RAY Cooper returns to the UK in July for a short tour in support of his most recent album 'Land Of Heroes' – and will be playing a Powys gig in Presteigne.

The show will be staged on Wednesday, July 13, at the Assembly Rooms, on Broad Street, with curtain up at 8pm.

Ray is an acoustic singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist; he accompanies his songs with a cello, mandolin, guitar and piano, each song comes with a story and Ray has a lot of stories. He was nominated in the male artist of the year category in the 2021 Fatea magazine awards.

Ray started to play in bands when he was 16. After art college in Brighton, he joined punk band Amazorblades, moved to London and began to work with other groups and genres. By the time he joined the 3 Mustaphas 3 in 1982, he was already an experienced session musician and had worked with a number of producers. He had been moving between rock, punk, pop and world music, and working as a singer, bass guitar player and cellist, before he finally hooked up with Oysterband and began a long exploration into his own roots.

He moved to Sweden in 2000, with Oysterband touring 27 countries and recording 19 albums. In 2012 they won three awards from BBC Radio 2’s Folk Awards for best group, best album and best traditional track, appeared on the Later with Jools Holland show and were dubbed by FROOTS magazine as one of the three ‘Icons of Folk’.

Despite their success, Ray went solo in 2013 and has since carved out a successful career, recording four albums and touring extensively in Britain, Europe and Canada.

Stories are at the centre of Ray's work and Land of Heroes, released in April 2021, follows the question of who today’s heroes are. He finds them in all walks of life – from journalists to whistleblowers, nurses, a prince and a close friend who died.

For tickets to the Presteigne show, visit https://www.wegottickets.com/event/539493 or call 01544-267163. They are priced at £10 + £1 booking fee.