Kate Walsh

A singer-songwriter of immense potential, Kate Walsh released her debut album 'Tim's House' in the summer of 2006, and many who have heard it have been swooning since. If it's strummed simplicity you yearn for, solace is here. And while the 24-year-old has already found herself at the top of the iTunes pile, Walsh's craftwork belongs to a different time -'Tim's House' would've graced many a collection in the mid 1970s, a dog-eared vinyl copy making a great, crackling friend.Born in the seaside village of Burnham-on-Crouch in Essex, Walsh began piano lessons at age five and then moved on to guitar, but didn't realise she could sing for many years. Accepted on to a music degree at the London College of Music and Media at 18, she deferred entry and began work on a debut album. Things didn't work out, but as 'Tim's House' shows, however frustrating the experience was, it stood to her.Made at the home of producer Tim Bidwell - who plays beautifully on the songs - and released on Walsh's own Blueberry Pie imprint, the record has a gentleness and grace that are easy to nestle in to, and a vocal performance which tugs at all the right places. "My songs are either about heartache or growing up in a small town", says Walsh. "People always say they don't understand how someone as young as me has so much heartache to write about. I don't think I have any less or more than most people, but it definitely inspires me and I channel a lot of things through it." 'Tim's House' will do the same for any listener.