Interview: Songs of the south with the quality of Mersey

DELTA Maid's sweet, sassy singing voice carries an unmistakable Deep South twang over classic, stripped-down country-blues, steeped in the finest traditions of American roots music.

Listening to her, you'd automatically assume she hails from cowboy country, but Delta is no Tennessee gal. She grew up beside the Mersey rather than the Mississippi, a born-and-bred Liverpool lass by the name of Katie Foulks. The contrast is so striking that when she chats to her audiences between songs at live shows, jaws frequently hit the ground.

"I get that all the time," she laughs, in her cheerfully broad scouse lilt. "People literally gasp at gigs when they hear my Liverpool accent. I've only been to the States once, and that was for a sightseeing tour in New York. I really do want to do a tour of the southern states at some point, though, because I have been influenced by that music for so long."

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Country music has long been reviled by many in the UK, but now the popularity of the genre is growing fast and a new wave of talented home-grown acts are riding that wave.

"I was shocked when I heard that all these country artists were doing well over here," says Delta. "At one time 'country' was a dirty word, but artists like The White Stripes have made it seem cool. It's perfect timing for me."

As if to emphasise the point, Delta is about to embark on a 17-date nationwide tour with folk legend Seth Lakeman, which kicks off in York next week.

"I can't wait," says the excitable 25-year-old. "It'll be the biggest tour I've done in my life. It means I can just focus on gigging live every night, which is the reason I wanted to do this in the first place. I'm glad to be starting the tour in York, because there's a big folk background there."

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Delta's love of classic country, blues and roots music has long been something of an obsession, both for her and her entire family. As a child, her parents' record collection introduced her to the likes of BB King and her personal favourite Rory Block, and this embracing of traditional Americana goes back as far as her great-grandfather, a stoker on a steam-ship, who worked on the New York docks and brought rare roots records back with him to Liverpool.

"My nan used to tell me that they were the first family to get the Mills Brothers LPs, when no one else over here had them," she recalls. "They literally came straight off the boat. My parents always had country and blues music on in the background and it just became a part of me. There was something about the particular style of Rory Block that just made me want to pick up a guitar and perform.

"I got into Delta Blues because of that – which is where the name Delta comes from. My parents couldn't be any prouder of what I'm doing."

Believing strongly in the value of education, her parents encouraged her to go to university and Delta, a biology graduate, was actually training to be a vascular scientist when she decided

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to move into music full-time. It's tempting to wonder whether she had an epiphany in the lab.

"It was more or less like that," she says. "When I got my first job, I was also gigging at night – and I realised that I wanted to do that more than anything else. But I never thought I was going to make it, and I would never have been able to quit my job if I hadn't been offered a publishing deal."

Said deal arrived at an astonishing pace. Just two months after she uploaded some songs to the internet site MySpace, an A&R man came calling. Her first EP, Broken Branches, has attracted a great deal of praise and now a highly-anticipated debut album, which Delta co-produced, is set for release in March next year. However, her own professional ambitions are much more modest than you might expect. "When I hear people talk about me being 'tipped for big things', I don't really like the pressure of it," she explains. "I don't like hype, I'd much rather be a dark horse. The important thing is what the public think, and I really hope people like the album. I would just love to be in a position where I can headline my own tour next year, even if it's just a small one. That's my dream."

HOW COUNTRY MUSIC GRABBED THE SOUL OF DELTA MAID

The early days: Delta's first gig was a charity concert. She was supposed to be accompanied by her guitarist brother, but when he broke his arm, she decided to teach herself to play.

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Influences: She cites everyone from Hank Williams, Patsy Cline and Howlin' Wolf among her favourite artists.

The critics: One reviewer said of her EP Broken Branches: "Her soul may be from Louisiana, but her message comes from Merseyside."

Delta Maid plays The Duchess in York on November 9, and The Picturedrome in Holmfirth on November 11.