“My voice is my passport” she now says. And what a voice; Warm, sweet, round, pure, pitch perfect, yet understated. Her first album ‘Song’, included material which embraced everything from jazz, the torch song, a Joni Mitchell cover (A Case Of You), and traditional South African music.

Over the years Rose hasn’t been afraid to work with people who maybe you wouldn’t think were that connected to the kind of country based, rootsy idiom she revels in. Members of Del Amitri, The Sex Pistols, and The Ruts have all guested or played on her albums

All that was about to change, however, with the band’s third album Final Straw (2003), rumoured to be so named because the band were growing disillusioned and it was to be their final throw of the dice. They needn’t have worried.

At heart it’s a classic rags to riches story which plays fast and loose with historical fact (there’s no evidence that Eva ever met Che Guevara) but what the heck, it’s a musical not a history lesson

The title of the album, a homage to the Sam Cooke song of the same name, set down the marker for where James was coming from musically, namely a subtle, respectful updating of American soul of the sixties and seventies, and if that’s the kind of music that rings your bell, you should own it.

With a new second album, ‘Loyalty to Loyalty’, in the shops now, and receiving very good reviews not only online but in the mainstream print media, coupled with a bourgeoning reputation as a riveting live act, now might be the time to sneak a peek at a band which seems to be pushing all the right buttons.

If all that wasn’t enough, we are promised five marching bands parading around the streets to keep us company as we shuffle from gig to gig.

It is considered his ‘masterpiece’, his most sensuous and scandalous work as a choreographer (Aguilar, who was also a ballet dancer, died in 1995), mixing the original Bizet score with sections of raucous flamenco dance

At the time, classical record labels were expressing much interest in the young prodigy and Kennedy was told that playing jazz in such a high profile way with Grapelli, would most likely put an end to his prospects of establishing a classical career. Characteristically, Kennedy said ‘sod it’ and went out and did the show anyway.

A tour of Japan and a spot at the much coveted shop window which is the South by Southwest Festival followed, as did a support stint with indie darlings, Death Cab For Cutie.