Last updated: 13 August 2009
Aberystwyth's Georgia Ruth Williams is a student at Cambridge University, but is as talented a musician as she is an academic.
Read about Georgia Ruth Williams on ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Cymru (Welsh language)
"About 12 years ago, at the ripe old age of seven, I started taking harp lessons in school because I didn't want to play the violin," she says.
"Over a decade, and many a broken string later - having given up the Debussy - I began to experiment with a new sound. Influenced by the finger-picking/folk sound of the 1960s (Bert Jansch, Davy Graham and so on), I started covering some of the songs which I'd always wanted to play on guitar (but couldn't).
"Realising that there might be some mileage in this, I started writing my own songs, most of which focused on the strange nature of being in a relationship."
Her blues-folk harp songwriting is unusual to say the least, but her beautiful singing voice and interesting structures are successful.
In autumn 2007, Radio Wales DJ Adam Walton began championing her, making her track Ocean 'demo of the week'.
"My influences include Nick Drake, St Vincent, Richard Thompson, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Teddy Thompson, Joan as Policewoman, Toumani Diabete, Nick Cave, Aimee Mann and Ani Difranco," she says, giving an indication of the reasons for her interesting approach to songwriting.
