Steve Knightley, described by Mike Harding as one of England’s greatest singer songwriters, returns to the Village Pump on February 6.

Best known as half of folk/roots duo Show of Hands, Steve has been taking his solo show round small venues, including village halls and community centres, for the past couple of years winning many new fans.

He will play with no support act and you can expect to hear stripped-back versions of his Show of Hands repertoire, the odd cover song or traditional folk song as well as less familiar songs of his own.

Tales of the West Country figure large: a mixture of tragic (a reworking of the Devon folk song Widdecombe Fair) and hilarious (a scary encounter one night with a multi-tattooed man in a Yeovil chip shop).

Steve is a mesmerising solo performer and his stage patter tells us about his life as a travelling musician, the people he meets on the road, the chancers and rogues he encounters in everyday life as well as events or characters from history. He’s a powerful and original musician, too, accompanying himself on a range of plucked and strummed instruments.

His strong vocals, sometimes unamplified, and clear diction make it easy to follow the lines of the songs.

His intention with these tours was to take the show into small communities, to places that wouldn’t normally hear his, or perhaps any, music.

The Pump, as a specialist music venue, is not typical of those, but as a spokesman for the club said, “Steve is an old friend, we’re a small and intimate venue so we knew we had to book him.”