Soaring Stevenage songbird Kelly Oliver has an exciting few weeks ahead.

The Stevenage singer whose career is being shaped by the team at Folkstock Records will be seeing her second album officially released next month.

It’s been almost a year in the making, and Bedlam is poised to come off the blocks on Sunday, March 6.

As you’d expect in a multi-platform musical age, you’ll be able to get it on iTunes, Amazon and streamed on Spotify, but it will also available as a physical CD and pre-orders are now being despatched to fans.

A tour to promote the album is under way and includes dates all over the country – it’s Keswick this weekend with gigs in Leicester, Leeds and Birmingham all on the schedule before she returns to home ground for a date at Hitchin Folk Club which will coincide with the launch date.

It’s Kelly’s first headline tour, and the itinerary continues until the end of March at the famous River Cottage in Axminster.

Kelly’s latest step up follows on from winning a prestigious award at the tail end of last year, when she confessed to being overwhelmed after being crowned best female artist in the annual NMG Awards.

The New Music Generator awards are run by Cambridge radio presenter and music promoter Tim Willett to showcase unsigned artists and others making a name for themselves on the music scene.

Artists living within a 50-mile radius of Cambridge were eligible as long as their work they had been played on Tim’s Cambridge 105 show in the past year.

Kelly the only acoustic/folk act to feature in the finals and Helen Meissner of the Folkstock Arts Foundation said: “It was a massive vote of confidence, not only for Kelly herself, but for the new found acceptance of this ‘authentic’ genre, which is gaining mainstream recognition.

“To gain the top award for a female artist was wonderful recognition.”

Kelly’s work has also found champions in high places, with former Old Grey Whistle Test frontman Bob Harris enthusing about her ‘sincere and lovely’ sound and including her music in his BBC Radio 2 broadcasts.

You can find out more the new album and all the tour dates in Kelly’s diary at kellyoliver.co.uk.