TEN days before his father brings his festive band to town, folk performer Blair Dunlop will take to the stage in Wallingford for a gig with his new trio.

For those who don’t know, Blair’s father is English folk stalwart Ashley Hutchings, who will be performing at the town’s St Mary’s Church with the Albion Christmas Band, and his mother, fellow folk performer Judy Dunlop.

Teaming up with the other two-thirds of the trio, Angharad Jenkins on fiddle and Jacob Stoney on keyboard, Blair will be entertaining folk fans at the Corn Exchange theatre on Sunday, December 1, with songs from his critically acclaimed debut album Blight & Blossom and some new compositions.

He comes to Wallingford towards the end of a 17-date national tour, soon to be followed by concert dates on mainland Europe and Australia. Still only 21, Blair, who won the prestigious Horizon Award at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards in January 2013, happily admits he has been surprised by the speed of his own success, emerging as one of the UK's finest young singer-songwriters and guitarists.

“Although I’d like to sound like I am much cooler than this, if I am being totally honest, I still can't quite believe the way people have been reacting to my music over the last couple of years,” he said. Following his tour, Blair is set to return to the studio to start work on his second album due for release in the spring — he has been working on new songs since the start of 2013 — before setting off on his first tour of Australia, a trip he has been dreaming of since he first picked up a guitar: “I know this may sound like a bit of a cliché,” he said, “but Australia has always almost seemed like a mythical place to me, so I am still pinching myself every time I think about the fact that I am being given the chance to play my songs for people all over the country. “In a way, it all seems a bit unreal at the moment, but I know that it will be one of the most memorable experiences of my life.” While not disregarding his folk heritage, Blair, away from the stage, is just as likely to be found listening to obscure Italian house music as he is to those songwriters who have helped shape his style — from Anaïs Mitchell to Nic Jones, Jackson Browne and Richard Thompson, who was so impressed with Dunlop that he gave him a previously unrecorded song, Seven Brothers, for inclusion on his debut Blight & Blossom album. The Blair Dunlop Trio gig starts at 7.45pm, with the doors at the Corn Exchange opening at 7pm. Tickets £12 are available from Corn Exchange box office in person, on 01491 825000 and online at www.cornexchange.org.uk