Folk hero and award winning singer/songwriter Steve Knightley is heading for Faringdon as part of his Landlocked Tour 2017.

Following his All At Sea Tour the multi-instrumentalist is back on dry land at the Corn Exchange in Faringdon on Friday, May 19 from 7.30pm.

Steve is known as one half of the folk roots duo Show of Hands with his long time pal Phil Beer. The duo recently sold out their fifth Royal Albert Hall concert and scooped Best Live Act award at the 2004 BBC Radio 2 Awards, Best Duo and Best Original Song in the 2010 awards.

It was listening to his brother's Joan Baez records that first excited Steve's interest in folk music. He attended Exmouth school and learned to play acoustic guitar, teaming up with his pal Paul Downes. The pair went to Sidmouth Folk Festival and were heavily influenced by a performance from Martin Carthy and Dave Swarbrick from Fairport Convention.

They played the Devon folk circuit and it was around this time Steve met Phil Beer, but it was his school pal that teamed up with Phil in a duo.

Steve moved to Coventry studying Politics and History. His friends Paul and Phil would visit, playing gigs in the city and even performing songs penned by Steve.

These were the building blocks to Steve's musical path, but after finishing college he moved into the rock scene of London, while also working as a supply teacher. One of his students was Polly (PJ) Harvey. When Phil split from the Albion Band in 1991, Steve joined him in a duo that was to become the Show of Hands, but it still wasn't until 1994 that Steve gave up his day job. It was then that the folk hero rose in to being. He was named Songwriter of the Nineties by Tom Robinson for BBC Radio 6 Music.

Tickets to see Steve's first gig in Faringdon are £18 and available from 01367 240281 or wegottickets.com. - Flicky Harrison