THIS summer, Erin McKeown sat cross-legged on the floor, mug of tea in hand, contentedly watching fellow American singer-songwriter Laura Veirs perform in the back of beyond otherwise known as The Band Room, Low Mill, Farndale.

Her simple love of music could not have been more evident that evening, and it can be witnessed again on the 25-year-old Virginian's third album, Grand. "Panoramic & Spectacular!" announces the sleeve, ever so tongue in cheek, because this gladsome folk troubadour recorded the homespun Grand in a Massachusetts farmhouse - albeit a farmhouse once used by the Rolling Stones in the 1970s. Swinging joyously from hillbilly to supper-club jazz, bluegrass to old-time blues, lullabies to merry dances, she is playful, savvy, humorously ironic; Rickie Lee Jones gone country. Whether heard with mug of tea or glass of wine, she will revive any flagging spirit.

Updated: 08:57 Thursday, October 23, 2003