ONCE there was Slade, the Wolverhampton band who couldn't spell. Now meet folk's blooming flower, Emily Slade, "one of Hertfordshire's best-kept secrets".

Three years ago, this singer and acoustic guitarist made one of her first professional appearances in a Young Performers showcase at the Black Swan Folk Club in York, where she returns on Thursday.

"Emily was the stand-out success of that concert," recalls club promoter Roland Walls. "She returned for a full booking in 2001, around the time that her first full-length album, Shire Boy, was released.

"Since then, her reputation has grown rapidly across Britain with an increasingly full diary of club, concert and festival dates, and she's grown into one of the brightest young stars on the folk and roots music scene."

Born into a family that runs one of Britain's longest-running folk clubs, Emily took up the guitar at nine. She weaves folk, blues and classical tones into her playing, and her degree studies in English and education at Cambridge have led to carefully observed and witty lyrics in her songwriting.

In Autumn 2001, she was invited by Phil Beer of Show of Hands to join his other touring group, the Phil Beer Band. Earlier this year, Emily was the runner-up in the BBC Radio Two Horizon Award for the Best Newcomer in folk, and in July she is to follow up her recently finished first American tour with a return visit.

In the meantime, she is putting the finishing flourishes to her second album with a view to autumn release.

On Thursday, doors open at 8pm at the Black Swan Inn, Peasholme Green, and admission is £5, concessions £4. "Early expressions of interest suggest a full house is likely, so please come early to be sure of gaining a seat," advises Roland.

Updated: 10:47 Friday, May 02, 2003