JOANNA Newsom is a pixie- voiced harpist from the gold-rush town of Nevada City, California.

She sings disconcertingly like a ten-year-old but plays the harp like she was ringing a bell. Next month she embarks on her debut UK tour to promote her debut album, The Milk Eyed Mender which was voted album of the year in The Sunday Times and The Independent.

She's skipping Wales but can be found in St Bonaventures, Bristol, supporting Paul Burch on Tuesday, August 17.

It's surprising that Newsom is not coming to Wales as she is student of Celtic harp techniques.

She was eight when she first started plucking the strings and has also studied Senegalese, Venezuelan, and Western Classical styles.

By the end of school her intention was to become a composer but she fell in love for Appalachian folk and bluegrass on the way and started to sing along to her own accompaniment.

She wrote and recorded a song called Walnut Whales for friends one of whom passed it to the musician Will Oldham who invited her on one of his tours.

Her own gigs followed quickly and encouraged by sell-outs she made Milk Eyed Menders.

It's far from the current alternative folk scene and manages to break from the bluegrass traditions in which Newsom is rooted.

She sings about whalebones, sleep, grammar, molluscs, accumulation, automobiles, owls, burning boats, string collections, milk, teeth, bridges, balloons, cake, colours, and kin, all in an otherworldly, ragged-sweet voice that defies convention.

Hear all about it in St Bonaventures, Bristol supporting Paul Burch on Tuesday, August 17.