What's on in Teesside

'Artfully crafted' The Sunday Times.

'A class act' Daily Mirror

'anthemic…lyrical….soulful' BBC Music.

Hello Cruel World, Gretchen Peters' eighth album and her first solo studio effort in four years, has just been released to huge critical acclaim.

Recorded at Patty Griffin's East Nashville studio and coproduced with Doug Lancio (Patty Griffin, The Greencards, John Hiatt), the album features a duet with Rodney Crowell ("Dark Angel"), and guest appearances by Kim Richey, Viktor Krauss and Will Kimbrough. Peters' songwriting has brought her to the Grammys twice and won her a CMA Song Of The Year award for the groundbreaking "Independence Day" (Martina McBride). This May she was nominated for induction in 2011 into the Nashville Songwriters Hall Of Fame (previous Hall of Fame inductees include Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Rodney Crowell, Hank Williams, Dolly Parton and Jimmy Webb).

But that's only half the story. As a recording artist she has won near-universal acclaim from media such as Time Magazine ("her choir-girl voice has a seductive hint of late nights and cigarettes"), AllMusic.com ("her finest moment as a recording artist and a song-lyric poet" - Burnt Toast & Offerings, 2007) and Mojo (The Secret Of Life, Best Albums of 1996). One To The Heart, One To The Head (2009), her collaboration with singer-songwriter Tom Russell appeared on numerous year-end Best Of lists, including PopMatters ("one of the best folk records in recent memory") and No Depression.

Support comes from Canadian Lynne Hanson 'Beautiful' Q Magazine