THE wait is over. Brit Award nominee Beth Rowley has finally released her second album, Gota Fria, fully ten years since her 100,00-selling debut Little Dreamer.

In that time, soul, gospel, jazz and blues singer/songwriter Beth has become a fixture on Jools Holland and His Rhythm & Blues Orchestra's tours for the past three years; moved back to her home city of Bristol from North London and married a Yorkshireman, Hull actor Liam Garrigan, last year.

You may recall Beth played at Pocklington Arts Centre, too, in May 2013. At that time, she said: "Yes, I have a new album coming out, currently as a self-release, but I’m planning on staggering the release by first doing it as three EPs instead of one album."

Move on five years and Beth, 36, has lined up a 12-date September tour, taking her to Fibbers, in York, on September 11, as well as Leeds Brudenell Social Club on September 6, to promote Gota Fria.

So what happened to that promised album of five years ago, Beth? "I've actually been asking myself that question," she says. "But I wasn't fibbing; I was working on new music; I haven't stopped, especially in the last few years when it feels like I've been working on stuff continuously. The reason for the long wait has been a mixture of finding the right songs and then finding the right team to make the record."

Beth had recorded "all the songs for the three EPs, but the producer I'd worked with became unwell and I tried to work with another producer, but then I thought, 'do you know what, I'll hang fire for a while', thinking some things are not meant to happen and then suddenly things flow," she says.

In the end, Beth made Gota Fria with Julian Simmons, a producer from Crouch End, North London, doing most of the vocals and overdubs at his home studio, but also recording at The Crypt too.

York Press:

"The reason for the long wait has been a mixture of finding the right songs and then finding the right team to make the record," says Beth Rowley

"I met Julian through some mutual friends and we got on really well, hanging out, talking about music," she says. "I'd spent six months looking for the right producer, realising that it was the most important relationship, and then one day Julian said he'd love to produce it and the conversation then turned to how how we'd make the record with a combination of the old and the new, which really suits The Crypt."

Simmons had worked previously with A Girl Called Eddy, Orphan Colours, Andy Platts and a certain Ed Sheeran. This time, he and Beth did all the recordings in only three days – an ironically short time given the long hiatus between records – as they committed to tape her raw. dark blues and desert rock songs co-written with Ron Sexsmith, Ben Castle and Marcus Bonfanti.

"Marcus and I had done some gigs together, sharing the same bill and we just thought 'we should work together'. He has his own studio, where we hung out for a few days, listening to music, which is part of the process for me, spending half the time doing that, so that you both know what you want when you wrote together," says Beth. "He's a wonderful lyricist and plays awesome guitar too."

Beth will be taking a break from touring with Jools Holland to concentrate on promoting her album before returning to Jools's ranks for his European tour from February.

She remains hugely grateful for the chance to sing in Holland's shows. "It takes a lot to forge your way ahead in the 'down years' and remain confident in what you do, but Jools just called out of the blue after a couple of people put me forward for his live shows," Beth recalls.

"He said, 'I apologise if I'm barking up the wrong tree, but you've been recommended to me to do backing vocals and a guest spot. Would you be interested?'."

York Press:

"I've always loved making music, I've never fallen out with it," says Beth

Yes, yes, yes! "Jools is very generous, and it's been fantastic for me to work with him when not all my singing work, as you can imagine, is so glamorous!" says Beth. "It's fantastic to be singing with the musicians in his band, who are just insanely good. That made it a no-brainer to do and it's awesome performing Bessie Smith songs with a big band behind you."

For next month's gigs, she will be touring with guitarist Rob Updegraff, pedal steel player Joe Harvey-Whyte, bass player Dan Dury and Croatian drummer Marco Quarantotto.

"The main thing, over all else, is what happens when I play live, where I have this energy I want to put into the music, and songs take on their own life, whatever they want to be, in this exchange between me and the band and the audience," says Beth.

"There's something disappointing about seeing bands doing a song exactly like it is on a record, whereas I consider the flaws to be the most beautiful part. I've never seen flaws as negative; they're realm, and the key to a gig is communication on stage, where you can look at each other with one glance and know what's happening."

In the long lull between albums, Beth has never lost her enthusiasm. "I've always loved making music, I've never fallen out with it, and I've always known this album would come out eventually, but the rule was that I had to love it 100 per cent before it came out, and that's a lovely free place to start from."

And now Gota Fria has arrived on Beth's Stoopnik label. "It means 'cold drop' in Spanish, and it's a name given to a strange weather phenomenon that happens on the Spanish east coast, where my family has had a house for 15 years in the mountains near Valencia," says Beth. "These beautiful storm clouds come over the hills, and as the polar cold air meets the hot, it causes 'collisions', with the 'cold drops' causing loads of damage to cars, so it's serious when a storm happens."

Storm alert: Beth Rowley is ready to roll with the thunder this September.

Beth Rowley plays Leeds Brudenell Social Club on September 6 and Fibbers, York, on September 11. Tickets are on sale at bethrowley.com and fibbers.co.uk (for York).