Settle sound of soul will play the Forestry Commission woodland glade on Saturday, the night after Bury's Guy Garvey elbows his way into North Yorkshire, before Leeds cheerleaders Kaiser Chiefs take over for Sunday's sold-out finale.

"It's really exciting as it's a great pick of acts this year with bigger names, so it's great to be part of it," says John. "It's also good because these Forestry Commission concerts benefit places that otherwise might disappear, and I'm glad to be doing a show in Yorkshire as Yorkshire is a home gig.".

Born and raised in North Yorkshire, John studied at Leeds College of Music, having taken early steps in his musical progression in York. "I DJ'ed there when I was about 16 in a club called Mansion, playing lots of house tunes," he recalls.

"At Leeds, I did the ICDA course; the I Can't Playing Anything course, which was quite appropriate at the time, though it actually stood for the Introductory Certificate to Performing Arts."

John was not brimming with confidence in those days. "I was a very self-conscious kid, so I didn't play [shows] too much. I'd hide in my room to make music and if I stepped out of the door it was to play house music," he recalls.

"I originally wanted to be a mechanic. I had a welding kit from the age of seven and I still build custom-built motorbikes when I get the chance at weekends and put engines on go-carts. I'm a bit of a petrol head."

Nevertheless, John did not settle for Settle. "It was my brother who said I should get out of Settle and go to music college," says John. Good advice, as it turned out. "I'd done some pub gigs in Settle and a bit of performing, but I wasn't treated that nicely, so it was quite worrying, but as soon as I was doing gigs in Leeds, I was getting interest from management companies and soon I was doing four or five gigs a week."

Once John's old-school soul vocals came to national attention through singing on Rudimental's number one single, Feel The Love, his solo career was up and running with the platinum-selling debut album Tribute and its singles Love Me Again, Cheating and Losing Sleep.

A collaboration with Calvin Harris generated the hit single Blame and John has since issued his sophomore album, Revolve, with its glorious single Come And Get It, and the accompanying Revolve: The Book, a document of Newman's creative process behind the album and past hits.

John Newman: "Some of my music will work, some of it won't"

His joy in making music is ever apparent. "I was listening to Calvin [Harris] on the radio, and he was saying 'music is my hobby', and that is so true because it excites me to come up with new songs, and it doesn't scare me at all to try to keep doing that.

"It's not just singing that I love. I love the whole process of making records and producing them and seeing the joy people get from listening to me singing my songs.

"In all fairness, I'm so proud of what I've done and I'm not going to let the pressures of releasing new songs get to me. Some of my music will work, some of it won't. What I want is longevity and consistency rather than a one-night stand."

John's latest collaboration is with Sigala and Chic's Nile Rodgers on Give Me Your Love, Sigala's exhilarating new single for summer clubbing nights. Recording a song with Rodgers was a dream come true. "For a guy who has been brought up on funk and soul music, to work with Mr Funk and Soul, Nile Rodgers, was amazing," he says.

"He was one of the people who inspired me to make music, and he never forgets how much he loves music. He just works, works, works and that's a fantastic attitude to have."

Coming next is a new collaboration with Calvin Harris, one that John describes as "kind of reggae" but is keeping its title under wraps. "We wrote it together and Calvin said it's one of the best songs he's ever done, and though I haven't said what it's called yet, it's going to be perfect timing to play it at Dalby," he says.

John talks of further singles this year: "I wouldn't want to say this year there'll be a new album. I just want to make singles, singles, singles, up to Christmas and then do a new album next year."

Meanwhile, Yorkshire keeps his feet on the ground. "It's the humbleness! When I was making my last album, I was in Los Angeles for a year and without ever noticing it, you can change, but then you come back to Yorkshire and you think, 'Am I being a n*b? Am I looking glossy in the videos? Are the cars too flash? As soon as you're back here, people will say exactly what they think!"

John Newman plays Forest Live at Dalby Forest, near Pickering, on Saturday. The car park opens at 5pm; the arena at 6pm; support act Rag N Bone Man will be on stage at 7.45pm; Newman at 9pm, finishing at 10.30pm finish. For tickets, go to forestry.gov.uk/music or phone 03000 680400.