Star rating: ****

On her next trip to Scotland, Tift Merritt wants to visit, and maybe play on, Islay, from where her great-grandfather, Angus MacTaggart, emigrated to the US. The singer-songwriter from North Carolina doesn't know this yet, but Islay has just the venue for her: Bruichladdich Hall. She doesn't know this either, but she gave a pretty good preview here of what a Tift Merritt gig would feel like in the hall that has habitually brought out the best in many an Islay visitor.

The Pleasance Cabaret Bar may not resemble a village hall but it has a similar intimacy, and with only her own guitar and piano accompaniment, Merritt thrived on that close contact with the audience. Solo simplicity brings out her southern belle character, which can sometimes be diluted by her talented band of derelict boys, as she calls them. While she may not be the greatest instrumentalist, the strength of her songs and the honesty of her singing shine brightly.

Merritt is several musical characters in one. At the piano, as on Good Hearted Man, with its Dusty in Memphis persuasion, she can call up gospel-infused soul. She can do fragile, get backwoodsy, be vulnerable, turn on the catchy, foot-stomping country charm and carry off the chanteuse Parisienne convincingly. Top moment here had to be her unplugged, off-mike edge-of-stage guitar strum through Supposed to Make You Happy, a bereft song-cum-one-act-play from her first album, Bramble Rose, that even an ill-timed glass-filling at the bar and a consequent, brief fit of the giggles couldn't spoil.