FOLK lovers should make a date in their diary for a visit by talented singer and guitar player James Keelaghan.

James is renowned for looking to the past for musical inspiration and his most celebrated songs tell the stories of extraordinary events from history through the eyes of ordinary people.

He is also is a commanding performer with a rich baritone and faultless guitar style who develops an intimate rapport with his audience through his stories and humour - and then leaves them spellbound with passionate renditions of his songs.

James' most recent CD, Then Again, is a celebration of his outstanding 18-year career, which includes eight albums, numerous awards and an enduring reputation as one of Canada's best-known exports on the folk circuit.

On Then Again, is the song 'Fires of Calais', a song about the evacuation of British soldiers from Dunkirk during the Second World War.

Keelaghan has been called 'Canada's finest singer-songwriter' by Playboy magazine and received critical praise everywhere from the Globe and Mail to the Los Angeles Reader.

In addition to performing, Keelaghan is currently conducting research for an album of traditional Irish and English folk songs, the music of his ancestral homeland.

He will appear at the Folk Club, based at Bromsgrove Rugby Club, Finstall, on February 10 at 8.15pm.