Luke James Williams, Annie Dressner, Lucy Grubb and Dan Wilde to perform solo and in collaboration

Luke James Williams, an experienced singer-songwriter from Willingham, is hitting the road this month alongside Annie Dressner, Lucy Grubb and Dan Wilde, to perform as part of their songwriters’ circle.

The event, titled ‘An Evening of Song with Annie Dressner, Lucy Grubb, Dan Wilde and Luke James Williams’, will involve the four talented musicians performing both individually and in collaboration.

“I put out an album in July of last year,” says Luke, 38, “which was my first full-length album – before that, I’d just released an EP. I’ve been gigging quite a lot; I did my first set of headline gigs in the autumn of last year, and yeah, we’re heading out with some other singer-songwriters on this songwriters’ circle tour, which is a bit of a different concept.

“I’ve kind of always either supported someone, or gone out as a co-headliner – as I say I did my first headline dates in the autumn – but this is a different set-up, in that there’s four of us sharing the bill.

“We’ll be playing individually in the first half but then in the second half we’ll be almost joining together as a band and playing each other’s songs, in collaboration, I guess, as a collective.”

Luke, who started playing music in his teens, says the four have known each other “a fair while”, noting: “Annie, Dan and myself – although Annie’s originally from New York and Dan is originally I think from Blackpool – are all Cambridge-based, so we’ve known each other through the Cambridge music scene for quite a while.

“I supported Annie at her album launch back in 2018 and then Annie and I did a tour together in the autumn of 2019. I think Annie introduced me to Dan through Dan’s open-mic night, and Annie and Dan have known each other through the Cambridge music scene.

“So that’s how I got to know Dan – I’m a really big fan of both of their music – and then Lucy Grubb she’s from Norwich but I think Annie met her through the Cambridge Folk Festival back in 2019.

“Lucy is someone that Annie has played with, and when we were thinking about putting together a night which would feature a few different singer-songwriters, we thought it would be nice to have two male singer-songwriters and two female singer-songwriters sharing the bill. Lucy was a great choice – she’s another fantastic singer-songwriter.”

On the subject of the quartet’s musical styles, which are generally rooted in folk/acoustic, Luke observes: “We’re all slightly different. Lucy crosses more over perhaps into country and Americana, and I guess my music maybe crosses over a little bit into pop, a little bit into folk.

“Dan’s a very lyrical, storytelling songwriter – as is Annie, and obviously with her being from the States she has a slightly different sound to her voice as well. But we’re all bound by a love of great songwriting and songs and stories and melody. It’s what really draws us all together, no matter what the genre.”

Luke released his first solo EP in 2018 and the album he put out last year is titled Our Blood Is Red. “I started recording my album at the end of 2019,” he recalls, “but then of course it took an awful long time to finish it because the studio had to close for quite long periods – and I only got round to finishing it and releasing it in July of last year.

“I’ve been really blown away by the response and now I’ve been busy writing new material for another album. Once this tour’s over, then my attention will turn to writing a follow-up.”

Between them, the four musicians have graced the stages at some of the UK’s biggest festivals including Glastonbury, the Cambridge Folk Festival, Green Man, and Black Deer, received rave reviews from the likes of Folk Radio, Maverick and Paste magazine, and received airplay on BBC Radio 1, BBC Radio 2 and BBC Radio 6 Music.

Indeed, Tom Robinson, of BBC Radio 6 Music, said of Luke, who performed at the Cambridge Folk Festival for the first time last year, having originally been booked to play it in 2020: “The songwriting and the vocal delivery are just so raw, heartfelt and beautiful that I find it irresistible”.

[Read more: US ‘outsider’ Annie Dressner to play adopted hometown of Cambridge, Grammy-nominated country band Midland to play in Cambridge]

Come and decide for yourself when Luke does his thing at Cambridge Junction’s J2, alongside Annie Dressner, Lucy Grubb and Dan Wilde, on Monday, March 20.

Tickets, priced £12.50, are available at junction.co.uk. For more on Luke, go to lukejameswilliams.co.uk.