THE String Jam Club's 20th anniversary year is turning out to be a real feast of the very best music from the UK & beyond.

So far the Selkirk-based club has welcomed Derek Gripper from South Africa, Amythyst Kiah from Tennessee and Wizz Jones from London.

And this excellent trend continues when the "formidably brilliant" Yorkshire folk duo O'Hooley & Tidow make their first appearance at the Borders haven of music on Saturday, April 22.

Since their formation 11 years ago, Belinda O'Hooley and Heidi Tidow have recorded five successful albums - three of which have been handpicked as one of Mojo Magazine’s Top Ten Folk Albums of the Year.

Mojo described their music as "idiosyncratic, classic, plaintive, inviting, disquieting, mysterious, oblique harmonic, austere, and beautiful".

This year the pair were nominated for ‘Best Duo’ at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards - for the third time.

Belinda, who plays piano, accordion and sings, first came to attention as the pianist and songwriter in Northumbrian folk band, Rachel Unthank & the Winterset.

Her songs and arrangements contributed to the album ‘The Bairns’ receiving a Mercury Music Prize nomination.

Since leaving the band in 2008, Belinda has accompanied Nic Jones’s emotional return to live performance in 2012, English folk siren Jackie Oates and has recently played piano for Rufus Wainwright at last years BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards at the Albert Hall.

Heidi is an accomplished singer-songwriter in her own right and there is something special about the combination of Belinda’s higher, traditional folk voice and Heidi’s smokier, contemporary voice.

Allie Fox from the String Jam Club told us: "Last Summer saw the release of their much anticipated fifth full length album. It received the full five stars in The Guardian.

"At the core of the album is the Steinway grand piano, recorded at MOMA, the Museum of Modern Art, Machynlleth, interwoven with Belinda and Heidi’s instinctual, close harmonies, which have been compared with the most celebrated harmony duos from early Simon and Garfunkel to the iconic Kate and Anna McGarrigle."

O'Hooley & Tidow take to the String Jam stage at the County Hotel on Saturday, April 22 with doors opening at 7.30pm.

Tickets on sale now £14 from 01750 721233 or buy online from Eventbrite.

There's also a 15 per cent discount off hotel restaurant meals for String Jam Club ticket-holders between 6pm and 7pm on the night (advance table reservation advised).