Laurie Levine @ Green Note Camden

Since surfacing with her remarkable debut, Unspoken, back in 2007, Laurie Levine has meticulously crafted a career that has turned her into a singer-songwriter of real substance.

Over a trio of records and countless live performances, the South African-based artist has taken her original material to a growing fanbase, earning multiple accolades along the way.

Among these was a best producer award (for producer Dan Roberts) for the critically acclaimed album, Six Winters (2011) at the annual South African Music Awards (SAMAs) in 2012. Levine’s second album, Living Room (2009), was also nominated for a SAMA in 2010 and her performances at South Africa’s National Arts Festival in the town of Grahamstown in July 2011 earned Levine a highly coveted Standard Bank Silver Ovation award.

It’s no secret why Levine has managed to sustain a career in a home market that’s dominated by Gospel, urban and pop – and is now poised for a strong international push.

As her fans know well, Levine’s gift lies in her ability to draw on the deep roots of folk music, and mix it in with a myriad of other influences, including from America’s Appalachia region and her native South Africa. With the acoustic guitar as her main instrument, her recordings see Levine – and a host of superb musicians – deploy an array of instruments (pedal steel, dobro, banjo, mandolin, harmonica, strings) that add the kind of atmosphere and layers that propel her songs out of simple singer-songwriter territory.