THERE are not many people who can boast they have been nominated for the Mercury Prize once in their life, let alone twice.

Folk singer, songwriter and fiddler Eliza Carthy has earned herself this accolade, and the way things are going, you wonder if she could achieve a hat-trick one day.

It was Eliza's most recent album Anglicana that was nominated for the prestigious prize this year.

The 28-year-old was nominated for the award with the likes of The Darkness, Lemon Jelly and Athlete, but it was Dizzee Rascal who scooped the title.

"Anglicana is about English roots music, basically," explained Eliza.

"My songs are modern interpretions of old songs played by me and my scruffy, slouchy mates!

"It's traditional music and you cannot tell how old, because it's been passed down from generation to generation."

Attending the Mercury Awards this year helped her to get into bands such as Lemon Jelly who she had heard of, but had not managed to hear their music.

The songstress said the awards also alerted her to the solo material of fellow Mercury nominee Martina Topley-Bird.

"I remember her from her days with Tricky so I would have bought the album anyway," says Eliza.

"Her debut album has been a long time coming."

Her album Red Rice was also nominated for a Mercury Prize in 1998.

Eliza was born in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, and grew up in the tiny village of Fylingthorpe.

Her parents, Martin Carthy and Norma Waterson, are also folk musicians and she started gigging at the age of 13.

When Eliza was gigging in her teens, her friends were studying at university.

"I'd come home off tour and it's hard to talk about what you have been doing to your friends," she says.

"People think you are showing off, but I have been very lucky because travelling is part of my job."

Eliza's talent has taken her all over the world to countries such as Australia, America, Hong Kong and Japan.

Eliza, who also plays violin, moved to Whitby at the age of 19, and has been living in Edinburgh for the last five years.

Her band consists of John Spiers on squeezebox, Jon Boden, fiddle, and Ben Lvitsky on viola.

Eliza Carthy will be playing at Worcester's Huntingdon Hall, CrownGate, Worcester, on Wednesday. Box office: 01905 61147.