Hailing from a ramshackle corner of Essex, Kevin Pearce could be forgiven for brandishing his talent with some swagger, yet is as unassuming and as deeply humble as can be.

Despite the threat of violence and ridicule from intolerant peers, an 11-year-old Pearce rallied against an environment suspicious of success to realise a creative calling.

Possessing a self-taught arsenal of instrumentation and inspired by a generation of balladeers and song smiths, he sounds at once timeless and contemporary.

He caught the gigging bug at 21, after a maiden solo slot in Colchester, and has since gone venue to venue honing his craft.

From his sound springs something classic but cutting-edge; consoling but speculative. A modern musical polymath with a skewed approach to familiar folk tradition.Trite comparisons to luminary troubadours like Dylan and Drake are inevitable, but Pearce commands exceptional recognition.

Fellow Essex-boy Steve Lamacq picked up a demo and gave Pearce his first airplay on Radio 2, before an introduction to I monster's Dean Honer (Human League,Roisin Murphy(Moloko) Add N to X & I monster) led to the formation of collaborative side-project of Sheffield based band Skywatchers.

A solo effort (Pocket Handkerchief Lane) followed, produced by Honer and featuring a unique cocktail of acoustic sounds, vintage electro FX and soaring vocals.

Sincere, unaffected and frank, Pearce is proof that a pound of pluck is worth a tonne of luck. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.