STEVE Gillette and Cindy Mangsen, one of America's premier folk music duos, play the Black Swan Folk Club in York on Thursday as part of their first British tour.

Gillette is best known as a songwriter, whose songs have been covered by Garth Brooks, John Denver, Jimmy Dale Gilmore and Nanci Griffith. In fact he wrote the book on songwriting: his Songwriting And The Creative Process (Sing Out Press) is a standard text in classes across America.

He sings in a rich baritone and uses a unique finger-picking guitar style with a flat-pick and two fingers. His 1998 solo album, Texas And Tennessee, was named one of the top ten folk albums of that year by the American magazine Pulse.

Mangsen, who married Gillette in 1989, is a songwriter too but her main focus always has been on traditional song, especially old folk ballads performed on guitar, concertina or banjo. Her latest solo record is a themed set of songs about cats and their people, Cat Tales, released last year.

On their ten-date tour, Gillette and Mangsen are introducing songs from their fourth duo album, Being There.

Doors open at 8pm at the Black Swan Inn, Peasholme Green, where the evening will be hosted by Chris Euesden, of York folk label Fat Cat Records. Admission is £6, concessions £5.