IT was American singer-songwriter Lucy Kaplansky's misfortune that her debut gig in Worcester coincided with some of the worst weather yet seen in this miserable autumn.

But she seemed not to be downcast by the relative thinness of the audience and delivered a performance of considerable passion and charm.

Lucy, a New Yorker, has made three albums of country-inflected folk-rock and treated her audience to a variety of numbers from them, plus a selection of new material and one or two covers.

Accompanying herself on acoustic guitar and piano, she proved not only to be a capable musician with a most attractive voice, but also an engaging raconteur.

At one point, she told with delighted awe how an appearance last week on Radio Four's Woman's Hour led to a recording session with Bryan Ferry the very next day.

And she also treated the audience to a couple of humorous songs written by her mathematician father, including one about the irrational number pi.

Lucy has performed in the past with stars such as Suzanne Vega and Shawn Colvin; on the strength of this showing her name might soon be as well known as theirs.

Robert Hale