FOLK sensation Bella Hardy has pencilled in St Boswells as the only Scottish date on her forthcoming tour.

The BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards singer of the year in 2014 is rightly regarded as one of the leading lights of the contemporary folk scene.

And she will play St Boswells Live later this month when she kicks off a nationwide tour.

St Boswells Live promoter Keith Farnish told us: "St Boswells Live are delighted to be the first show and only Scottish venue on Bella's 2017 new album tour."

Bella grew up in Edale in England’s Peak District.

Although the Hardy family sang in the local choir, it was a combination of her childhood love for ballad books and visits to local folk festivals that decided her future.

At 13 she began performing at Cambridge and Sidmouth festivals and in 2004 reached the final of the BBC Young Folk Award, having taught herself to fiddle and sing.

Since then Bella has continued to record and perform at a tremendous rate; appearing on numerous BBC radio and TV programmes, singing solo in a sold-out Albert Hall at the Proms, composing the music for a Radio 4 documentary on the Post Office, writing with former Beautiful South founder David Rotheray, forming an all-female fiddle group with folk royalty Eliza Carthy, and winning yet another Radio 2 Folk Award for her original song The Herring Girl in 2012.

Her 2015 album, With The Dawn, drew rave reviews across the board, with the Sunday Times hailing it as 'nothing short of a masterpiece', and her live shows always prove extremely popular.

Hey Sammy is the long-awaited ninth solo album by Bella.

It's described as a record that bears the stamps of extensive musical expeditions far from home.

In the time since 2015’s five-star reviewed With The Dawn, Bella temporarily relocated to Nashville where she became immersed in Music City’s culture of collaborative songwriting and also worked happily in the company of horses as a ranch hand.

Two music-finding trips to Yunnan Province in Southwest China also saw her return with a suitcase overflowing with new lyrical and musical notions.

These radical changes of life and perspective flow through every word and note of the 11 new songs on Hey Sammy – a glorious, accomplished, grown-up record.

Bella will be accompanied at St Boswells Live by Scotland's very own Anna Massie.

And the timing of the date isn't lost on promoter Keith.

He added: "Two weeks before St Boswells Live, Bella will be featuring on a Channel 4 documentary with Tony Robinson, who has visited St Boswells before - a nice coincidence.

"We're really looking forward to hearing the wonderful music both Bella and Anna bring to our stage."

Bella and Anna will be supported by local blues-folk trio, Lazy Man's Burden, led by singer and guitarist Sam Mundy.

Tickets for the concert on Saturday, October 21, are available priced just £14 (£10 concessions) via www.stboswellslive.com or at St Boswells Post Office.

Doors open at 7.30pm.