AMERICAN songwriter Steve Forbert will play Thorner Victory Hall, near Wetherby, on February 8.

He opens the year by performing in Liverpool on January 23 and at Celtic Connections, the international roots music celebration in Glasgow, on January 24 before four shows in February.

Forbert, 64, will be showcasing last September's album, The Magic Tree, produced by Karl Derfler, whose credits include Tom Waits and Dave Matthews.

The Magic Tree comprises a series of songs gleaned from previously recorded acoustic Forbert demos, augmented with new backing tracks. Consistently upbeat and optimistic, the album was recorded in Meridian (his birthplace in Mississippi), Nashville, New York, New Jersey and Virginia and conveys a firm sense that age ought not diminish a lust for living.

His career had its share of triumphs, as well as stumbles and disappointments, as did his private life. Through it all, over the course of a marriage, divorce, raising three children, writing and recording 18 studio albums and fronting an ever-changing line-up of supporting musicians, he persevered and stayed true to his roots and the folk ethos.

Now, those life-changing experiences have been chronicled by Forbert in Big City Cat: My Life In Folk Rock, co-written with Therese Boyd. The memoir, originally conceived as a stage play, offers a uniquely introspective view of a life and career during a period of cultural upheaval and the author’s emerging self-awareness.

Sharing reflections and journals he kept at the time, Forbert weaves a narrative that addresses the trials, travails and triumphs that would play out over the course of his 40-year career.

Tickets for Forbert's 8pm gig are on sale at ticketsource.co.uk.